The referee for the #Chiefs vs #Bengals game will be Bill Vinovich. His crew called the least amount of penalties in the NFL. This crew worked the AFC Championship last year vs Bills and Super Bowl LIV vs the 49ers.

Evidently Bill Vinovich's crew called only four defensive holding penalties all season, second-lowest in the league.

Top penalties his crew called this year:
Offensive Holding: 31
False Start: 24
Offsides: 13
DPI: 12
Unnecessary Roughness: 10
Delay of Game


Chiefs fans are saying If you want to jam the Bengals receivers at the line and play physical downfield, this is the crew you want calling the game

We shall see

So I would hope Zac is going to the league right now and showing the tape of Chiefs DBs being grabby and asking that the ref crew be alerted to watch for it.

So we can jam theirs as well.

(01-24-2022, 11:23 PM)CincinnatiKid Wrote: The referee for the #Chiefs vs #Bengals game will be Bill Vinovich. His crew called the least amount of penalties in the NFL. This crew worked the AFC Championship last year vs Bills and Super Bowl LIV vs the 49ers.

Evidently Bill Vinovich's crew called only four defensive holding penalties all season, second-lowest in the league.

Top penalties his crew called this year:
Offensive Holding: 31
False Start: 24
Offsides: 13
DPI: 12
Unnecessary Roughness: 10
Delay of Game


Chiefs fans are saying If you want to jam the Bengals receivers at the line and play physical downfield, this is the crew you want calling the game

We shall see

Like the man said, “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.” Go ahead and try to jam Chase at the line, but you better not whiff.

Best crew we could ask for as well. Let them play man!

(01-24-2022, 11:25 PM)Joelist Wrote: So I would hope Zac is going to the league right now and showing the tape of Chiefs DBs being grabby and asking that the ref crew be alerted to watch for it.

& hopefully during the game Burrow can politely point out to the refs that the grabby, grabby Chiefs DBs are doing their thing.

(01-24-2022, 11:23 PM)CincinnatiKid Wrote: The referee for the #Chiefs vs #Bengals game will be Bill Vinovich. His crew called the least amount of penalties in the NFL. This crew worked the AFC Championship last year vs Bills and Super Bowl LIV vs the 49ers.

Evidently Bill Vinovich's crew called only four defensive holding penalties all season, second-lowest in the league.

Top penalties his crew called this year:
Offensive Holding: 31
False Start: 24
Offsides: 13
DPI: 12
Unnecessary Roughness: 10
Delay of Game


Chiefs fans are saying If you want to jam the Bengals receivers at the line and play physical downfield, this is the crew you want calling the game

We shall see

When I re-watched the Bengals-Chiefs, I was appalled at how many times the Chiefs got away with holding ouir WRs They did call the key penalties at the end, but during the game it was the Chiefs' basic strategy. My big worry about the game was to get an officiating crew that would not call the holding calls.

I guess the Chiefs complaining about the calls at the end worked out and they got a referee crew suited to their style of holding our WRs.

(01-24-2022, 11:29 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Best crew we could ask for as well. Let them play man!

I'm with you on this, just have to let them play the game. Would prefer to forget the refs are there unless it is a delay of game, false start, obvious kind of call.

Too many penalties have just become subjective.

(01-24-2022, 11:35 PM)Murdock2420 Wrote: I'm with you on this, just have to let them play the game. Would prefer to forget the refs are there unless it is a delay of game, false start, obvious kind of call.

Too many penalties have just become subjective.

Except look at the last time these two teams played. The  Chiefs' DBs could not keep up with the Bengals' wide receivers, so they repeatedly grabbed. And if this crew was calling the last game, they also probably would have not called the obvious hold of Boyd in the end zone and the Bengals would have turned over the ball on downs instead of running out the clock and getting the winning field goal. 

I commented after the Chiefs' game that the main strategy of the Chiefs' DBs was to hold the WRs.

Four defensive holding penalties in 17 games? The Chiefs cornerbacks are going to be salivating. And Andy Reid will make defensive holding of our receivers parts of his game plan.

Actually I am more concerned about holding not being called on Trey Hendrickson. The guy seemingly gets held every play and is rarely called

(01-24-2022, 11:33 PM)Nepa Wrote: When I re-watched the Bengals-Chiefs, I was appalled at how many times the Chiefs got away with holding ouir WRs They did call the key penalties at the end, but during the game it was the Chiefs' basic strategy. My big worry about the game was to get an officiating crew that would not call the holding calls.

I guess the Chiefs complaining about the calls at the end worked out and they got a referee crew suited to their style of holding our WRs.

I guess that is the concern. Still think they will call it if it is overly egregious. 

(01-24-2022, 11:35 PM)Murdock2420 Wrote: I'm with you on this, just have to let them play the game. Would prefer to forget the refs are there unless it is a delay of game, false start, obvious kind of call.

Too many penalties have just become subjective.

Agreed Murdock.

(01-24-2022, 11:40 PM)Nepa Wrote: Except look at the last time these two teams played. The  Chiefs' DBs could not keep up with the Bengals' wide receivers, so they repeatedly grabbed. And if this crew was calling the last game, they also probably would have not called the obvious hold of Boyd in the end zone and the Bengals would have turned over the ball on downs instead of running out the clock and getting the winning field goal. 

I commented after the Chiefs' game that the main strategy of the Chiefs' DBs was to hold the WRs.

We might beat them even worse than this time around. Just because Vinovich's crew doesn't call Defensive holding often 
doesn't mean they won't call it if it is really bad like last game. I have saw BS calls all year and especially when watching 
Shawn Hochuli's crew that have given wins to teams. Don't want to see this happening.

Tyreek Hill is a big concern with that speed, cannot get holding calls going against him unless it is needed.

We did very well against him last game. The Bills didn't last night.

One thing speaking of Hill is we have to expect him returning Punts in this game now. So have to play great ST's and not
beat us for a big return to the house.

(01-24-2022, 11:40 PM)Nepa Wrote: Except look at the last time these two teams played. The  Chiefs' DBs could not keep up with the Bengals' wide receivers, so they repeatedly grabbed. And if this crew was calling the last game, they also probably would have not called the obvious hold of Boyd in the end zone and the Bengals would have turned over the ball on downs instead of running out the clock and getting the winning field goal. 

I commented after the Chiefs' game that the main strategy of the Chiefs' DBs was to hold the WRs.

It is and it’s known league wide. Then they cry when they get called on it. I’ve seen fan bases complain about phantom penalties or missed calls, but I’ve never seen people whine like that because their team was called for legitimate penalties. They were pissed that they weren’t allowed to cheat. I guess if you get away with it enough, it seems unfair when it’s called?

(01-24-2022, 11:47 PM)CincinnatiKid Wrote: Actually I am more concerned about holding not being called  on Trey Hendrickson.  The guy seemingly gets held every play and is rarely called

This too. How can a crew have only 4 defensive holding calls in the entire season? 

(01-24-2022, 11:47 PM)CincinnatiKid Wrote: Actually I am more concerned about holding not being called  on Trey Hendrickson.  The guy seemingly gets held every play and is rarely called

So damn true, Trey was held by Lewan a lot last game too and it wasn't called.

This season, the Chiefs were the 9th more penalized team and the Bengals were the 2nd lowest in penalties. So getting a crew that doesn't call penalties is a big plus for them. Notably, defensive holding calls, as the Chiefs were tied for 11th highest in that area and the Bengals 3rd lowest (one more than the 2 teams with the lowest)

https://www.footballdb.com/stats/penalties.html

(01-24-2022, 11:50 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: So damn true, Trey was held by Lewan a lot last game too and it wasn't called.

In my opinion Trey is the key to the defense. When he is out for any extended period of time it becomes very obvious. 

(01-24-2022, 11:57 PM)Nepa Wrote: This season, the Chiefs were the 9th more penalized team and the Bengals were the 2nd lowest in penalties. So getting a crew that doesn't call penalties is a big plus for them. Notably, defensive holding calls, as the Chiefs were tied for 11th highest in that area and the Bengals 3rd lowest (one more than the 2 teams with the lowest)

https://www.footballdb.com/stats/penalties.html

You make a good point Nepa, not going to lie.

So with this crew, the game is rigged in favor of KC. Okay then...

How is officiating crew decided for important games like this

Some comments about this crew:

"But Vinovich is perhaps most known for being the man in charge in the controversial 2018 NFC Championship Game. Saints fans certainly have no love for the man after their no-call on a clear pass interference play cost them a trip to the Super Bowl and triggered national outrage."

https://thespun.com/nfl/referees-for-afc-nfc-championship-games-announced

"On the flip side, Vinovich’s crew worked the 2018 NFC title game between the Rams and Saints when there was no penalty flag on a late and obvious pass interference that cost New Orleans a trip to the Super Bowl.

The Vinovich crew will let calls go. The Cheffers crew will not. It’s officiating to the extreme in both cases."

"the Vinovich crew never finished higher than 12th in the league in penalties. This crew has finished last in penalties twice and again ranks at the bottom in 2021.

"The Vinovich crew has assessed 128 penalties for 1,076 yards this season. The Cheffers crew has assessed 202 penalties for 1,709 yards. How is it possible there could be a 74-penalty difference between the two crews? How is it that one crew can assess 600 more yards in penalties than another crew? That’s walking off six complete football fields."

https://www.si.com/nfl/talkoffame/nfl/nfl-officiating-why-the-disparity