Patriots get another controversial referee crew for Titans game
Craig Wrolstad’s referee crew will work this week’s game between the New England Patriots and Tennessee Titans.
Oct 12, 2025; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Referee Craig Wrolstad (4) talks with Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff (16) during the first half against the Kansas City Chiefs at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.
Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn ImagesUnfortunately, the referees became a major storyline in last week's New England Patriots game. The crew, led by head referee Adrian Hill, had multiple controversial calls and ended up having to answer questions from a pool reporter after the game.
As for the next crew working a Patriots game, they're coming off of a controversial performance of their own. Referee assignments for Week 7 were announced on Wednesday, with the Patriots and Tennessee Titans landing the crew led by veteran head referee Craig Wrolstad.
Wrolstad's crew was in primetime last week, working the Detroit Lions-Kansas City Chiefs game on Sunday Night Football. There were two storylines about the officiating to come out of that game.
The first was the crew overturning a trick play touchdown by the Lions, after ruling that quarterback Jared Goff did not properly go in motion. Wrolstad answered pool reporter questions about that after the game.
They may have caught more attention for what they didn't do though, which is call a penalty on the Chiefs. Kansas City didn't have a single penalty all night, marking the first time a team has gone a whole game without a penalty since the 2023 season (there were four such instances that year, two of which occurred in the final week of the season). They were flagged for one defensive offsides very late in the game, which was declined.
On the other side, Detroit was flagged six times in that game. Two of those were declined.
Overall though this is a crew that hasn't been as involved in games as some of the others the Patriots have had. They're throwing 13.3 flags per game on average (including declined penalties). That ranks ninth out of 17 officiating crews in the NFL. In contrast, over the first six weeks the Patriots had five of the six most flag-happy crews in the league.
This week's referee schedule also has last week's Patriots crew back in action. They'll get a standalone slot, working the London game between the Los Angeles Rams and Jacksonville Jaguars.
