Scouting The Referees

September 18th, 2021

Zebra homework.

Joe thought this was a helluva point by Bucs Super Bowl-winning coach Bucco Bruce Arians in relation to game preparation.

Of course teams should know all about their opponents. Players should know the tendencies and then adjust accordingly, if necessary.

Against the Cowboys the Bucs played sloppily and got a bunch of penalties. Arians said that was in part because adjustments weren’t made to how the zebras throw flags.

“I think some of those pass-interference calls – we play physical over there and you’ve got to know your referees as good as you do your opponent,” Arians said. “If you get one, you’d better get your hands off him because you know you’re going to get another one.”

Helluva point. Teams know well in advance what referee crews are working. And not only do teams track how many and what type of penalties a specific crew is prone to call, they also know what type of play that same crew will let slide.

Like Arians said, if you have a flag-happy crew that will toss a yellow hanky for a defender just breathing on a receiver, it’s best not to keep hand-checking him.

8 Responses to “Scouting The Referees”

  1. DoooshLaRue Says:

    Seems like a no-brainer to me.

  2. SOEbuc Says:

    Know what BS flag they will or will not throw. College football is so much entertaining when they actually allow DBs to cover guys and get pressure on the QB without roughing the passer every time.

  3. SOEbuc Says:

    *much more entertaining

  4. firethecannons Says:

    I’m glad they are alert to this but why did they let this keep happening in last weeks game? We got multiple PI penalties–wtf for? Sometimes a statue(lawn chair whatever) is better than a player–in the case of jamel dean, we would of been better off just telling him to tackle only, it was like he needed an energy drink or something.

  5. Buczilla Says:

    It’s hard for me to blame the refs when the folks in charge make rules that are so ambiguous. It’s an easy fix too. Dust off a rule book prior to 1980 and implement everything within it’s pages immediately. 🤓

  6. JimmyJack Says:

    Id still like to know how in the heck they can call a 30 yard pentalty. Ive never seen that called before. There are too many rules. Its pretty sad when Ive been watching this game my whole life and every game something happens i dont understand.

    There are more words in the NFL rule book then their are in the Bible.

  7. gp Says:

    There are more words in the NFL rule book then their are in the Bible.
    ****************************************************

    And as many interpretations!

  8. BucsFanSince1976 Says:

    The entire defense needed that energy drink due to the very lopsided time of possession in the first half. Bucs cannot expect to win games throwing it 50 plus times. Bucs need to balance the offense more against Atl. A defense that is on the field for significantly longer periods of time will look tired , because they are. ROJO needs to have his number called alot.