Mark Schlereth is confident in the Cowboys' offensive line and Darren Woodson credits star players Dak Prescott, Ezikiel Elliott and the return of Dez Bryant for this advantage. (0:44)

Buckle up. The NFL's signature Week 8 game will be officiated by the crew that has averaged the highest number of penalty flags per game this season.

When the country last saw referee Jerome Boger, he was calling 23 penalties -- accepted, declined or offsetting -- in the Week 6 Monday night slopfest between the New York Jets and Arizona Cardinals. Sunday night, Boger's crew is scheduled to be at AT&T Stadium for an NFC East showdown between the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys.

Boger's crew averages 20.3 penalty flags per game, as the first chart shows, and it has called between 18 and 24 in each of its six previous outings in 2016. The NFL average is 16.5 calls per game, and Boger's total is 72.6 percent higher than referee Walt Coleman, whose crew has averaged 11.7 penalties per game.

NFL Week 8 Officiating Assignments Crew Game Penalties/game* Boger, Jerome Eagles-Cowboys 20.3 Allen, Brad Lions-Texans 19.8 Triplette, Jeff OFF 19.6 Parry, John Patriots-Bills 19.3 Hussey, John Jaguars-Titans (Thursday) 18.3 McAulay, Terry Raiders-Buccaneers 17.3 Blakeman, Clete OFF 17.3 Anderson, Walt Packers-Falcons 17.2 Hochuli, Ed Seahawks-Saints 16.9 Corrente, Tony Chargers-Broncos 16.5 Steratore, Gene Vikings-Bears 15 Cheffers, Carl Redskins-Bengals 15.5 Torbert, Ronald OFF 15 Wrolstad, Craig Chiefs-Colts 14.5 Morelli, Pete Jets-Browns 14.1 Vinovich, Bill OFF 13.3 Coleman, Walt Cardinals-Panthers 11.7 *Includes accepted, declined and offsetting

Source: ESPN Stats & Information

As I've written before, NFL officiating crews take on personalities as the season progresses. That's true for other sports as well, be it the strike zone of baseball umpires or the sensitivity to contact of basketball referees.

Boger's crew quite clearly errs on the side of calling a penalty. For further context on the way it approaches games, keep in mind that there have been 10 games this season in which the total number of penalties has been less than half of Boger's average (10 or fewer). About 60.7 percent of all games in the NFL have been called with fewer than 18 penalties, the lowest total Boger has produced in a game.

What does that mean for Sunday night? The good news is that the Cowboys are averaging the NFL's fourth-fewest penalties per game this season (6.6). The bad news: The Eagles rank No. 30 at 10.2 per game. In this case, two of the three factors that go into penalty totals -- the officiating crew and one of the teams -- have histories of high activity. Look out.

Now, take a look at the second chart.

NFL Penalty Frequency By Type Crew Off. holding Passing* Behavior+ Allen, Brad 30 21 15 Anderson, Walt 14 30 11 Blakeman, Clete 24 20 13 Boger, Jerome 24 37 7 Cheffers, Cartlon 24 22 9 Coleman, Walt 12 15 5 Corrente, Tony 33 15 5 Hochuli, Ed 31 20 19 Hussey, John 28 17 16 McAulay, Terry 13 9 8 Morelli, Peter 24 18 13 Parry, John 25 33 8 Steratore, Gene 21 15 12 Torbert, Ronald 23 21 7 Triplette, Jeff 30 23 19 Vinovich, Bill 17 18 7 Wrolstad, Craig 26 7 12 *Offensive PI, defensive PI, illegal contact and defensive holding

+Personal fouls, unnecessary roughness, unsportsmanlike conduct, roughing the passer

The numbers give you a sense of how active each crew is within some of the major penalty categories. You'll see that I've combined the four most common penalties on passing plays -- defensive holding, illegal contact and offensive/defensive pass interference. I also created a category called "behavior," which combined taunting, unsportsmanlike conduct, roughing the passer and unnecessary roughness.

Here are some of the takeaways I see as we look ahead to Sunday and Monday games. One important fact to remember: Referee Terry McAulay has worked only three games this season because of a personal health issue he had last month, so his numbers appear low in the second chart. Also: Foul calls are the shared responsibility of officials and players. On many occasions, officials are at the mercy of how cleanly the players perform.

Jerome Boger's total of 37 passing penalties is more than twice that of seven other crews through Week 7 of the 2016 season. James Kenney/AP Photo