NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The NFL always deserved the benefit of the doubt with regards to officiating assignments, in my eyes.

That changed a bit leading up the Oct. 18, 2015, Miami Dolphins-Tennessee Titans game at Nissan Stadium when the league moved an official who missed a crucial call the week before, off a high-profile prime-time game and to the game in Nashville.

So, with the 2016 regular season complete and the 10 playoff referees known, I looked up how frequently the Titans were assigned those referees -- Brad Allen, Tony Corrente, Craig Wrolstad, Carl Cheffers, Ed Hochuli, Pete Morelli, Bill Vinovich, Ronald Torbert, Gere Steratore and Terry McAulay.

The Titans didn’t draw Torbert, Steratore or McAulay at all. But they had Allen twice and overall the pool of playoff refs called eight of their 16 games.

That put them just a tick below the league average of 9.3.

But only four teams got the top zebras less often.

The Cleveland Browns got them a league-low six times. Carolina, New Orleans and Minnesota got them seven times.

The Texans got those officials a league-high 12 times, with the Giants, San Francisco, Miami, Cincinnati and Kansas City getting them 11 times.

Will Browns fans see that and feel that amounted to fair treatment and pure coincidence? It could fuel conspiracy theories in Northern Ohio. But it’s not like the two best teams of the regular season got the best guys all the time. They oversaw 10 games each for the Patriots and Cowboys.