What does a football official do?

The primary responsibility of any officiating crew is to ensure that the game is played fairly and safely between two opponents. Each individual official on the football crew will be responsible for a particular area of play and will use "keys" to read the play and determine their coverage area. The various areas and "keys" will be based upon which position on the field they are working. A good crew is one where each official covers his area of responsibility and trusts the other officials to cover theirs.