8-year veteran NFL referee John Hussey and his crew have been assigned as the officials for the Kansas City Chiefs’ game on “Thursday Night Football” against the Los Angeles Chargers according to Football Zebras.
Hussey started out as a line judge back in 2002 and worked his way up to referee in 2015. He officiated Chiefs games twice last season with his last game being the AFC divisional round win against the Bills. His crew also officiated the Chiefs-Cowboys game earlier in the regular season. He was technically assigned to Kansas City three times, but was a last-minute scratch for Ron Torbert in the Week 17 game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
You have to go back to October 4, 2021, to find the last time Hussey officiated a Chargers game. It was their 28-14 win over the Las Vegas Raiders. His crew called seven penalties for 105 yards on the Chargers in that game, but Las Vegas also had seven penalties.
In Week 1 of the 2022 NFL season, John Hussey’s crew called the Miami Dolphins vs. New England Patriots game. It had the second-fewest penalties of any Week 1 game with just seven total penalties called in the game. His crew called false start and too many men penalties twice. They also called illegal contact, a neutral zone infraction and a delay of game penalty. They also had roughing the passer and chop block penalties that were offsetting. There was an eighth penalty for offensive holding, but it was declined.
I get the sense that the NFL chose this crew because they’re going to let the Chiefs and Chargers play in Week 2. The last thing that the NFL wants is officiating to be the talk of the game in their Amazon Prime Video debut on “Thursday Night Football.”
Kansas City is 5-2 all-time with Hussey as the referee, while Los Angeles is 5-3 all-time under his officiating.
