Referee Alan Eck assigned to Chiefs vs. Bears game
First-year NFL referee Alan Eck and his crew have been assigned to the Kansas City Chiefs vs. Chicago Bears game in Week 3 per Football Zebras. Eck was promoted from umpire (on Land Clark's crew) to referee for the start of the 2023 NFL season following the retirement of 16-year veteran Jerome Boger. Eck has been […]
First-year NFL referee Alan Eck and his crew have been assigned to the Kansas City Chiefs vs. Chicago Bears game in Week 3 per Football Zebras.
Eck was promoted from umpire (on Land Clark's crew) to referee for the start of the 2023 NFL season following the retirement of 16-year veteran Jerome Boger. Eck has been working for the NFL as an official since the 2016 season, but he got his start officiating in the NCAA for the Big 12 and Mountain West conferences.
Eck has been a side judge or umpire in 11 different Chiefs games since 2016. Kansas City has a 9-2 record in the games that he's been involved in.
Eck's officiating crew currently has the fifth-most penalties in the NFL through two weeks with 28 total penalties on 32 flags thrown. They've called roughing-the-passer penalties at the highest rate in the NFL with four total penalties so far. The defense will have to be on their best behavior to avoid body-weight and other roughing penalties.
This crew also leads the NFL in lowering the head to make forcible contact calls (2) and illegal block above the waist calls (2). Those are two of the more obscure penalties which have only recently become an emphasis across the league.
Generally speaking, this is probably not the crew the Chiefs want after having a performance marred by penalties in Week 2. The good news is that this group has not yet called an illegal formation penalty this season. Their calls for offensive holding and false starts tend to align with the league average for those particular penalties.
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Featured image via Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
