The officiating crew for the New York Giants’ Week 12 matchup with the Detroit Lions will be led by veteran referee Craig Wrolstad, who is now in his 12th season wearing the white hat.
Last year, Wrolstad’s group trailed only Clete Blakeman’s crew in accepted penalties, finishing with 252 flags compared to Blakeman’s 263. In contrast, the 2024 campaign has been far less whistle-heavy for Wrolstad. Through ten games, his unit has been responsible for 118 accepted penalties, placing them in the lower half of the league—12th out of 17 crews.
This weekend marks the Giants’ first game of the season overseen by Wrolstad. The last time the crew handled a Giants contest was in Week 3 of the previous year, a road win in Cleveland in which New York managed to prevail despite being hit with nine fouls.
The Lions also avoided Wrolstad’s crew last season. Their most recent encounter came during the 2024 Wild Card round in Detroit’s win over the Rams on January 14.
Wrolstad entered the NFL officiating ranks in 2003 as a field judge. After working Super Bowl LVII, he was promoted to referee the following year, a move prompted by the retirements of long-time officials Scott Green and Ron Winter. He also served as the alternate referee for Super Bowl LII.
His current crew includes umpire Brandon Cruse—new to the group after moving over from Carl Cheffers’s staff—down judge Danny Short, line judge Brett Bergman, field judge Jeff Shears, side judge Frank Steratore (a cousin of Tony and Gene Steratore), back judge Rich Martinez, replay official Gavin Anderson, and replay assistant Ken Hall.
This season, the Giants have accumulated 85 penalties, twice hitting double digits: once in their Week 2 game in Dallas and again in Week 10 against Chicago.
New York enters Week 12 attempting to stave off an early postseason exit. A loss to Detroit paired with a win by any of Seattle, Minnesota, or Dallas would drop the Giants to 1–7 in conference play and officially knock them out of playoff contention. It would be their earliest mathematical elimination since 1976, when they opened the year 0–8 during what was then a 14-game schedule.
