NFL analyst shares how the referee for Chiefs at Bills could impact the game

Some Buffalo Bills fans believe their team has to play against the Chiefs in Sunday’s AFC Divisional playoff game and the referee.

The NFL announced Tuesday that Shawn Hochuli would be the referee for the game in Orchard Park, New York, and Bills fans expressed their displeasure almost immediately.

What can we expect from Hochuli?

Joe Gibbs of Sharp Football Analysis reported that offensive-holding calls were down in the Wild Card games, but the Chiefs and Bills were among the top-five most penalized teams for that infraction in the regular season.

“Shawn Hochuli has consistently ranked at or near the top of the NFL for offensive-holding penalties in his career,” Gibbs wrote. “He ranks fifth overall in 2023.”

Will the trend of fewer holding penalties continue Sunday? Warren Sharp, the namesake of the Sharp Football Analysis, said that’s something to watch. And he shared another area in which Hochuli could impact Sunday’s divisional playoff game.

While on the “Ferrall Coast to Coast” podcast, Sharp said Hochuli is known to call roughing-the-passer penalties. Sharp said fans should watch what happens when Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the Bills’ Josh Allen are hit by a defensive player.

“These guys love to turn to the refs and ask for a flag after there’s a contested hit on them that may or may not have actually been roughing the passer, but they’re going to try to act and try to draw that flag,” Sharp said. “And Shawn Hochuli will fall for that, in my opinion. He has thrown the most roughing-the-passer penalties of any ref this year.

“The other thing that we should be able to expect in this game is that these refs tone down their offensive holding calls, and the Chiefs and the Bills both are victims of having too many offensive holding penalties on their own lines. But the Bills, when they play at home, really force other teams to hold a little bit more. And those usually get called. If the refs are not calling as much offensive holding that’s a slight advantage to the Kansas City Chiefs. ...

“There could be a penalty like a roughing the passer that decides this game. It flips some field position potentially in a closely contested game, and I think both of these quarterbacks are going to be moving around the pocket trying to find something down the field, getting a little bit frustrated and using their legs a little bit more and there could be some of those hits.”

Here is Sharp talking about Hochuli.