One of the NFL’s fresher-faced referees will be on hand when the New Orleans Saints kick off against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next week. The league assigned Shawn Hochuli and his crew to its next Monday Night Football game, where all spotlights will be trained on Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
Hochuli, the son of longtime referee and long-winded speaker Ed Hochuli (who retired in 2018), was promoted to the post after working as a side judge and back judge from 2014 to 2017. In Week 1, Hochuli’s crew threw a dozen penalty flags with six each on the Seattle Seahawks (drawing 46 penalty yards) and the Atlanta Falcons (72 yards) in a 38-25 Seahawks win on the road.