And the Referee Crew for this game is . . .
 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The referee for the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Chiefs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Chiefs</a> vs <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Bengals?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Bengals</a> game will be Bill Vinovich. His crew called the least amount of penalties in the NFL at 148. He worked the Browns and at Raiders game this year. He worked the AFC Championship last year vs Bills and Super Bowl LIV vs the 49ers. <a href="https://t.co/ooTPamdROg">pic.twitter.com/ooTPamdROg</a></p>&mdash; Nick Jacobs (@Jacobs71) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jacobs71/status/1485696969880317962?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 24, 2022</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Also of note: Bill Vinovich&#39;s crew called only four defensive holding penalties all season, second-lowest in the league. <br><br>If you want to jam the Bengals receivers at the line and play physical downfield, this is the crew you want calling the game. <a href="https://t.co/Ec5MHxUNxD">https://t.co/Ec5MHxUNxD</a></p>&mdash; Matt Derrick (@mattderrick) <a href="https://twitter.com/mattderrick/status/1485703228201357318?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 24, 2022</a></blockquote>
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I'm cool with that assignment.

One of the best parts about last nights game is that the zebras weren't involved at all. Hardly any penalties and nothing I would consider cheap. Well that's not true, the Ward PI sure looked like crap, but the ball was caught anyway so whatever.

They let the teams play last night and we got a hell of a football game for it.

Funny how that works.

I’m liking this. What say you Blackop?

Got no complaints overall. A few minor things I'd mention, but that'd be nitpicking. They let the dudes play. That's how officiating should be done.

This is big news. The Bengals' offensive strategy was to throw jump balls and if they didn't catch it, hope for DPI.

They won't get as many from this crew and that's big.

Yes!!
We have had good officiating thus far and this looks like a continuation :thumb:

Chief gonna win another superbowl

The guy who didn't know the clock didn't run on two point conversations shouldn't be commenting on officiating.

Great crew! Vinovich and Hussey two of the good crews

Good.

I heard some guys postulating that the NFL told the refs to chill the **** out after the WC round because of the blowback and there weren’t many flags in any of the division games.

It was incredibly weird to watch ****hole Brady play a properly officiated game. It was like the twilight zone. He’d throw the same garbage pass that misses bad and he’s staring at the official not throwing a flag. Wheras most of his career he gets that flag, is back in the huddle and hurting up to get his checkdown game going. SUPER WEIRD. And where the **** has that been the last 20 years?

Knock on wood, but I like vinovich. There was some fun footage of him reviewing the tyreek incompletion right before wasp in the super bowl. As others have said, the games are so much better when whistles get left in the pocket. That’s said knowing that our defensive guys and especially get kelce get held too. What we can’t have is for refs to influence secondary play because they are afraid to defend elite receivers like chase and kelce. It too too often leads to favoritism even if the ref doesn’t mean to.

Also, funny thing is, though he called a great super bowl he did get it probably wrong on a costly but ticky tack OPI call on kittle which negated a huge play. Not that I’m complaining.

Um....he got screwed on that dead ball penalty, right?

Am I wrong there? Because I have NEVER seen a targeting sort of penalty called a dead ball foul and lead to a turnover like that. Is there a precedent for that?

That'll work! :thumb:

The lack of enforcement of DPI and DH doesn't hurt us nearly as much as it does the Bengals because they generally enforce it more on the outside, on WR's, as opposed to in traffic.

Kelce gets held regardless of who the crew is. It's going to happen. We need our DB's to jam at the line and disrupt timing. Force Burrow to get the ball out quickly.

Get ready for some more Chase push offs

I've not seen it either but I'm not sure I've ever seen a play that the hit happened so soon after the ball hitting the ground.

Once the ball hits the ground, the play is dead. It was the right call, by a hair.

Brady picked a hell of a week to publicly brag about getting favorable officiating before the game.

I think the NFL has been doing more of those dead ball calls. The first one I thought of was Winfield's taunting penalty to Tyreek last year after that 4th down incompletion. Different deal, obviously, since that wasn't targeting from a defender who was reacting to a play in progress, but calling dead ball fouls that way on 4th down does seem to be an emphasis of the NFL lately.

The funniest part was that their bandwagon got completely butthurt by that and the hit from Miller and complained about the refs on social media after the game. It is a glorious time to be a Chiefs fan.

We are going back to the big one.

Just seems to me that there should be a 'continuation' of sorts. He began the act while the ball was still in the air. We're going to say that there wasn't a penalty until the point of actual contact and parse the line that thin?

It sure seems to give guys a green light on 4th downs to go being a guided missile out there. Seems to run opposite of what the league's been trying to do on those plays.

The league is fattening the Chiefs up for the Super Bowl.

Jeff Triplette will probably call that game.

Good draw for KC. Seems either NFL wants KC in the Super Bowl or they just want the officials to stay the **** out of things, so you can see games like last night play out on the field instead of by the flags.

That said, Bengals in Super Bowl isn't a great sell for the NFL. Chiefs vs. Rams is the game EVERYONE wanted 3 years ago and in Rams home stadium. Chiefs vs. 49er's The Rematch is also appealing and will pull in LOTS of viewers.

I'm pretty confident the NFL 'prefers' KC to win this game next week. Now they just need to go do it . . . . . . .

The studio ref analyst agreed the rule was clear and the call was correct.

It is a bright line rule. Although I agree you could write the rule so it was like roughing the passer where it didn't matter whether the ball had sailed by or hit the ground.

Teams aren't throwing on fourth down all that much.

Yeah. This makes me nervous to get 3 good refs in a row in the playoffs. What are the chances of getting a 4th straight good one?

Not good according to this site speculating on the super bowl ref based on past trends:
https://www.footballzebras.com/2022/...ne-of-these-2/

They predict either Blakeman or Torbert (the assface from the Bengals game).

Not yet but looking good.

Rams/Niners are getting Cheffers. Poor bastards.

Hopefully this eliminates him from the SB. Hoping for Hussey again.

Jesus, please not either of those turds. Either of those are the ref, then it will seem the fix is in for the opposing team.

technically the ball hit the ground and it was 4th down, so the play is over. So the roughness was a dead ball penalty. Don't like the rule, but **** Brady.

That’s the natural comparison, isn’t it? QB fires a ball on a swing or something, short/quick pass that goes straight into the dirt. Then the DL smokes him after the ball hits.

Are we really going to argue that should be a dead ball foul?

It’s just an odd application of that rule and one that I think they should fix/clarify. I hate targeting but that’s EXACTLY the kind of thing it exists to prevent and the Rams really didn’t suffer for it.

Well…yeah.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Super Bowl officiating crew, via the ⁦<a href="https://twitter.com/NFL?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NFL</a>⁩. <a href="https://t.co/a8SgqFmr43">pic.twitter.com/a8SgqFmr43</a></p>&mdash; Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) <a href="https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/1486040056326406149?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 25, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Torbert did Chiefs/Bengals week 17...

If you watched a replay of the Week 5 game, the Bills were aggressively holding Chiefs receivers and Collinsworth said the Buffalo had been coached to hold like Chiefs dbs did in 2020 AFC Championship.

I am going to guess that Chiefs and Bills were briefed during the week on what was allowed with hands on receivers, because refs let them play and neither team did any excessive use of hands to force a call.

the only thing that bothers me is the absurd amount of holding going on on our DL, especially the last two drives

and between the three brutal/late hits Mahomes took, at least one should have been flagged - even when he's a runner, you can't let them hit the half a billion dollar guy helmet to helmet

Vegas did an outstanding job eliminating the top teams...as far as SB betting is concerned.

Think about how much money, worldwide, was placed on the Packers and Brady all year...no chance for them now.

Quite the gig...having people bet on 32 options for a SB favorite when only one can win...while knowing the profit margins for every team in advance.

Think about how much money they would make off having the Bengals/49ers in the SB....all the top pre-season teams would be gone.

That crew sucks the penis

So why the **** does the NFL mostly let the players play in the POs but not during the regular season? Makes 0 sense why not emphasize that always?

Vinovich is a good ref. Another good news for the day.

If half billion dollar guy becomes a runner, it's his job to protect his own head.

****…….

Hello boys, this is gonna be tighter than a gnats ass stretched over a rain barrel.

Maybe THAT'S why he's talking about retiring...salad days have come to an end...

Rams will be playing at home..they call 90% penalties on the away team right?

Actually it's the officials. They are responsible for discouraging lowering the helmet like that. Rules are rules.

And how often have you seen something like that called when a RB gets tackled like that? Salary aside.

This is how the league "rigs" games. There's no shady back room deal. Nothing is said out loud.

They just just reward the ref who seems to have a vendetta against the Chiefs with the goddam Super Bowl - despite even national pundits calling out the Bengals game as horribly officiated.