Rookie referee Tra Blake has been assigned to officiate the Kansas City Chiefs Week 17 game against the Denver Broncos according to Football Zebras.
Blake is in the middle of his third season as an NFL official in 2022. He was promoted from umpire to referee this season in order to replace the recently retired Tony Corrente. He’s the first official to be promoted to a referee role since Land Clark was promoted to the referee role back in 2020.
Blake has not officiated a regular-season game for the Chiefs or the Broncos this season, but he was assigned to Kansas City’s preseason Week 1 game against the Chicago Bears. His crew called just two penalties for 11 yards against the Chiefs during that game and seven total penalties.
Through 14 games officiated this season, Blake’s crew comes in just behind Carl Cheffers and Clete Blakeman’s crew with 177 total penalties called. His crew has averaged 12.64 penalties per game with 85 on the home team and 92 on the away team. This crew also has tied for the third-fewest dismissed penalties in the NFL.
Like every crew, offensive holding (31) and false start (28) are the most frequent penalties called. Where this crew differs is that they call roughing the passer (12) more frequently than other crews in the NFL. The next-closest crew has four fewer roughing penalties called this season. The Broncos are tied with six other teams for the third-most roughing penalties this season (4), while the Chiefs are tied for the fourth-most (3) with 10 other teams. Unnecessary roughness is also among the top-called penalties by this crew (12), which is tied for the second-most in the NFL this season. Denver and Kansas City are both tied for the fourth-most in the league on unnecessary roughness penalties with six on the year.
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