15-year NFL referee Carl Cheffers and his crew are set to officiate the Kansas City Chiefs’ Week 15 game against the Houston Texans according to Football Zebras.
This is the second time that the Chiefs have drawn Cheffers and his crew this season, with the first occurrence coming back in Week 5’s “Monday Night Football” tilt with the Las Vegas Raiders. That game included a controversial roughing the passer penalty called against DT Chris Jones. The Arrowhead Stadium crowd booed Cheffers and turned on the officiating crew. The play is one of many this season that have sparked new debate surrounding how the roughing the passer calls are officiated.
Through 12 games, Cheffers’ crew has called the fourth-most penalties in the NFL this season with 158 on the year. Cheffers calls the second-most penalties per game at 13, with only Clete Blakeman’s crew calling more penalties on a per-game basis. Cheffers’ crew also dismisses the fourth-fewest penalties in the NFL, so if a penalty is called initially, expect it to stand. A total of 76 penalties have been called on the home team by this crew compared to 82 on the away team.
Like every other officiating crew, false start (31) and offensive holding (29) lead the way. Houston has around the league average in false start penalties with 14 on the year, while Kansas City has the fewest in the NFL this season with five. After those two penalties, defensive pass interference (12) and defensive holding (10) have been called with the greatest frequency by this crew. That’s not great news for the Texans, who are going to be missing their top two cornerbacks, Derek Stingley Jr. and Steven Nelson.
