Why Sunday’s Referee Is Important to Chiefs’ Karlaftis

Defensive line coach Joe Cullen said Karlaftis is having as good a year as he’s had since the Chiefs selected him in the first round of the 2022 draft. The defensive end is thriving in Steve Spagnuolo’s offense, compiling an 18.4-percent pressure rate, fifth-highest among NFL players with at least five sacks.

“Plays with relentless motor,” Cullen said Thursday. “Having a great year. He's physical. When you add a lot of things up, he does a lot of things really well. I mean, plays the run well. Coach Spags will ask our ends to be versatile, drop into coverage. He does that well.

“He's physical at the point of attack in the run game. You look at his hits, hurries, and he's another one. I mean, he'd like to get a few more of those hits and hurries to get the quarterback on the ground.”

No. 1 in the league

He just needs to get Jones on the ground, and deliver those hits and hurries, within Moore’s interpretation of the rules. According to NFLPenalties.com, Moore has thrown three more roughing-the-passer flags than Alan Eck and Bill Vinovich, who each have seven. Moore is averaging one of those calls per game this season.

However, one factor that could help Karlaftis and the Chiefs is offensive holding. Moore’s crew has flagged players for offensive holding 36 times in 10 games, including those declined and offsetting. That per-game average (3.6) is second in the league.

The Chiefs’ defense, meanwhile, has only benefitted from offensive-holding calls on only 14 occasions (1.4 per game), tied for 21st in the league. Denver leads the NFL in the holding-drawn category with 27.

Get ready for a lot of flags, too. Moore’s group leads the NFL in overall penalties per game (16.6).

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