The NFL has announced the referee assignments for the four NFL Divisional Round playoff games this weekend.
The NFL Football Operations X/Twitter account announced the following referees for Divisional Round weekend: John Hussey (Houston Texans vs. Baltimore Ravens), Alex Kemp (Green Bay Packers vs. San Francisco 49ers), Bill Vinovich (Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Detroit Lions) and Shawn Hochuli (Kansas City Chiefs vs. Buffalo Bills).
Referees for the postseason are selected based on how they scored in a grading system. The NFL does this with the goal of providing teams with the best possible quality of officiating for the postseason, though this obviously doesn’t always end up being the case.
For what it’s worth, none of these referees were assigned for Super Wild Card Weekend that concluded on Monday.
Between these four officials, Vinovich is the only one that served as the head referee for a Super Bowl game. Vinovich and his crew were assigned Super Bowl 49 (New England Patriots vs. Seattle Seahawks) and Super Bowl 54 (Kansas City Chiefs vs. San Francisco 49ers).
Fans may note that referee Brad Allen was not assigned for Super Wild Card Weekend nor the Divisional Round. Allen’s crew was heavily criticized this year for several missed calls late in the Chiefs-Packers Week 13 game, as well as the whole “illegal touching” fiasco in the Lions-Dallas Cowboys Week 17 contest.
