Scott Green (American football official)

Scott H. Green is an American football official in the National Football League since the 1991 NFL season. He has officiated Super Bowls XXXVI in 2002, XXXVIII in 2004, and was the referee for XLIV in 2010.

Outside of his part-time work in professional football, Green works as a Washington, D.C. lobbyist for criminal justice agencies as part of a firm he co-founded in 1994.

Background
Green is a 1969 graduate of Central Bucks High School in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, where he was a linebacker and kicker. He is a 1973 graduate of the University of Delaware, where he received a bachelor's degree in criminal justice. Prior to his NFL career, from 1985 to 1990 Green was a Judiciary Committee staff person under then-Senator Joe Biden. In 1994, Green, a resident of Alexandria, Virginia, co-founded the Lafayette Group, a Washington, D.C., lobbying firm that focuses on public safety; as of 2008 the firm employs 50 people.

Officiating career
Green started in the NFL as a field judge with the start of the 1991 NFL season before switching to back judge after the league swapped position titles at the start of the 1998 NFL season.

Green wears uniform number 19.

Giants - 49ers playoff game
Considered by some to be the top back judge in the league, Green was involved in a controversial finish to a New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers Wild Card playoff game played January 5, 2003 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Green and the officials apparently forgot that New York's Rich Seubert, a guard who had lined up legally in a receiver's spot, was an eligible receiver. Seubert appeared to be interfered by a San Francisco defender on a botched field goal attempt while going downfield to receive a pass. Since Green was the downfield official, this was his play to cover, but had to scramble from the goalpost to get into position to cover the play. Green, not knowing that Seubert was eligible, did not throw a flag to signify the penalty. Instead, the Giants were called for having an illegal man downfield on the play. Commissioner Paul Tagliabue described the situation as the most disappointing officiating blunder he'd seen in his years as NFL commissioner and announced that officiating mechanics surrounding field-goal attempts and last plays of games would be changed.

Promotion to referee
He became a referee on a part-time basis during the 2004 NFL season when referee Johnny Grier was injured. Green became a full time referee at the start of the 2005 NFL season after Grier forced to retire due to a leg injury. Green's first experience as an NFL referee came on October 3, 2004 during a game between the New England Patriots and Buffalo Bills.

Green's 2011 NFL officiating crew consists of umpire Bruce Stritesky, head linesman Tom Stabile, line judge Tom Barnes, field judge Dyrol Prioleau, side judge Larry Rose and back judge Scott Helverson.

Steelers - Chargers game
Green was involved in another controversial finish during a game he was officiating between the Pittsburgh Steelers and San Diego Chargers on November 16, 2008 at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh. With Pittsburgh leading San Diego 11-10 and only five seconds left in the game with the Chargers on their own twenty yard line, San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers completed a short dump pass to running back LaDainian Tomlinson, who shoveled it back to wide receiver Chris Chambers in a desperation attempt to keep the play alive with a series of pitches. Chambers promptly attempted a seemingly legal lateral that was batted down and recovered by the Steelers' Troy Polamalu, who took it into the end zone for a touchdown that would have ended the game with the Steelers ahead by eight points. Upon review by Green and his crew, however, one of the laterals involved in the play (Green was ambiguous as to which one) was deemed an illegal forward pass and ruled dead, officially ending the game in an 11-10 Steelers victory. While this had no bearing on the official outcome of the game, the dubious call led many fans and commentators to question the call as the game's betting line had the Steelers favored by 5$1/2$ points, meaning the botched call caused all bets placed on the Steelers to be losing ones. Green himself conceded that he and his crew made the wrong call following the game. The incident has prompted the NFL to discuss "potential administrative improvements for replay that would help to prevent this type of mistake in the future." Green's officiating in the game was also controversial for the imbalance in penalties called by Green and his crew (13 penalties for 115 yards on the Steelers; 1 penalty for 5 yards against the Chargers).

Packers - Cardinals game
Green was involved in a third controversial finish, this time during overtime of a playoff game between the Green Bay Packers and the Arizona Cardinals on January 10, 2010 at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. On the winning play, Cardinals cornerback Michael Adams forced a fumble from Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, which then bounced off Rodgers' foot (never touching the ground) before it was picked up by Arizona's Karlos Dansby for a touchdown. Adams seemed to have a hold of Rodgers' facemask during the play, but Green did not call any penalty.

Sports Illustrated writer Peter King offered a possible explanation for why Green may have not seen the facemask: "[He has] the responsibility of watching plays involving the quarterback. Once the ball has been dislodged, Green has to watch the ball, not the contact on the quarterback. He has to see if the ball hits the ground and judge if it's a forward pass or a fumble, then he has to follow the live ball until the end of the play. So Green could not – at least, he should not – have seen the contact on the mask of Rodgers."

Another question about the facemask was whether it was indeed flagrant or incidental. The 5-yard facemask penalty was eliminated prior to the 2008 season, making an incidental facemask a legal play. Thus, it left officials only with a strictly judgment call as to whether it was worthy of a 15-yard personal foul penalty or not. When asked about the play, Bill Carollo, former NFL referee and current Director of Officiating for the Big Ten Conference, stated that he felt that the 15-yard face mask foul could have been called, or at least an unnecessary roughness penalty. However, Mike Pereira, the NFL's Supervisor of Officials, said that it was indeed an incidental facemask (and thus no foul) since there was never a significant pull or twist to warrant the 15-yard penalty.

Packers - Vikings game
On October 24, 2010 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Scott Green was again involved in controversial calls that helped the Packers win the game. "That's the worst officiated game I've seen," said Childress, whose team fell to 2-4 after losing four games in the entire 2009 regular season. "That referee came over and apologized to me for not calling a hold on the scramble by [Packers quarterback Aaron] Rodgers. And I'll tell you what, that's his job. Protect the quarterback and look at the left tackle. Look at the left tackle hold his tail off."

What set Childress off was Green's reversal of a 17-yard touchdown in the second quarter on what appeared to be a nice diving catch by tight end Visanthe Shiancoe. The drive stalled and the Vikings ended up getting a 28-yard field goal from Ryan Longwell, meaning four extremely valuable points were taken off the board.