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MamaRAMa
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chunkmeister
How many were in the "McVay" years (when stupid penalties were cleaned up). If most of the games were in the Fisher years (when the Rams were constantly supassing the opponents in penalty yards) then it might not stand out so much.
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That's a very good point! It caused me to look up some data on nflpenalties.com just to see if the data would shed any light on the allegations. The site only has data back to 2009. For me... the data just didn't support the uproar about Vanovich because comparing Fisher's teams to McVay's is comparing apples to oranges. McVay has coached only two games with Vanovich as the referee. Is that enough to draw this kind of conclusion? I say NO but you can look at the data and draw your own.
Vanovich has been the referee in 8 Rams games and 8 Saints games since 2012, here's what I found:
McVay (2 games): Penalties- 9, Yards- 82
Fisher (6 games): Penalties- 52, Yards- 491
Saints (8 games): Penalties- 35, Yards- 350
McVay (2 games): Penalties- 9, Yards- 82
[attachment 4196 Vinovich-McVaypenalties.jpg]
Fisher (6 games): Penalties- 52, Yards- 491
[attachment 4197 Vinovich-Fisherpenalties.jpg]
Saints (8 games): Penalties- 35, Yards- 350
[attachment 4198 Vinovich-Saintspenalties.jpg]
This, however, doesn't tell you whether the penalty was game changing. For example, if a team gets stopped on a crucial third down but a questionable and/or petty penalty is called which erases the stop and gives a the team a first down that ultimately leads to a score, that is game changing. Or a team makes a crucial third down only to have a questionable and/or petty penalty that then leaves the team in third and long...could be game changing. I think you would need to go back and actually look at the entire picture.
Additionally, there are things other than penalties such as the 1st down the RAMS made going for it on forth only to have it denied by a bad spot and not reversed on review even though it was quite clearly a bad spot...game changing. That's an awful lot of coincidence to overlook, but to each his own. It's not going to change the fact that Vinovich is calling the game.
