Bengals referee assignment for Week 1 vs. Browns

The Cincinnati Bengals season opener is here, and they have received their first referee assignment of the year.

The referee assigned to the Bengals game in Cleveland against the Browns is Clete Blakeman. With Blakeman as the head referee, Cincinnati has a 9-9 record, which includes their 2021 divisional round playoff win over the Tennessee Titans in 2021.

Jay Morrison of Pro Football Network said on Twitter that Blakeman’s crew called the eighth most penalties in 2022, which came out to an average of 14.3 flags per game.

The Bengals were 10^th best in the league in penalties per game in 2022 with 5.2 per game and the Browns were 24^th in the league with 6.0 per game.

It should be a good game between divisional rivals that hopefully won’t be decided by penalties.