We have news to share with you, Bills Mafia. If you were expecting a game with minimal penalties like Week 1 against the Baltimore Ravens… think again. After having John Hussey who called the least amount of penalties in 2024, the Buffalo Bills have drawn Clete Blakeman for their trip to New Jersey. Blakeman’s crew called the most amount of penalties in 2024.
To make matters worse, Blakeman opens up old wounds as he was the official during the AFC Championship game last season. Hopefully his crew
can properly spot the ball this weekend so that Josh Allen isn’t wrongly marked short of the line to gain.
Blakeman called 263 penalties last year, where it was pretty much split with 139 being called on the home team and 124 being called on the away team. Including the AFC Championship game, Blakeman had 15 games calling at least 10 penalties. He was also the official in the last Bills game against the New York Jets where 23 penalties were called in Week 17.
Expect to see a lot of false starts called and offensive holding as Blakeman’s crew called 46 and 42 of those respectively last season. The crew doesn’t like the defense getting physical with opposing receivers as their fourth- and fifth-most frequently called penalty is defensive pass interference and defensive holding, respectively. That will be important to keep an eye on in one of the pivotal matchups this week with wide receiver Keon Coleman most likely drawing Sauce Gardner in coverage — who’s known to be a physical cornerback.
Something to keep an eye out for is roughing the passer, with Josh Allen having been known to put the defense in position to receive the call. As it relates to this week’s officiating crew, Blakeman only called three of those penalties last season.
