The penalty flag could become a common occurence for the Cleveland Browns as they take on the Baltimore Ravens in Week 4.
Well, better get ready for a penalty-fest on Sunday. Hochuli is assigned to officiate the Browns game this Sunday.
As Camryn Justice mentioned, Hochuli led last Thursday’s penalty laden game between the Titans and Jaguars. Thursday saw 13 accepted penalties totaling 131 yards. There could be a lot of penalties for the Browns and Ravens on Sunday.
There is some history between Shawn Hochuli and the Browns. Hochuli is the ref who made the infamous Baker Mayfield was a runner and he is allowed be hit in the head call.
This call was wrong then and it is wrong now. There might be some animosity between Browns players and the son of Ed Hercules. This animosity could find its way onto the field by some of the Browns players Sunday.
Cleveland has had penalty issues all season and adding a ref who is quick to call a penalty is not a good combination. Cleveland has struggled to limit the penalties as they are the most penalized team through the first three games (35 penalties for 327 yards). NFL officials have flagged the Browns 46 total times this season (11 declined).
Cleveland will need to keep things as clean as possible. If they are unable to keep things clean it can become a long day very quickly. Limit the penalties, limit the refs impact on the game and it may just become a bit easier to win.
