The Detroit Lions are unable to avoid participating in games that result in scrutiny from the referees. The Lions made a potentially good decision when they selected 10-year veteran referee Craig Wrolstad, who has 21 years of NFL officiating experience, for their playoff game against the Los Angeles Rams following the Brad Allen fiasco in Dallas. The outcome was disheartening since throughout the game, Wrolstad’s team missed or erred on a number of crucial calls.
In an attempt to minimize the amount of time the referee is involved, the NFL will once again send a highly experienced official to Detroit for this Sunday’s divisional round playoff game between the Lions and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“In their divisional preview of the referee assignments, Football Zebras stated that Bill Vinovich, who is in his 18th season and 15th as a referee, will officiate the Lions vs. Bucs game.” “This is his 18th postseason assignment; he has won six conference championships, three wild card playoffs, seven divisional playoffs, and two Super Bowls (XLIX and LIV). He served as a referee for both of his Super Bowl assignments.
Even though the NFL employs a varied group of all-star referees for the postseason, it’s important to remember that in 2023, crews led by Vinovich called 11.81 penalties per game on average, which was marginally higher than the league average of 11.4. Under Vinovich’s direction, the amount of yardage collected on penalties is also nearly in line with the league average, coming in slightly over a yard short of what is called in most games.
In his fifteen years as a referee, Vinovich has officiated thirteen Lions games; however, this season, he was not assigned to a Detroit game. In actuality, Vinovich called his final Lions game in Week 2 of 2022, a 36-27 victory over the Commanders. Only three penalties were accepted in that game overall, two against Washington and just one against Detroit.
For the second week in a row, Brad Allen was not assigned to a playoff game this week, in case you were wondering.
