savvyman wrote:Penalties down, Wins Down, Losses Up...... Is there cause\effect relationship here?
That's a common misconception. The perception is that we are more penalized because of our hard hitting, physical style, particularly on defense where a point of emphasis was instituted to try to stop Richard Sherman's hand fighting. But we really didn't get all that many personal fouls or PI/defensive holding calls last season, at least no more than any of the rest of the league. Our problem on both sides of the ball was pre snap penalties, of which we led the league in. Therefore, I don't think there the 1-2 start has anything to do with our being less penalized.
FYI here's a good website that tracks penalties. Bear in mind that our 18 penalties are only through 3 games whereas most have already played 4 games. You will note that half of our penalties are pre snap.
http://www.nflpenalties.com/