Best Stat on NFL Replacement Referees in Week One

If you’re under the assumption that once a deal is struck, the real refs will return and everything will be flawless, well, you’re wrong.

Here’s a troubling stat from Rick Gosselin of the Morning News. It is worth keeping an eye on next weekend:

"Replacement refs seemed affected by crowd — calling 26 more penalties against the road teams (104) than the home teams (78) thus far."

I’d like to see a breakdown of road/home flags last season and compare them. Maybe there’s something here?

For physical (or penalty-prone) teams going on the road – I’m looking at you, Jets (at Pittsburgh), Lions (at 49ers), Saints (at Carolina) and Ravens (at Eagles), you’ve been warned.

Also, let’s speed things up next week, Zebras.