Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott mentioned last week before his team's matchup against the New York Jets that Buffalo had been assigned Scott Novak's referee crew, which had thrown the most flags of any group through eight games.
Oh my. On @WGR550, Sean McDermott says they are "well aware" that the referees (Scott Novak's crew) this week have called the most penalties by far.
— Alaina Getzenberg (@agetzenberg) November 12, 2021
Novak, who was promoted to NFL referee in 2019 as one of the replacements for retired Walt Anderson and Pete Morelli, averaged 15.1 penalties called and 118.9 penalty yards through the first eight games, and his whistles were even more frequent Sunday. The league average entering the week was 12.7 penalties per game.
In Buffalo's 45-17 win, the Bills and Jets totaled 16 penalties for 119 yards, the fourth-highest number of penalties and yards for Novak's crew this year. The Bills, penalized seven times for 50 yards Sunday, entered the game as the second-most penalized team in the league per game, according to teamrankings.com.
The Bills' 9-6 loss to Jacksonville was also littered with penalty flags, resulting in cries against head official Land Clark, whose unit frequently misidentified players and was strict on taunting infractions.
In the Bills-Jets game, the two teams combined for nine penalties in the first half, almost evenly split for a total of 69 yards. The most memorable of the calls was a questionable holding penalty on Bills offensive tackle Dion Dawkins in the second quarter, negating Josh Allen's 17-yard run and pushing the Bills from the red zone. The News' Mark Gaughan questioned whether Dawkins' foul was legitimate, pointing to a common referee assumption.
Was that really holding on Dion Dawkins? I'd like to see it a few more times. Sometimes the DL gets pancaked and a hold is presumed
— Mark Gaughan (@gggaughan) November 14, 2021
Along with the 62 total points, penalties were one factor that extended Sunday's game, which took the longest of the 1 p.m. kickoffs, despite its lopsided nature. Both the Bills and Jets finished the game with two timeouts remaining. The game took 3 hours and 23 minutes to play, 11 minutes longer than a typical game.
