NFL Week 7 2023 referees (officials) announced: Bills at Patriots: Clete Blakeman

[chongli]

NFL Capsules Week 7:

https://nflcommunications.com/Documents/2023 Football Information/Capsules/Week 7 Capsules.pdf

[scroll about 1/3 page down]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sorry, once again I set the table for 10 rows, but only 9 appeared, so I just added a new table at the end, rather than start over.]

Position	No.	Name	Exp.	2022 Crew	College	Occupation
R	34	Clete Blakeman	16	n/a	Nebraska	Attorney
U	127	Scott Campbell	Rookie	n/a	UC-Davis	Firefighter
DJ	8	Dana McKenzie	16	same	Toleda	Claims Adjuster
LJ	10	Julian Mapp	15	same	Grambling State	Software Quality Assurance Tester
FJ	43	Terry Brown	18	same	Tennessee	Court Director
SJ	99	Lo van Pham	2	same	Colorado	Engineer/Project Manager
BJ	120	Jonah Monroe*	9	Boger	Arkansas	Engineer
RA	n/a	Chad Adams	6	same	Tennessee	Operations

 

RO

n/a

Ken Hall

3

same

Lehigh, Golden Gate

Operating Partner, CEO, CFO, & Board Member

 

*Position Change: Monroe was a Side Judge last season; now he is a Back Judge.

 

 

Clete Blakeman has at times made bad calls against the Patriots, but other times helped them:

 

https://www.boston.com/sports/new-england-patriots/2019/01/15/patriots-chiefs-referee-clete-blakeman-deflategate/

 

"Sunday’s Patriots-Chiefs referee had hand in Deflategate"

 

[excerpt:]

 

"Blakeman, hopefully, has learned that lesson as well. He was one of the two officials who measured the PSI in the footballs at Gillette Stadium during halftime of the 2014-15 AFC Championship game between the Patriots and Colts, his determinations ultimately costing Tom Brady four games to start the 2016 season and the Patriots two draft picks, including a first-rounder.

 

Blakeman’s name was thus all over the Wells Report castigating the Patriots, the Wells Report in Context exonerating them, and any number of pieces in circulation livid that the Patriots — who’ll likely be underdogs for the first time in a game started by Brady since September 2015 — will have something else to overcome on Sunday.

 

What’s getting less mention is that fact about this being Blakeman’s second-straight AFC Championship game. As in he was the referee for last season’s Patriots comeback victory over Jacksonville, a game in which six of the seven accepted penalties went against the Jaguars. Those six included a pair of defensive pass interference calls, a penalty called against Jacksonville just five other times all year.

 

“The stats speak for themselves,” Jacksonville defensive tackle Malik Jackson told ESPN.

 

“You all see it,” said cornerback A.J. Bouye, who felt the Patriots had multiple infractions that weren’t called. “I got players hitting me up in the NFL saying the same thing.”

And that was just the start of the gripes from the vanquished.

 

Last year’s AFC Championship game was Blakeman’s third Patriots game since Deflategate. According to Pro Football Reference data, he also refereed a 2015 blowout of Dallas at Gillette and the Jets’ Week 16 upset (in which they were called for six of the seven accepted penalties) that helped cost New England the No. 1 seed that year. He was also the referee for this season’s Week 3 debacle in Detroit, a lopsided loss with no real notable referee involvement.

 

Blakeman does hold one other dubious spot in Patriots history: It was his crew that officiated the 2013 Monday Night game in Carolina that the Patriots lost 24-20 when Rob Gronkowski, manhandled in the end zone, didn’t get a pass interference call he appeared to deserve."

 

 

"Mistakes made by NFL "official" Clete Blakeman":

 

 

Attorney bio:

 

https://www.carlsonblakeman.com/attorneys/clete-w-blakeman/

 

"In 2018, Clete was recognized as one of the ten best attorneys in Nebraska based upon exceptional and outstanding client service by the American Institute of Personal Injury Attorneys. Clete is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates—an honor recognizing his commitment to professionalism and ethics in legal representation. He is also a standing member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum® in honor of his major individual results, including verdicts, settlements, and awards totaling over one million dollars on behalf of his clients."

Edited October 19, 2023 by chongli

[GETTOTHE50]

he’s not the worst since he’s screwed over the patriots a couple of times (I personally thought they were good calls/non calls)

[17years&waiting]

He's one of the better ones, in my opinion.

[Goin Breakdown]

Dang I'm going to start blaming the refs much sooner than usual this week. 

[Warcodered]

Got to be better than the last couple sets we've had.

 

 

[Florida Bills Fanatic]

I watch every game every week and have done so for a number of years.  Overall, the officiating has been poor this season.  Unfortunately, it isn't limited to the same crews each week but there are enough repeat offenders that the league should be addressing these worst of the bad officials.  Some of the really good head referees are often seen having long discussions with their crews before intervening to wave off bad penalty calls.  A few good officials seem to be keeping incapable officials from completely ruining games.  There have been quite a few games that are almost unwatchable because of the officiating.  If fans can identify the problem officials, you know the league knows who they are.  They effect the flow of game, the length of the game, and sometimes the outcome of the game.

[Utah John]

I don't think the NFL will ever go to full-time officials.  All these officials come up through HS and college ranks while holding down regular, full-time jobs and careers.  You're gonna tell some person who's in the middle of a long and successful career on the outside, where they're making most of their income, to step away and focus on prepping for the next game, all week long?  It's hard to see what they'd be doing all that time, and it's even harder to see many people accepting that.  Does anyone think they'd be able to slide back into their other career after the NFL is through with them?  And they probably LIKE their main jobs and won't want to stop doing them.

 

So full-time refs is probably not the solution. But there are so many cameras catching all the action.  Put half a dozen trained refs, not necessarily ready to be on the field but experienced at the college level, watching a dozen video screens, with controls to focus in on particular plays and actions, at every game.  College refs will probably be happy to take the gig, make some money, and get noticed by the NFL for possible on-field jobs in the future.  Their direction: When you see something, say something.  If Davis gets punched in the face and loses the ball, let's not award the ball to the Jets, let's penalize Okereke for unsportsmanlike conduct and let the Bills keep the ball.

18 hours ago, Warcodered said:

Got to be better than the last couple sets we've had.

 

 

Thanks for pointing that out.  I missed it completely during the game.

[Zag20]

18 hours ago, Warcodered said:

Got to be better than the last couple sets we've had.

 

 

These need to be 15 yard penalties. What Watt did to the Ravens WR was ridiculous even if not intentional. Kind of like a slide tackle in soccer…go for the punch, but if you hit the player in the face, that’s a penalty. 

[Bills!Win!]

Jerome Boger is the all time worst. Dude has no idea what a football is 

[Giuseppe Tognarelli]

The gentleman in the second photo (Super Bowl LIII) is not Clete Blakeman

[chongli]

2 hours ago, Giuseppe Tognarelli said:

The gentleman in the second photo (Super Bowl LIII) is not Clete Blakeman

 

And you are correct! I checked my sources, and it is a different person. I will remove it.

 

[Edit: once the TBD allows me to edit...as it considers an edit a new post, and two fast posts are not allowed.]

Edited October 19, 2023 by chongli

[BigAl2526]

On 10/17/2023 at 7:47 PM, GETTOTHE50 said:

he’s not the worst since he’s screwed over the patriots a couple of times (I personally thought they were good calls/non calls)

Let's hope he isn't inclined to be nice to the Patriots because he has made mistakes that hurt them.