Fourteen-year referee Bill Leavy will serve as head official of the Denver Broncos' 2015 Divisional round matchup against the Indianapolis Colts, according to FootballZebras.com. Leavy is as old-school as they come. FZ briefly gives us Leavy's lengthy resume:
This is his 20th year and 14th as referee. This is Leavy's 16th postseason assignment, including 4 Wild Card Playoffs, 9 Divisional Playoffs, 1 Conference Championship, and Super Bowls XXXIV and XL. The first Super Bowl was as a back judge, the second was as a referee.
(Seattle Seahawks fans probably have a thing or two to say about Leavy.)
The good news, we suppose, is that the Broncos and Peyton Manning won't be facing Bill Vinovich. Since 2012, when Manning came to town, he and the Broncos are 0-4 against Vinovich, a record we explored in-depth over the holiday break.
Under Leavy, Manning and the Broncos are 1-0. Andrew Luck and the Colts are 0-3.
Meanwhile, Vinovich will be referee for the Baltimore Ravens at New England Patriots game that will determine who the winner of Broncos-Colts will play.
The bad news, we suppose, is that one of the four heads of these officiating crews will be the referee for Super Bowl XLIX. So there's a 1 in 4 chance, should the Broncos advance, that they'd get assigned Vinovich with everything on the line. Should that occur, they'd have to get two monkeys off their backs: avoiding a repeat Super Bowl letdown, and overcoming a remarkably bad referee record.