Referee: Jeff Triplette
Umpire: Jim Quirk
Head linesman: Steve Stelljes
Line judge: Mike Spanier
Field judge: Boris Cheek
Side judge: Dave Wyant
Back judge: Steve Freeman
Replay: Lloyd McPeters

Referee: Mike Carey
Umpire: Dan Ferrell
Head linesman: Dana McKenzie
Line judge: Tom Barnes
Field judge: Buddy Horton
Side judge: Don Carlsen
Back judge: Don Carey
Replay: Tommy Moore
Video: Bud Alexander

Referee John Parry
Umpire Carl Madsen
Head linesman Derick Bowers
Line judge Ron Marinucci
Field judge Craig Wrolstad
Side judge Keith Washington
Back judge Perry Paganelli
Replay Jim Blackwood
Video Ken Dollar

We met with the officials at 1:30, and they went over some of the rules changes for the upcoming season. The most prominent is the force-out rule, and if a player does not get his feet down and is forced out of bounds it is now an incomplete pass. The caveat to that is if he is clearly going to come down but a player carries him out. The force-out happens far less often than you would guess, the referee who sat with us, Pete Morelli, saying about 14 times last season.

Other rules changes:

* There are no 5-yard facemasks any more. Only 15-yard intentional facemask penalties.

* A direct snap from center to QB that is not touched is now a live ball. It used to be dead if it was not touched.

* All muffed handoffs are now live balls.

* An offensive player (Marion Barber) can no longer grab a defensive player's facemask or it is a 15-yard penalty.

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Referee Jeff Triplette
Umpire Jim Quirk
Head linesman Steve Stelljes
Line judge Jeff Seeman
Field Judge Duke Carroll
Side judge Greg Meyer
Back Judge Greg Steed
Replay Bill Spyskma
Video Ted Campbell

Referee Mike Carey
Umpire Dan Ferrell
Head Linesman Kent Payne
Line judge Mark Perlman
Field Judge Buddy Horton
Side judge Tom Fincken
Back Judge Bill Schmitz
Replay Tommy Moore
Video Bud Alexander

Referee Ed Hochuli
Umpire Chad Brown
Head Linesman Mark Hittner
Line Judge Tom Symonette
Field Judge Tom Sifferman
Side Judge Don Carlson
Back Judge Scott Helverson
Replay Bill Vinovich
Video Roger Ruth

The NFL has made some rules modifications on the final day of the league meetings. The proposal to change the kickoff yard line for overtime failed. Among the changes: Quarterbacks can no longer back out from under center and complain to the referee about noise in order to stop the clock. Seattle fans will remeber Raiders QB Marc Wilson, among others, using this rule in the Kingdome way back when. The tactic invariably backfired, causing fans to scream even louder. The referee had the option of throwing a flag. I can't remember the last time I saw a quarterback take advantage of the rule. It was talked about as an option following some crowd-noise difficulties experienced by visiting teams at Qwest Field. Now the rule no longer exists, so it's not even an option.

NFL officiating director Mike Pereira briefed reporters on points of emphasis for the 2007 season. The league plans to call fewer roughing-the-passer penalties, letting defenders make minimal contact with their arms extended (avoiding those push-down penalties that can impact the outcome of a game while sending fans into fits of rage). Also, a player diving into the end zone must pass the ball inside the pylon to score a touchdown. In the past, touchdowns were allowed when a player's body traveled across the pylon, even if the ball was outside the pylon. Pereira humored coaches this year by giving them inflatable miniature referees with weighted feet, virtual punching bags. Mike Holmgren is probably yelling at his right now.

Mike Holmgren's side barely prevailed in its efforts to prevent a single defensive player from having access to helmet-to-coach radio transmitters worn by quarterbacks. The vote was 22-10 in favor of the device, competition committee co-chairman Rich McKay said, but the proposal needed 24 votes to pass. The issue failed by an 18-14 count last year.

The problem: Defensive players substitute regularly, making it difficult to determine which player is wearing the equipped helmet. It's easy to regulate on offense because there's only one quarterback on the field at any time. But if the middle linebacker's helmet were so equipped, what would happen if he came off the field on third down? Would another player get to wear such a helmet? What if that player stayed on the field with the middle linebacker in another defensive personnel package?

"I'm going to vote against that. I can understand the sentiment for it, but I think it creates another level of problems because they are saying one guy can have it and that's the middle linebacker, the safety, whoever is calling it. Then if that guy gets hurt, they can't use it anymore. There is a very good chance one of those two guys gets hurt on defense the way they fly around. Then one team has it and the other team doesn't, and then I just reminded them to keep in mind why we have it on offense. It went in on offense because they changed the play clock. Offensive terminology is longer on all teams. And to make it work, they came up with this system to just do that. It was not a strategy thing as much as a time thing. And then lastly I said, 'You call the defense, say you have this system in, you call the defense, the guy goes in motion, the shift takes place, they change the defense anyway. It's not the defensive call anyway. Defense is more reacting.' If you are going to do it, do it for the right reasons." -- Mike Holmgren

Falcons GM Rich McKay, representing the NFL competition committee, answered questions on a media conference call today. A reporter from the Dallas area asked about potential rules changes stemming from Tony Romo's botched hold during the Cowboys' playoff loss to Seattle in January. McKay talked about the importance of perception in his answer, which is included in full below.

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The Columbian newspaper has an off-beat story wondering whatever happened to the championship hats and shirts Reebok made for the Seahawks in case the team won Super Bowl XL against Pittsburgh. According to the story, Reebok makes 288 hats and shirts celebrating each team as Super Bowl champion. The winning team gets its hats and shirts after the game.

World Vision aparently donates the losing team's hats and shirts aroung the globe. "We never got them," World Vision's Jeff Fields told the Columbian. "Nobody has been able to give me clear answer why. We suspect they were donated to disaster relief, but nobody can tell me for sure."

There's gotta be a way for Seattle fans to blame this on officiating. I just can't think of a way.