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Bill Vinovich and his crew will referee Sunday’s NFC Championship between the Arizona Cardinals and Carolina Panthers.
It’s the second big moment in consecutive seasons for the 10-year veteran, who reffed Super Bowl XLIX between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots last year. Here’s a complete look at his history with Carolina and Arizona (not counting his first three years as a side judge), courtesy of Pro-Football-Reference.com:
Carolina Panthers
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Record With Vinovich Reffing: 4-1
Record Against the Spread: 3-2
Total Score: Panthers 135, Opponents 95
Panthers Penalties: 32 penalties for 274 yards (6.4 for 54.8 per game)
Opponents Penalties: 40 penalties for 380 yards (8.0 for 76.0 per game)
The Panthers solid record is expected here, as they have been favored in four of the five games, with the last three featuring big spreads of 10.0, 7.0 and 6.5.
What stands out is fairly high number of penalties called against their opponents, but with a sample of five games, it’s not really anything to read into. Moreover, in the one Panthers game that Vinovich has reffed this year, the Indanapolis Colts were called for just two penalties for 15 yards.
Arizona Cardinals
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Record With Vinovich Reffing: 4-3
Record Against the Spread: 4-3
Total Score: Cardinals 143, Opponents 132
Cardinals Penalties: 35 penalties for 275 yards (5.0 for 39.3 per game)
Opponents Penalties: 38 penalties for 369 yards (5.4 for 52.7 per game)
Nothing really out of the ordinary here. In three games that the Cards have been underdogs, as they are Sunday, they are 2-1. However, that’s more of just an interesting oddity rather than something to pin on a particular referee crew.
Vinovich has reffed one game of the Cardinals’ this year. In that one, Arizona was flagged three times, while St. Louis was penalized seven times.