The Black & Whites - Conference Titles

Skins @ Iggles
The son of Ed Hoculi 

Penalty Tendencies:

• The crew is headed by Shawn Hochuli with additions from the Clay Martin, Alex Kemp, Clete Blakeman, and Brad Allen officiating crews. 
• The Martin/Kemp/Hochuli trio ranked No. 1, 2, and 5 respectively calling offensive holding penalties in the 2024 NFL season.
• Washington has had one game apiece with the Alex Kemp and Shawn Hochuli crews this season. The major takeaway from a penalty perspective was the volume of offensive holding penalties assessed on the Commanders in those two contests. A disproportionate 48% of this team's penalties for 2024 were called versus the Saints and Falcons. The Commanders were able to hang on in both contests despite the excessive penalty count, but it's something worth noting.
• Both teams rank in the top three for ineligible man downfield penalties. This isn't a high volume penalty, but seems to get called at inopportune times. In a game that figures to be close, avoiding this infraction will be key on Sunday.
• The Commanders rank No. 1 for defensive pass interference penalties. This penalty was called at a high rate in the regular season but has declined significantly in the playoffs.
• Shawn Hochuli led crews called the lowest percentage of third down defensive penalties in the NFL this season, so both defensive units should be provided leeway on Sunday.

The Bottom Line:

• As mentioned, this is the second Hochuli officiated game for the Commanders. The first contest was a 20-19 win at the Saints. That game ended controversially with a play clock error by the officiating crew that resulted in a Saints TD when the clock should have expired to 0.00 in the fourth quarter. The Commanders hung on to win after a failed two point conversion by the Saints. It's surprising the league would even assign Hochuli to this game after the late game screwup involving this team back in Week 15 of the season.
• In the Nick Sirianni/Jalen Hurts era, the Eagles are 6-0 on the moneyline and 3-2-1 ATS in Shawn Hochuli officiated contests with a +2 penalty per game advantage over their opponents in those contests.
• In divisional games, Shawn Hochuli is 27-14-1 (65%) under in his career, although he is 3-1 over the total in 2024. Hochuli was an NFL-leading 11-5 under the total this season with his games averaging 44 points.
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Bills @ Chiefs

Clete Blakeman

Penalty Tendencies:

• The crew is headed by Clete Blakeman with two officials from the Shawn Hochuli crew and one apiece from the Shawn Smith, John Hussey, Tra Blake, and Bill Vinovich crews.
• Clete Blakeman called 53.5% of his penalties on the home team in 2024, co-ranking him No. 1 (with Tra Blake) in this category.
• The line of scrimmage will be patrolled by Blakeman along with the two Hochuli and one Smith official. That group will be monitoring the trenches and line of scrimmage.
• The Bills rank No. 1 in false start penalties. They committed no infractions in this category last week with the Cheffers crew, who ranked last in the NFL calling false starts.
• The Smith and Hochuli contingent rank No. 1 and No. 2 respectively calling false start penalties. If there is a weak link for Buffalo, it is false starts, particularly on early downs.
• Unnecessary roughness and roughing the passer penalties have been a hot topic in the aftermath of the Chiefs' Divisional Round win over the Texans. When it comes to those two categories, this crew is predisposed more than most to throw flags on questionable hits.
• Clete Blakeman's ranked No. 1 for unnecessary roughness this season, and the Shawn Smith crew led the league in 2023. They ranked top five again this season.
• The presence of two Hochuli officials patrolling the line of scrimmage area ensures roughing the passer is always in play. They’ve ranked in the top three of all crews over the past three seasons.
• The Chiefs rank second overall for offensive holding penalties, and that has continued to be their one area of concern from a penalty perspective. The Bills are the seventh-most penalized team for offensive holding on the road.
• In their three playoff contests in the Josh Allen vs. Patrick Mahomes era, the Chiefs are averaging just 2 penalties per game for 19 yards and the Bills 4 for 27 yards.

The Bottom Line:

• In the Mahomes era, the Chiefs are 5-6 on the moneyline and 4-6-1 ATS in Clete Blakeman officiated contests.
• In the Allen era, the Bills are 6-2 on the moneyline and 4-4 ATS with Blakeman. Buffalo was favored by an average of 7.5 points in those contests.
• Home teams were an NFL worst 5-11 with Clete Blakeman in 2024.
• Home teams are 7-5 on the moneyline and 3-9 ATS in Clete Blakeman officiated playoff games, with those home teams favored by 5 points on average.
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Meant to highlight these, not sure what happened with thread title format either.  

@kcblitzkrieg

Chiefs vs Redskins ?????$$$$$????????????

Great info. Thank you for sharing. 

Bills/Eagles

Thanks  for the info