The New Orleans Saints’ Week 3 matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles has been assigned its head referee, which will be Scott Novak per Football Zebras. The Saints did see Novak last season as well, when they went up against the Carolina Panthers in Week 2, where he called only three penalties on them for 32 total yards.
Throughout the past few seasons the Saints have seen Novak a couple times, and they are now 3-2 all-time with him as the referee. His crew is tied for the 7th-fewest penalty flags thrown this season (28 flags, 4 of which were dismissed) with 17 on the home teams and only 7 on visiting teams. Additionally, his crews rank 4th-lowest in total penalty yards per game (77) this season as well. They’ve been vigilant for false starts which have accounted for 10 of those infractions.
Philadelphia has been fouled 16 times across two games, losing 53 yards to penalty in Week 1 and 57 yards in Week 2. Strangely, their biggest issue has been ineligible men downfield. The Eagles have been penalized three times for that while the rest of the NFL has combined for six fouls.
Penalties were not much of a concern for the Saints in Week 2 under Shawn Smith, as they only received five penalties for 40 yards. However, their Week 1 counts were significantly worse, as they took 10 penalties for 95 yards. Hopefully that improvement continues and Novak will lean more towards the more recent total and let the teams play, as he has been doing so far this season.
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