Zebra Watch Week #12

There are always things that make you wonder about the guys in striped shirts.

And it’s not so much the guys on the field, but the folks who oversee the business of officiating in the NFL.

Take for instance the national television games, Thursday, Sunday and Monday night football. Go back to Monday night, November 10 when the 49ers and Cardinals played. In that game, Tony Corrente’s crew walked off a total of 20 penalties for 164 yards. No game that week had as many penalties and it ranks among the most penalized games of the season.

Since then, the prime-time games have had remarkably few penalties. The next Thursday night saw nine flags in the Jets-Patriots game. On Sunday night that week, the Cowboys-Redskins had just seven flags and that was from the crew of Jeff Triplette, one of the most active in the league. The Monday night game that week saw just five flags walked off in the Browns-Bills game by the crew of Jerome Boger, again one of the most active flag throwing groups in the league.

Let’s jump to last week. The Thursday night game featured the Bengals-Steelers and the crew of Ron Winter, again one of the league’s most active bunches. They walked off just six penalties. Sunday night football had the Colts-Chargers and Gene Steratore’s crew threw just eight flags and then this past Monday night, the Packers-Saints saw Walt Coleman and his guys throw just five flags.

Those three games were four of the least penalized games in the league.

It may be coincidence but I found it an interesting turn of events.

Here’s how the officials ranked last week and on the season.

 

WEEK #12

Home/Away numbers in red for winning team

2008 OVERALL