Zebra Watch #13

The NFL officiating world was rather quiet in week No. 13 on the schedule.

I’m sure that’s something the league office was happy about. The 16 games averaged just 10.2 penalties walked off, making it one of the quietest weekends for games on the season. The most active game was 15 penalties; that’s the fewest penalties in the most active game this season.

It’s all further evidence that the folks who run the zebras are trying to make sure they are less active and thus, less of a factor in the outcome of games.

That’s why the difference between the least active and most active crews continues to drop. This week it’s a 4.8 penalty difference between Walt Coleman’s crew (9.4 per game) and Jeff Triplette’s group (14.2 per game).

What has remained consistent all season is this: the crews with the least flags after two weeks are still the crews with the fewest penalties: Coleman, Carl Cheffers and Gene Steratore. And, the crews with the most flags after two games are still the groups with the most penalties: Jerome Boger, Ron Winter and Triplette.

Here are the numbers.

WEEK #13

Home/Away numbers in red for winning team

2008 OVERALL