Referee Carl Cheffers and his crew have been assigned to officiate the New York Giants' Week 1 opener against the Dallas Cowboys.

Cheffers is one of the NFL's most experienced referees. He is entering his 27th season in the league and his 19th as a referee. He worked as a side judge from 2000 to 2007 before becoming a head referee in 2008. 

He has called 16 playoff games as a head referee, calling the Super Bowl in the 2016, 2020, and 2022 seasons.

His crew includes umpire Derek Anderson, a three-year veteran, field judge Nate Jones (a former NFL player), side judge Dominique Pender, and back judge Martin Hankins. Down judge Derick Bowers is the most experienced member of Cheffers's crew with 24 seasons under his belt.

Bowers (Adrian Hill) and Pender (Land Clark) were both on different crews last season. Anderson, Jones, Hankins, and line judge Quentin Givens were all on Cheffers's crew in 2025.

Cheffers’ crew also consists of replay official Marty Abezetian, who was with Ronald Torbet’s crew last year, and reply assistant Brian Davis, who was with Scott Novak’s crew in 2025.

Together, Cheffers’s crew has 81 years of combined NFL officiating experience.

A Flag-happy Crew

Last season, Cheffers' crew called 14.24 penalties per game, significantly above the league average of 12.51. However, Cheffers's crew called fewer penalties than the league average in both 2023 and 2024.

The Giants will play the Cowboys at home. In each of the last four seasons, home teams have won more games with Cheffers's crew in charge than the league average. In 2024, home teams won 75% of games with Cheffers as the head referee.

Cheffers didn't call a Giants game last season. The last Giants game he called was in Week 6 of the 2024 season against the Cincinnati Bengals, when his crew called 17 penalties. The Giants lost that game 17-7, one of only four home teams in the 2024 season to lose with Cheffers and his crew calling.

The Giants were the fourth-most penalized team in the NFL last season. They were penalized 128 times for a total of 1,075 yards. That lack of discipline has been an unfortunate characteristic of the team in recent years.

Head coach John Harbaugh will seek to field a more disciplined squad in his first season at the helm. His Baltimore Ravens were only penalized 99 times in 2025, ranking 26th in the league. The Giants will hope to carry that buttoned-up style into their season opener against the Cowboys on Sunday Night Football.

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