This could be interesting: Alan Eck will referee his first New Orleans Saints game in Week 6, having been assigned to their matchup with the Houston Texans on Sunday. Eck was promoted this summer after seven years working NFL games as an umpire and side judge, replacing the retired Jerome Boger. Before he made the jump to the NFL, Eck was a referee for the Big 12 conference.
Home teams are 5-1 in games Eck has officiated this season, so the Saints will need to be careful. Eck’s crew has thrown 12.2 penalty flags per game so far (8th-most out of the 17 officiating crews) while averaging one more foul on visiting teams (6.6) than hosts (5.6) each week. The home team averages 41 penalty yards per game while the visitors have averaged 65 with Eck’s crew on the field.
So which penalties do the Saints need to be most mindful of? Offensive holding (12 fouls) and false starts (10) have been an area of emphasis from Eck’s crew, but so have unnecessary roughness infractions (6). It’s important the Saints play clean football and don’t hurt themselves. They’ve drawn penalty flags for more offensive holding (10) and false start penalties (8) than anything else, so that could be a concern on Sunday. Houston also needs to watch out for that with 8 false starts and 5 offensive holding fouls on their ledger.
Right now the Saints are tied for the third-most penalties (36 for 323 yards) but their opponents haven’t really taken advantage of it. New Orleans has benefited from the second-most fouls by opposing teams (39 for 291 yards).
