Tag: referee

Veteran referee Carl Cheffers assigned to Week 15 Saints-Giants game

Veteran referee Carl Cheffers has been assigned to Week 15’s Saints-Giants game. New Orleans has more wins with him on the field than any other referee:

Veteran referee Carl Cheffers has been assigned to Week 15’s game between the New Orleans Saints and New York Giants, which should be good news for Saints fans. The black and gold have more wins with Cheffers on the field than any other referee, having gone 14-4 since 2008.

That’s not to say Cheffers is playing favorites; the infractions he and his crew look for may just happen to be things the Saints do a good job avoiding. Or, more likely, most of his games with New Orleans fell during the winningest era in franchise history with Drew Brees and Sean Payton calling the shots.

At any rate: this year, Cheffers’ crew is averaging the seventh-fewest penalty flags per game (11.5) with a near-even split between home teams and visitors. They’ve fouled teams more often for false starts (28 of them) and offensive holding (24) than anything else, but the handsy Saints secondary must watch out — Cheffers’ crew has thrown 11 penalty flags for defensive pass interference in as many games.

New York averages just 5.4 penalties for 44.6 yards per game each week, which ranks in the bottom-10 in the league in both areas. New Orleans is averaging 6.1 fouls (which is 18th) and 55.5 yards per game (9th-most, troublingly), largely due to those defensive pass interference infractions. No team averages more yards lost per game to DPI penalties than the Saints (16.8). They’ll need to be careful in coverage and keep it clean.

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Twitter reacts to Chiefs’ brutal loss to Bills in Week 14

Users on Twitter had some feelings about the #Chiefs’ brutal loss to the #Bills in Week 14.

The Kansas City Chiefs lost to the Buffalo Bills in heartbreaking fashion on Sunday after a late touchdown was nullified by a rarely-called offensive offside penalty on wide receiver Kadarius Toney.

While the controversial call by the referees was a huge part of Chiefs Kingdom’s angst after the game, Kansas City’s performance against Buffalo was frustrating to watch in its entirety. Without Isiah Pacheco in the backfield, the Chiefs offense looked listless, and an early interception thrown by Patrick Mahomes gave the Bills momentum as early as the first quarter.

Fans posted about Kansas City’s disconcerting showing on social media after the game and made their feelings about the loss clear. Some used humor to cope with the Chiefs’ defeat, while others were a bit more direct with their anger about Kansas City’s latest collapse.

Check out some of Twitter’s best reactions to the brutal Week 14 game against Buffalo below:

Referee Alan Eck assigned to his second Saints game this season

Referee Alan Eck assigned to his second Saints game this season

The New Orleans Saints will play their second game with referee Alan Eck on the field this season in Sunday’s matchup with the Carolina Panthers; they last saw him in Week 6, during their loss to the Houston Texans. Eck was promoted to referee this summer after previously working as an NFL umpire and side judge for seven years.

Eck’s crew averages fewer penalties per game (11.4) than most squads around the league, but he nearly met that total back in Week 6. New Orleans was fouled 7 times for 83 yards against just 3 penalties for 29 yards on the Texans.

Why such an imbalance? Pass interference penalties on Paulson Adebo and Marshon Lattimore cost the Saints 45 yards, and the offensive line combined for another 25 penalty yards (Erik McCoy and Trevor Penning were fouled for holding, Max Garcia had a false start). Derek Carr was flagged for intentional grounding, too.

Hopefully the Saints can cut down on those penalties; they’ve drawn exactly 6 fouls for 50 penalty yards in each of their last two games coming out of the Week 13 bye. Negative yardage and lost opportunities have held them back all season and time is running out to make up for those mistakes.

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Twitter reacts to controversial officiating late in Chiefs’ matchup vs. Packers

Twitter wasn’t thrilled with referees during the #Chiefs’ matchup against the #Packers in Week 13.

The Kansas City Chiefs did their best to make the end of their matchup against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday Night Football interesting in the fourth quarter.

After a litany of injuries and a comedy of errors on both sides of the ball, Kansas City got the ball with just over a minute left in the game facing an eight-point deficit.

First, Patrick Mahomes scrambled to his right to convert a first down and was met on the sideline by Packers safety Jonathan Owens, who hit him hard. A personal foul was assessed, and Kansas City seemed to have been bailed out by the referees in a crucial situation.

Then, receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling was bear-hugged by a Packers defender deep downfield when targeted by Mahomes, and no pass interference penalty was assessed.

Fans went ballistic on Twitter in reaction to the inconsistent officiating.

Check out their top reaction to the call below:

NFL assigns referee Clay Martin to Week 13’s Saints-Lions game

The NFL has assigned referee Clay Martin and his crew to officiate Week 13’s game between the New Orleans Saints and Detroit Lions:

The NFL has assigned referee Clay Martin and his crew to officiate Week 13’s game between the New Orleans Saints and Detroit Lions; Martin has been on hand for just three Saints games since being promoted to referee in 2018, but New Orleans is 2-1 with him on the field. Detroit is 2-3.

And Martin’s crew averages the second-fewest penalty flags per game among the NFL’s 17 officiating staffs (10.7), with an emphasis on offensive holding fouls (30) and false starts (20). That’s the good news. The bad news is that Martin’s staff have penalized home teams much more often (63 times) than visitors (44) this season, so the Saints won’t have any benefits of hosting this game.

Dennis Allen’s Saints team is not as disciplined as Dan Campbell’s Lions squad. Detroit has been fouled 62 times in 11 games, for a total loss of 578 yards; New Orleans has drawn 70 penalty markers for a combined 642 yards in 11 games as well. Take that down to per-game averages and the Saints are being fouled 6.4 times for 58.4 yards each week. The Lions are being penalized 5.7 times for 52.5 yards. The Saints must mind their hands and play clean football on Sunday to avoid those penalties and stay out of their own way.

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Referee Brad Allen assigned to Saints-Falcons matchup in Week 12

Referee Brad Allen has been assigned to Week 12’s Saints-Falcons game. His crew averages the second-fewest penalty flags per game in 2023:

Here’s your Week 12 referee assignment: veteran referee Brad Allen and his crew will officiate the New Orleans Saints’ upcoming road game with the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday. The Saints are 5-3 in games with Allen at referee, while the Falcons are 5-6, dating back to his debut in 2014.

Allen’s crew is known for letting the teams play; they’re averaging the second-fewest penalty flags per game this season (10.6), with an emphasis on offensive holding fouls (16 in 9 games) and false start infractions (15), as well as defensive pass interference (9). But on the whole they’ve stayed off of cameras and let the two teams play ball.

And that’s good news for the Saints, who are averaging the fourth-most penalty yards per game (59.2) this season. The Falcons are averaging 49.3 penalty yards each week, which is close to the league average. The New Orleans defense is yielding more yards by penalty (33) than any other defense around the league, so they’ll need to watch their hands and play a clean game on Sunday.

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NFL assigns referee Adrian Hill to Week 10 Saints-Vikings game

The NFL has assigned referee Adrian Hill to Week 10 Saints-Vikings game. New Orleans is 2-1 with him at referee, while the Vikings are 2-3:

Don’t expect many penalty flags to fly on Sunday. The NFL has assigned referee Adrian Hill to Week 10’s game between the New Orleans Saints and Minnesota Vikings — and Hill’s crew averages just 10.5 penalty markers per game, fourth-fewest among the 17 officiating crews.

If you’re curious, the Saints are 2-1 in games with Hill at referee, who was promoted to the post back in 2019 after nine years as a field judge, side judge, and line judge. The Vikings are 2-3. This will be the first game in 2023 either team has played with Hill on the field; the Saints haven’t seen him since their Dec. 27, 2021 loss to the Miami Dolphins.

But that doesn’t mean this will be a penalty-free game. Hill’s crew has fouled visiting teams 50 times compared to just 34 infractions on home squads. They have thrown more penalty flags for false starts (15) than anything else, so the Saints need to be mindful of that when they have the football. They were fouled just once last week for a season-low 5 yards, which was a false start penalty on tight end Juwan Johnson.

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Twitter reactions to egregious officiating in Cowboys’ loss to Eagles

The Cowboys didn’t lose because of the officials, but they certainly didn’t get a fair shake in the Week 9 loss. A look at how folks reacted on Twitter. | From @KDDrummondNFL

The Dallas Cowboys didn’t lose because of the NFL referees. Let’s get that out of the way first and foremost. In every game, there are a multitude of plays that can be called either way and once the ball starts rolling in one direction, it’s easy to pay attention to every greivance on one side and ignore the ones on the other.

However, the calls the refs made, and others they didn’t make, certainly made the Dallas Cowboys’ efforts more of an uphill battle than they did for the Philadelphia Eagles in the 28-23 game on Sunday afternoon.

There has been a long tradition in the NFL where the Cowboys are constantly on the short end of the officiating stick; actual studies have been done on this in the past. However, more often than not, as long as time is left on the clock, the results almost inevitably end up being back in a team’s control.  Sunday’s loss had numerous examples of the Cowboys being screwed by the calls, but also messing up themselves.

Dak Prescott stepping out of bounds on a two-point conversion was not the ref’s fault. Tyler Smith false starting on first-and-goal from the six yard line was not the ref’s fault. Either of those things

What was the ref’s fault? Plenty. There was the lack of an offensive pass interference call when Devonta Smith used an arm bar to create separation for his TD against DaRon Bland. There was the lack of a DPI call when CeeDee Lamb was grabbed on a deep ball the very next play.

There was the DPI called against Stephon Gilmore on an uncatchable ball that landed well outside the sideline on a throwaway. There was the penalty on Chuma Edoga for not declaring eligible that negated a Tony Pollard TD. Three plays later there was an overrule that claimed Luke Schoonmaker was down before crossing the goal line. The refs threw a flag for illegal hands to the face but picked it up when the replay showed there was clearly hands to the face.

Again, the Dallas Cowboys had a chance to win this game despite these officiating errors, and they didn’t come through. But the refs were really bad in this game and as such, the reaction on social media let them have it.

Veteran referee Craig Wrolstad assigned to Week 8’s Saints-Colts game

Veteran referee Craig Wrolstad has been assigned to Week 8’s Saints-Colts game. New Orleans is 7-3 in games he has refereed:

Veteran referee Craig Wrolstad has been assigned to Week 8’s New Orleans game, yet another road trip to face an AFC opponent: the Indianapolis Colts. But there’s some good news. New Orleans is 7-3 in games Wrolstad has refereed, and his experienced crew is one of the better-regarded outfits around the league.

Wrolstad has worked as a referee since 2014; before that, he spent 11 years in the NFL as a field judge. This season his squad has thrown just 82 penalty flags (22 of them dismissed), with their 60 accepted penalties ranking third-lowest among the 17 officiating crews. Their 564 penalty yards rank sixth-fewest.

But 33 of those fouls have come against visiting teams, with 27 going against the home team. Like with many other crews, Wrolstad’s squad has signaled more infractions for offensive holding (10) and false starts (9) than anything else, though they’re vigilant for defensive pass interference penalties (6 of them for 137 yards).

What’s concerning is that they’ve flagged visiting teams 5 times for DPI and just once on the home team, so the handsy Saints secondary must play clean football in front of them. New Orleans leads the league with 10 DPI fouls for 176 yards; no other team has more than 6 of them.

Here’s who has been at fault on those DPI penalties:

  • Paulson Adebo: 4 foul on 185 cover snaps
  • Marshon Lattimore: 2 fouls on 272 cover snaps
  • Alontae Taylor: 1 time on 242 cover snaps
  • Pete Werner: 1 time on 224 cover snaps
  • Marcus Maye: 1 time on 145 cover snaps
  • Isaac Yiadom: 1 time on 95 cover snaps

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After review, Gene Steratore changes his stance on Pat Surtain-Romeo Doubs play

After review, Gene Steratore now says he was wrong to say Pat Surtain should have been awarded an interception against the Packers.

Officials ruled that Green Bay Packers wide receiver Romeo Doubs caught a touchdown pass against Denver Broncos cornerback Pat Surtain on Sunday.

Some fans and pundits — including ex-referee and current CBS rules expert Gene Steratore — thought that Surtain actually should have been awarded an interception on the play.

The game’s ref, Alex Kemp, disagreed with Steratore’s interpretation of the play, and after two days of review, Steratore himself has now changed his tune.

“No matter what you do, owning up and taking accountability is how you get better,” Steratore wrote on his Twitter/X page on Tuesday. “My interpretation of the play in #GBvsDEN was incorrect. I overthought it and just missed it. As a ref (whether grade school or pro), you learn the most from the <5% of calls that you miss.”

The play was still controversial, but thankfully, Doubs scoring did not decide the game. Denver held on to beat Green Bay 19-17.

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