Patriots just caught a massive break ahead of their Week 9 matchup

Over the first eight games of the season, the Patriots have dealt with more than their fair share of questionable calls by NFL officials, as they have had the most flag-happy crews on hand for more than one of their games.

It has made life difficult in more ways than one, like stripping away an impressive touchdown by DeMario Douglas against the Saints, which hasn't helped their early struggles with avoidable penalties.

Fortunately, that shouldn't be a problem this week, at least on paper, as Brad Allen's crew is set to be the group on hand for the Patriots' matchup with the Falcons on Sunday. So far this season, they have averaged the fewest flags thrown per game by quite a margin compared to those the team has been dealing with in recent weeks, and hopefully, that will be a good thing this week.

The Patriots might finally have a fairly officiated game this week vs. the Falcons

It's never a great sign to blame officials' involvement in games for a team's loss or near-loss, but that has been an ongoing issue for the Patriots this season, even if more often than not it was due to their own mistakes rather than egregious penalties.

That has only made the problem worse, but they do look like they have cleaned up their performance in recent weeks to help avoid making the situation even worse, and this week's crew should keep their presence less known than previous ones over the past month.

It has been an increasing problem across the league this season —and arguably over the past few years —despite Roger Goodell's insistence that officiating has never been better in the NFL. That is clearly not the case, as nearly every week there is some sort of controversy driven by the calls —or lack thereof —from referees, and that shouldn't be a consistent headline after every week's slate of games.

That should be enough for the league to take the problem seriously, but we're still waiting to see that happen.