Las Vegas Raiders Should Keep Score on the NFL Officiating Crew
Football is back and on Sunday the Las Vegas Raiders will see their arch enemies, and it’s not the Los Angeles Chargers.
In fact, their worst enemies on the field have been the NFL’s officiating crew.
Last season, the Raiders finished as the second-most penalized team with 124 penalties, only the Dallas Cowboys had more penalties called (127).
Most of the calls (42) came from the offensive line, creating 18 false starts and 24 offensive holdings.
Well things could get worse this upcoming season.
Carl Cheffers was the referee for this season’s opener between the Buffalo Bills and the Los Angeles Rams.
Cheffers and his crew has thrown the most ‘yellow’ flags in a season three times, including 2021 when it assessed 229 penalties, the previous times were in 2014 and 2015.
The NFL continues to make it tougher on players, as they do every year during the offseason, the “point of emphasis” for the upcoming season will be illegal contact.
Only another reason for referees to throw the flag a bit more.
Sixteen of the 17 NFL referees return from last season.
Long-time referee Tony Corrente has retired, which now leaves Jerome Boger as the NFL’s most-senior referee.
Shawn Hochuli will be following in his father’s footsteps.
“Hochuli is a second-generation NFL referee, following in the footsteps of his father Ed. He’s also following in his father’s footsteps on the field. Ed’s crew assessed the most penalties in the NFL in 2010. Shawn’s crew assessed the most penalties in his rookie season in 2018. Shawn’s crew has finished in the Top 3 in penalties in two of his four seasons,” said Rick Gosselin on his officiating report.
Hochuli's crew has assessed an average of 13.8 penalties for 120.2 yards per game, highest averages of the 16 returning officiating crews.
Shawn Smith will be the officiating official on Sunday's game against the Chargers, he finished 9th last season with an average 12.5 penalties per game.
In 15 of the last 16 seasons, the Raiders have had over 100 penalties and have led the league in penalties on three different occasions in the last ten years.
The Raiders did show a massive improvement during the preseason, but it’s still an area of concern following the unbiased officiating and miscues of the team.
Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels has made it a ‘point of emphasis’ to correct those issues, and on Sunday we will see if the team will be on track of doing so.
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