NFL Referees Became the Story in Week 4 With Several Bizarre Moments on Sunday

A referee’s job during an NFL game is to supervise what happens between the white lines, enforce rules and ultimately keep order on the field—not to become the story.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened during a bizarre Sunday in the NFL.

Across several matchups in Week 4, officials found themselves at the center of some heated moments, criticized for the number of penalties that were called and even had an infamous viral moment that is now under review by the NFL.

For a group that’s supposed to do its best to stay invisible during games, NFL officials did the exact opposite this weekend. Here’s a look at the wild moments they were involved in on Sunday afternoon.

Mike Vrabel gets flagged by Bill Vinovich for arguing a defensive holding call

It all began with the Patriots’ intra-division contest against the Bills at Buffalo’s new Highmark Stadium.

As Josh Allen drove the Bills offense down the field late in the first half, they were helped by what officials deemed a defensive hold by cornerback Marcus Jones—and further assisted by Patriots coach Mike Vrabel’s disdain for the call.

“That’s a f— terrible f— call,” Vrabel could be seen yelling towards an official after the play.

Head referee Bill Vinovich flagged Vrabel for unsportsmanlike conduct, a 15-yard penalty that set the Bills up inside the Patriots’ 10-yard line and ultimately led to a game-tying rushing touchdown from Allen.

After the game—a 29–26 Patriots win—Vinovich was asked by pool reporter Mike Reiss if coaches are given a warning in situations like that.

“I don’t know how you’re going to give a warning,” he explained. “It’s not something that is going to happen twice. When you use language like that, it’s pretty much a given.

Vrabel seems to have a different perspective.

“I told him it was a terrible—I’m not going to say effing—call,” Vrabel said when asked about the infraction. “I’ve said that 87 times since I’ve been a head coach. It was nothing derogatory. You’d have to ask him. I think he was a little sensitive. … I probably shouldn’t have swore, but I can tell you in my history of being on the sidelines as a head coach, I’ve said that. And I apologized to him. The players responded. It was unfortunate and I have to be better in those moments.”

Official appears to yell “F— you” toward Cardinals tight end Trey McBride

On the flipside, it was an official who was slinging profanities towards a player during a game between the Cardinals and Giants at MetLife Stadium on Sunday.

After a play in which Arizona tight end Trey McBride believed he had been interfered with, he began pleading his case with line judge Jeff Seeman. Seeman wasn’t having any of it, and cameras appeared to catch him yelling, “F— you,” towards McBride twice.

It’s worth noting that CBS sideline reporter Aditi Kinkhabwala was standing right next to the interaction and claims that McBride began his plea with the official by saying “please.”

The now-viral moment has caught the attention of NFLPA executive director JC Tretter, who shared the following statement on X:

“This kind of behavior from an official towards a player is unacceptable. Players are consistently held accountable when the roles are reversed. We expect the NFL to hold officials to the same standard.”

According to multiple reports, the league is now reviewing the incident.

Liam Coen sounds off on the amount of penalties called in Jaguars-Bengals game

If you’ve been watching NFL football over the past several weeks and thought to yourself, “Wow, there have been a lot of yellow flags thrown,” you’re not wrong. In fact, they’re being tossed at a record pace.

Through the first 14 games of Week 4, the NFL is averaging the most penalties per game in league history. According to @nflrefstats1 on X, officials are throwing 17 flags per game for an average of 130 penalty yards. Additionally, as noted by 247Sports’ Eli Berkovitz, there were a whopping 238 accepted penalties for 1,830 penalty yards this weekend—not including Sunday Night Football or Monday Night Football—and 12 teams were penalized 10-plus times.

That included the Jaguars, who committed 13 penalties in their win over the Jaguars on Sunday. That number factored into the total 24 (!) flags thrown throughout the contest.

“Man, that was wild,” Coen said at the podium after the game, shaking his head. “I’ve never been a part of anything like that before in my life. I’m not going to say anything to get fined, but that was just mental. I’ve just never quite seen something that much in the first half of a football game.”

Adrian Hill gets into it with Vikings linebacker Eric Wilson

After a field goal-filled, 15–10 Vikings win over the Dolphins on Sunday, Minnesota kicker Will Reichard should be the one we’re talking about. Instead, it’s referee Adrian Hill.

While Vikings linebacker Eric Wilson was rushing toward Dolphins quarterback Malik Willis, he was blocked into Hill by running back Ollie Gordon II and inadvertently knocked him to the ground. The play had been ruled dead, which is why Hill was in the proverbial crosshairs in the first place.

Realizing what he’d done, Wilson quickly tried to help Hill off the ground—but the official wasn’t having any of it.

After snapping up off the ground and getting in Wilson’s face, Hill pointed the linebacker toward the Vikings’ defensive huddle before a fellow official eventually stepped in to separate the two. Like the exchange between McBride and Seeman, the NFL says it will also be reviewing this play.

It was another strange interaction that only underscored how wild a day it was for NFL officiating.

Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollowPublished just now | Modified just nowMIKE KADLICK

Mike Kadlick is a senior NFL news writer for Sports Illustrated. He’s also a New England Patriots reporter for CLNS Media, where he hosts the Patriots Daily podcast and covers the beat from Gillette Stadium. Before joining SI, Kadlick worked at WEEI sports radio in Boston. He holds a master’s degree in public relations from Boston University. When Kadlick’s not covering football, he can be found running, spending time with his wife and dog, and enjoying all things pizza.

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