Don’t expect many penalty flags to fly on Sunday. The NFL has assigned referee Adrian Hill to Week 10’s game between the New Orleans Saints and Minnesota Vikings — and Hill’s crew averages just 10.5 penalty markers per game, fourth-fewest among the 17 officiating crews.
If you’re curious, the Saints are 2-1 in games with Hill at referee, who was promoted to the post back in 2019 after nine years as a field judge, side judge, and line judge. The Vikings are 2-3. This will be the first game in 2023 either team has played with Hill on the field; the Saints haven’t seen him since their Dec. 27, 2021 loss to the Miami Dolphins.
But that doesn’t mean this will be a penalty-free game. Hill’s crew has fouled visiting teams 50 times compared to just 34 infractions on home squads. They have thrown more penalty flags for false starts (15) than anything else, so the Saints need to be mindful of that when they have the football. They were fouled just once last week for a season-low 5 yards, which was a false start penalty on tight end Juwan Johnson.
