The Cowboys are preparing for their home opener against the Giants, and have had a few extra days of rest following their competitive loss to the Eagles last Thursday. In a bit of a twist, the Cowboys were the more disciplined team in that one, drawing just four penalties to the Eagles’ nine.
Of course, that wasn’t much of a surprise to those who read our referee report last week. And in this week’s report, we’re looking at veteran zebra Bill Vinovich.
The most senior official in football, Vinovich has been calling games for a long time. He started out as a side judge back in 2001 and was promoted to head referee three years later. However, he stepped away after the 2006 season due to a near-fatal heart condition that required emergency surgery at the time. Several years later, he got back into the swing of things, and gradually worked his way back into being a head referee again.
Returning to that role for the start of the 2012 season, Vinovich technically isn’t the longest tenured referee these days, but he has been around the officiating game the longest. As such, there’s a ton of data on him as a referee, and Vinovich has earned a reputation as an official who prefers to let teams play with minimal interruption.
Since returning as a head referee, Vinovich’s crew has finished in the top half of the league in penalties called just once. There have been six occasions where his crew has been in the bottom three of the league in penalties called, and has finished dead last three different times, most recently in 2022. Only one crew threw fewer flags than Vinovich’s in Week 1.
In short: don’t expect to see many flags thrown Sunday. Well, unless Dexter Lawrence decides to spit on a Cowboys player, or something like that.
Vinovich’s hands-off, let-them-play approach has historically benefitted the home team. Since coming back to the field, home teams are 109-103 when Vinovich is present. However, that record has gotten a lot closer in recent years. As homefield advantage has generally declined since 2017, home teams are just 63-73 in Vinovich-called games.
There’s a theory that officials like Vinovich bode well for the more physical team, rather than the home team, simply because it’s easier for that team to dominate and overpower their opponent when they don’t have to worry about being constantly penalized. That would seem to bode well for the Cowboys, as Brian Schottenheimer has emphasized physicality and trench warfare since taking over as head coach.
All in all, Vinovich has called 21 Cowboys games. They are 12-9 in those games, with a 6-3 record at home. Ironically, the winner of those home games has been the more penalized team in all but one contest: 10 years ago, opening up the season at home against the New York Football Giants.
As for Big Blue, Vinovich has called 11 Giants games over the course of his lengthy career. New York is 7-4 in those games, but 2-2 as the visiting team. This will be the first game (and possibly last) of the Brian Daboll era that is played on the road with Vinovich on the call.
Vinovich is a bit of a throwback official, preferring to let teams just beat each other without having the game hinge on his calls. As a result, it’s harder to expect what the outcome will be. It would be fair to say that the more physical team wins more often than not when Vinovich is around, and that should help the Cowboys. Emphasis on the word “should.”
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