A few weeks a year officiating in the NFL finds the spotlight. Week 4 was one of those weeks.

In New York, Arizona’s Trey McBride questioned Jeff Seeman’s eyesight after the back judge failed to benefit the Cardinals’ TE with a pass interference penalty on Giants’ DB Dru Phillips. Seeman then told McBride to perform an unnatural sex act upon himself. That got Seeman a two-game suspension from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

McBride’s frustration was understandable as just about everybody else in the NFL got flagged as the 271 accepted penalties during Week 4 was the second most in any week since play-by-play data became available in 1978. It is a good thing the NFL partners with Procter & Gamble … it will need a lot of Downy Rinse to clean all those penalty flags.

By my figures, the zebras who did the most harm were Shawn Hochuli, Carl Cheffers, and Brad Allen. Hochuli benefitted the Titans in their 24-18 loss at the Ravens by a whopping 15.90 points. Cheffers aided the Bears with 12.7 points in Chicago’s 23-12 win over the Jets. Allen shaded dem Cowboys by 8.3 points in their 34-30 win at Houston. (Of course, I was on the Texans -2.5.)

In Seattle, the Seahawks (150 yards in penalties) and Chargers (130) combined for 280 yards in penalties as LA fell 30-23 to drop to 0-4. It has been that kind of year for Jim Harbaugh. It probably will not get better. The Chargers play the hardest schedule in the NFL by my figures (+1.97%).

However, for Week 4, visiting teams received on average just 0.74 points more than home teams. Again, for the season, the visitors have received on average just 0.10 points more than home teams. In the long run, officiating does even out in the NFL. But on any given Sunday, ….