I responded to this in another thread but wanted to open this. No referee can comment on specific games but hopefully this gives you insight into the changes from 5 person to 7 person.

 

I can't speak for specific games but the additional 2 officials will be a field judge and a side judge located on the sideline(s) at the same depth as the back judge. Those 2 officials generally help on pass coverage and red zone coverage of goal lines/sidelines/back line of end zone. On running plays, since the linesmen/ line judge don't have to cover as much, more focus can be on sweep blocking infractions and longer runs with downfield blocking. Most crews have already done at least one game working with 7 officials earlier this season. To give an illustration of the mechanics, generally lets say the play call is a jet sweep. the Referee will have the ball carrier until the ball crosses the Line of scrimmage while the linesman will have the initial blocking. Once the ball crosses the LOS, then the linesman takes the ball carrier for 10/15 yards and marks forward progress/fumbles ,etc. The side judge/field judge should be able to help the referee with blocking. Once the ball carrier breaks loose then the side judge/filed judge has the ball carrier until the end zone. This all changes closer to the end zone and will be discussed in pregame. Side judges and field judges have different keys( positions to focus on) on pass plays based on formation so it helps on pick plays/rub routes. There are only 24 games this weekend so you can rest assured the best 168 officials will be working because alot of the 3rd round officials will work the finals too. Normally you don't do the 3rd, 4th , and 5th round-rather maybe 1-3-5 or 2-5th but with the 7 man crew, I think you'll see alot of the best this weekend.

It means more whistle blowers and flag throwers and nobody is going home happy (even if you win!)

Means more bad calls that officials can't explain, or no calls that are obvious.

Man...apparently there's no pleasing some folks around here.

 

I, for one, am always happy to see 7 man crews when it comes to officials.

I’ve seen nothing, but great games the handful of times I’ve seen 7 man crews. It has actually been less flags.

I think it's a positive and I'm all for it. My only concern is those crews that think they need to have a convention after each and every flag. By the time they call the meeting to order, have a round table discussion, make recommendations, have follow-up debate, and finally vote, the rhythm of the game is completely lost. I'm all about coming together and getting things right, but a simple holding penalty shouldn't take 15 minutes to mark off.

7 Refs is awful. More calls and more refs thinking they have to throw a flag for something.

I have no issue with adding officials but I wish they would have added a center judge like they have in college. Another set of eyes behind the offense to help clean up line play.

We had a 7 man crew once this year and it was awful. There were several questionable calls because guys hadn't got to throw their average amount of flags and at the same time missed obvious calls. You could tell that the crew was not comfortable with the format and were out of the positions they are used to. On some of the obvious missed calls, I would ask an official about it and the answer was always that it wasn't in my area, even though they clearly saw what I saw they didn't want to step on others toes. It was also one of those crews who were procedural and by the book so they got really frustrated a couple of times with our ball boy because he couldn't figure out which ref to follow since there were 2 on our sideline. We won with a running clock but it was a frustrating night for us and the officials.

Two more guys to make bad calls and ruin the games.

 

(Just my opinion)

I was somewhat joking, but the 8 man crew Belfry encountered at Knoxville Catholic last year was God awful.

Is there any proof from the games during the season that used seven referees that there were more calls made than normal or are we just spouting off concerns without evidence?

It’s not about the quantity of officials on the field; it’s the quality. The majority of officials I’ve encountered over the years don’t really like throwing penalty flags. Once they get a reputation as being “flag happy”, it sticks for a long time. Let’s see how the 7 man crews work out in the playoffs before we rush to judgement

I don't have as big of a problem with 7 man crews as much as I do with patchwork crews calling the finals. ( putting together crews that have not called a single game together all year)

I can’t imagine adding 2 more officials to that awful crew in St. Matthews last week...