Penalties

[River Dog]

It's been a subject of discussion in various threads, and after last night's Bengals-Ravens contest where there were two pretty obvious penalties on a two-point conversion, a play where everything was on the line, that weren't called.

In general, there have been more penalties called this season than in recent years:

According to NFL Penalties.com., an average of 6.49 penalties are being enforced by league referees. If maintained throughout the season, it would be the highest average since 2018’s whopping 6.73 enforced penalties per game.

During the first two weeks of this season, NFL offenses were penalized 217 times, which is the most in league history. So far, half of the league has registered at least 10 offensive holding calls.

At the rate penalties have been called, this may be the first NFL campaign where over 3700 penalties are enforced. It would be the first of various groundbreaking penalty achievements in NFL history.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kambuiboma ... -nfl-game/

https://www.nflpenalties.com/#google_vignette

The above link, the one referenced in the article, is an excellent site for tracking penalties.

I am gradually being driven to there being some sort of review of penalties, especially those called in the last two minutes of the game as was last night's contest. I don't want to see every penalty in every situation being eligible for review. And I have seen instances where refs have consulted with someone in a better position to help with the decision making.

Comments?

[Aseahawkfan]

We had this same problem with Carroll. What is the cause? Defensive head coach teaching players to play aggressive? Lack of discipline on offense? Young team learning new schemes? Is it going to take time? More disciplined practice on offense? Young OC not sure how far to go to create disciplined offense? He's from college and not sure how disciplined college teams are when it comes to penalties. How do you tease out the cause and reduce it?

[River Dog]

We had this same problem with Carroll. What is the cause? Defensive head coach teaching players to play aggressive? Lack of discipline on offense? Young team learning new schemes? Is it going to take time? More disciplined practice on offense? Young OC not sure how far to go to create disciplined offense? He's from college and not sure how disciplined college teams are when it comes to penalties. How do you tease out the cause and reduce it?

I'm not speaking just about us, rather about a league wide problem that seems to be getting worse. Some of these games where there are tons of penalties being called on both sides are almost to the point of being unwatchable.

I don't like the roughing the passer penalties, that they should not be penalizing a player for going low, landing with his body weight on the QB, etc, if it couldn't be avoided. Those types of injuries aren't the ones they should be concentrating on as they're not potentially life threatening or life changing. They've instituted those penalties less for safety and more to protect the 'star' so that viewers will tune in. I don't understand the emphasis on the offensive tackles not lining up on the LOS.

As long as the result is not in slowing the game down, I'm OK with reviewing some penalties and I would like to see them expand the role of the guys in the box or at NFL HQ to call an obvious penalty that the refs on the field missed due to being out of position.

[c_hawkbob]

1- These guys are trying to be the stars of the show. They've given them tighter around the arms new uni's and you can tell every day at the gym is arm day for them.

2- I'm sick to death of games being decided (like last nights) by the officiating. Now that the league has so completely embraced gambling I think it's more critical than ever to start transparently holding poor officiating accountable. Tell us about their fines and demotion just the same as players.

[Aseahawkfan]

Not sure what is driving the penalties. It is getting tiresome to see penalties deciding games. Need to let guys play a little more, especially at the end of games. Not fun to see the end of games decided by refs.

I have to admit that whenever a team with a star QB is playing, I've almost come to expect a drive extending penalty for the star QB team to give them as many chances as possible to provide a spectacular win because that seems to sell games and the legend of the star QB. It feels like it's going to happen whether the penalty is ticky tack or not just to insert that drama into the game.

I prefer games decided on the field by the players than waiting for some ref to call a game changing penalty. It makes game feels less authentic and a bit biased.

[NorthHawk]

I think the OL penalties are a result of the DL players being much better than they are and so the OL try to push every tactic to the edge of a penalty.
This year it's been said that the OTs lining up too deep off the LoS would be an area of focus (or whatever their language is) and we are seeing a whole bunch of those calls every week.
As well there seems to be a crackdown on all potential penalties.

Bob might be on to something about the influence of gambling. Perhaps the directive from above is to not let games be won by players getting away with obvious penalties, however that has its own set of problems in that
the fans get turned off and there may be suspicions upon occasion where a Ref calls a questionable penalty or misses one they've been regularly calling which costs a team a game.
Maybe in an attempt to clean up the uncalled penalties they are causing more problems than they are solving. Or maybe it's just an adjustment period for the players. Either way I hope the flag fest ends.

[River Dog]

1- These guys are trying to be the stars of the show. They've given them tighter around the arms new uni's and you can tell every day at the gym is arm day for them.

2- I'm sick to death of games being decided (like last nights) by the officiating. Now that the league has so completely embraced gambling I think it's more critical than ever to start transparently holding poor officiating accountable. Tell us about their fines and demotion just the same as players.

I'm more concerned with getting the calls right on the field than I am holding an official that missed one accountable. Allow for some kind of intervention, at least on the big, game changing penalties, like a 40-yard PI call or one that results in a turnover or score.

My biggest problem from the get-go, when they first introduced replay reviews, is that it slows the game down. But things have changed. They have the technology to review plays within 5-20 seconds. Some don't even require a replay as there are occasions where an official doesn't have the correct angle to see an obvious penalty but a ref in the booth, along with 75% of the fans in the stands and those on TV, can see it as it happens and could stop the game for a consultation with the crew chief.

[NorthHawk]

The NFL would have to add more cameras but for some reason they’ve been reluctant to do so. I think it’s part of having a cheap mindset because they are inexpensive relative to the NFL enterprise.

[Aseahawkfan]

Fantasy football does seem more popular than football itself. I know more people watching football solely for their fantasy team. Companies like Draft Kings make tons of money off sports betting and fantasy football.

[River Dog]

Fantasy football does seem more popular than football itself. I know more people watching football solely for their fantasy team. Companies like Draft Kings make tons of money off sports betting and fantasy football.

My wife thinks I'm nuts. I have a workout area in our attached garage where I mounted two TV's side-by-side. On Sunday morning or afternoon, I'll have one TV with a live football game on, one with the Red Zone on, and my tablet on the treadmill display so I can track my fantasy team all while I'm walking on my treadmill.

But I agree, with as cozy as the NFL is getting with gambling, even the appearance of a conflict of interest could mean big trouble for them if the refs miss a big call in a game with a lot of money being wagered.