Officiating played its usual outsized role in the 2017 NFL experience, drawing massive attention for controversial calls involving inconsistencies with replay review to the catch rule (again) to an inability to prevent players from targeting each other's brains. But in between, of course, the vast majority of plays were officiated without incident.
What can we say as the playoffs begin?
First, the NFL's officials called almost exactly the same number of penalties -- including those that were declined or offset -- as they did in 2016. The number was 4,044 this season after 4,048 last season, according to the ESPN Stats & Information penalty database.