The Tennessee Titans are set to host the Houston Texans in an AFC South showdown. This game should be filled with a lot of emotions, as the Titans will be wearing their Houston Oilers throwbacks against the current Houston franchise, something its fans have constantly voiced their displeasure about.
As silly as it sounds, this is the type of thing that can take a rivalry to an entirely different level. A lot of people in that city grew up rooting for the Oilers, and now they’re forced to cheer against the team they once loved.
I’d expect there to be a lot of chippy moments throughout this contest.
Clete Blakeman and his staff will be in charge of keeping Sunday’s game from getting out of hand. This will be Blakeman’s first game officiating for either of these teams this season.
According to the NFLPenalties.com, Blakeman and his team have been one of the most lenient officiating units in the NFL.
After 12 games, his staff ranks in the bottom-six when it comes to the number of flags thrown (169, sixth-fewest), penalties accepted (135, sixth-fewest) and penalty yardage (1,052, second-lowest).
Listed below are the top five most-frequent penalties that Blakeman and his staff have called through the first 14 weeks, as well as the five that have been called the least.
Now that we’ve covered all of that, let’s take a closer look at the tendencies of this particular officiating crew in order to get a better idea of what to expect come Sunday afternoon.
Home and road penalty splits
- Number of penalties called on home teams: 64
- Penalty yardage on home teams: 530
- Number of penalties called on away teams: 71
- Penalty yardage on away teams: 522
Most-called penalties
- False start (24)
- Offensive holding (19)
- Defensive pass interference (17)
- Delay of game (14)
- Defensive holding (11)
Least-called penalties
- Unsportsmanlike conduct (One)
- Low block (One)
- Intentional grounding (One)
- Player out of bounds on kick (One)
- Illegal Shift (One)
