Blakeman Crew King of NFL Penalties

Clete Blakeman has been an NFL referee for 14 seasons. Only Carl Cheffers has served in that capacity longer.

Three times in his first 13 seasons Blakeman’s crew finished as the NFL runnerup in penalties. But there was no stopping this crew in 2024. Blakeman assessed a league-high 252 penalties for 2,128 yards. There are 17 NFL officiating crews and his was one of 10 to walk off 200 penalties this season — but the only crew to assess 2,000 yards.

The annual complaint with NFL officiating is its consistency, or lack thereof. Coaches and teams never know what to expect from one weekend to the next, from one building to the next, from one crew to the next. A pass interference one week isn’t a pass interference the next. A holding one week isn’t a holding the next. That’s evident by the discrepancy in penalties.

At the bottom of the officiating ledger was the crew of referee John Hussey. His crew assessed a league-low 177 penalties – 75 fewer than the Blakeman crew in the same amount of games (16). Brad Allen’s crew assessed a league-low 1,406 yards in penalties – 722 fewer than the Blakeman crew, again, in the same number of games.

Think about it – the Blakeman crew walked off the length of seven-plus football fields more than the Allen crew. That’s a long walk that slows down and interrupts the pace of games.

Cheffers himself was an interesting case study in 2024. His crew has historically been quite flag-happy. In his career, his crews have assessed an average of 13.3 penalties for 114.3 yards in his 16 seasons covering 241 games — tops among the NFL’s 17 officiating crews. Cheffers has led the league in penalties four times and finished second on two other occasions. His crews have authored 10 200-penalty seasons.

But the Cheffers crew called the second fewest penalties in the NFL this season – 180 for a mere 1,458 yards, an average of 11.2 penalties and 91.1 yards per game. Given his seniority, a season like that would merit a Super Bowl assignment for Cheffers. He has served as the referee in two previous Super Bowls.

Here are some other officiating nuggets from the 2024 season:

–The 3,506 penalties assessed in 2024 were the most since 2015.

–There were 10 crews that assessed 200-plus penalties this season. There were only three such crews n 2023 and one in 2022.

–The Blakeman crew was the toughest on home teams, doling out league-highs of 134 penalties for 1,143 yards. Home teams went 5-11 with Blakeman this season.

–The Craig Wrolstad crew was toughest on road teams, doing out 127 penalties for 1,047 yards. Yet road teams went 9-7 with Wrolstad this season.

–Road teams fared best with the crews of Blakeman and Clay Martin, posting 11-5 records. Home teams fared best with the crew of Alex Kemp, posting a 13-3 record.

–There were 77 games this season when a team was assessed 10-plus penalties. The Blakeman crew issued a league-high 12 of them. The Cheffers and Hussey crews had one apiece.

–There were 27 games this season when a team was assessed at least 100 yards in penalties. The Blakeman crew issued a league-high five of them. Four crews did not assess any 100-yard games.

–Only two teams had neither a 10-penalty nor a 100-yard penalty game — and they both played in the same building. The Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers were teams that managed to best play within the rules in 2024.

–The Baltimore Ravens, Dallas Cowboys, New York Jets and Tennessee Titans shared the league lead with five 10-penalty games. The Ravens were alone at the top in 100-yard penalty games with four.