Craig Rolstad will officiate Wednesday’s Christmas game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs. And he has a lot of penalty flags stuffed into his stocking.
According to NFLpenalties.com, Vrolstad and his staff have thrown more yellows than any other officiating team this season, with 227 on the season. His 15.1 penalties per game are the second-highest among referees, just behind Clete Blakeman’s 15.2. They are the only umpires to average more than 14.5 flags per game. The number of calls factor has decreased, with Vrolstad leading the league with 18 per game.
This is a significant increase from a season ago, when his team was among the least flagged, accepting an average of just 9.9 penalties per game.
This will be the first Steelers game Rolstad has worked on this season. He was part of Pittsburgh’s win over the Los Angeles Rams last season and in a rematch with the Cincinnati Bengals. The Steelers were flagged eight times against the Rams, but only twice against the Bengals.
Vrolstad has the most false starts (42) and offensive holds (35) this year, which rank among the top two of any referee. His third-most penalty is defensive pass interference, which has been called 19 times this season. He’s also been called defensive offsides 17 times this year, an unusually high number and a reminder to the Steelers’ pass rushers not to get too eager to increase their snap count. EDGE rushers TJ Watt, Alex Highsmith and Nick Herbig will need to give quarterback Patrick Mahomes some heat, especially considering the injuries and struggles of the Chiefs’ offensive tackles.
After entering the NFL in 2003, Vrolstad was promoted to referee in 2014. Prior to working with the league, he officiated NFL Europe games, Pac-10, and Arena Football League contests. Wahlstad and his crew center of controversy The game between the Los Angeles Rams and Detroit Lions in late 2022 was believed by many to be a bad game. In total, only seven penalties were allowed in the wild card game, but there were many questionable calls.
