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The first week of officiating assignments has been reported by Football Zebras, and the New Orleans Saints will have a familiar crew in place when they kick off against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this Sunday. Veteran referee Jerome Boger and his crew will be on hand for this first matchup between Drew Brees and Tom Brady.
Boger refereed two Saints games last year, both on the road: Week 6’s 13-6 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars and Week 16’s 38-28 rout of the Tennessee Titans. He last visited the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in 2016, officiating the Saints’ 31-24 win over Tampa Bay on Christmas Eve. Boger worked two seasons as a line judge before being promoted to referee in 2006, and has held the position ever since.
Last season, Boger’s crew averaged 14.4 penalties and 119.1 penalty yards per game, calling exactly 50.0% of fouls on the home team; 2.6% above league average. They also averaged 5.7 penalty yards more than the league average.
The Saints didn’t receive much help from Boger and Co. last year. In their first game with the Jaguars, the Saints were flagged three times (for 35 yards) while the Jaguars drew two fouls (for 15 yards). But in their second meeting against the Titans, New Orleans was hit with 11 penalties (for 70 yards) while Tennessee was penalized six times (for 56 yards). That’s a small sample size, but it’s worth remembering.
One underrated storyline this year is going to be the performance of NFL officials without their usual preseason warm-up. While they have toured team training camps for practice, they won’t have the usual time to prepare and work through early-season jitters. Any crews adding new members have had less time to gel, which may lead to more blown calls and mistakes.
So hopefully Saints fans won’t see much of Boger on this week’s broadcast. At least he’s not Bill Vinovich.
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