How Much Do Penalties Matter -- This Year Anyway?

Your data shows that penalties probably don’t matter as much as we all thought. I hate the cowboy penalty problems for 2 reasons. One, it stops drives and momentum. Two, it takes the flow away from the game. Go watch a Indy or New England game, then watch us this year against the chiefs or the redskins(first time). Penalty free games have alot more flow to them and are enjoyable to watch. One of our penalty fests, is not enjoyable to watch.

also the most aggresive teams in the league. When you have aggresive teams , you get penalties along with that aggression.

For example : defense …….if a team is weak and plays alot of soft zone , they more than likely won’t get to many pass interference calls or roughing calls or such. Ateam that is very aggresive will get those penalties more often as they play tighter coverage and hit alot harder.

As long as its not all false starts and stupid mental penalties , then I am ok with it. If you have lineman that are aggresive that block tenaciously you will get more penalties, or if your WR actual block too they will get some calls. Its just like basketball, in that if a team is passive and don’t play tough defense , then they rarely get called for fouls cause they are usually not close enough to anyone to foul. Thats my take on it after playing many years of sports in my life. :)

However I can’t help but think if we were on that top list we would be averaging 6 more points a game.

I’d be curious to see how this compares to previous years. My best guess is that this year was an anomaly, but interesting nevertheless.

That aside, I look at my Eagles’ 893 penalty yards, and I get a little sick to my stomach – There’s no excuse for that many penalty yards.

…how it would look if it were broke down by type of penalty, offense vs. defense, when they occurred in a game, etc.?

I’d guess we haven’t had as many drive-killing penalties this year, as opposed to previous years. That may explain us to a degree. We also haven’t had as many drive extending penalties that aided the opposition. Not to say we haven’t hurt ourselves, just not as much as in the past.

This is still an area of the game we should clean up. Many of our penalties, such as false starts and defensive off-sides are just a lack of discipline. The big one’s of course, are the pass interference, and defensive holding calls. I know for a fact we’ve gift wrapped some points on those this year.

I guess my perspective is that even among the most penalized teams, there are just not that many penalties versus plays run. So chance plays a big role. Sometimes penalties can really impact and sometimes they just don’t. That might explain why some highly penalized teams are playoff contenders and others are bottom feeders.

I wonder if you would get a better snapshot if you got the data for penalties that occured on 3rd or 4th down.

almost always result in the other team scoring on that drive.

Offensive penalties challenge you to overcome them: the ball is still in your court.

Defensive penalties give the other team the chance to capitalize, changing the dynamic a little bit.

I’d be interested to see this broken down squad-by-squad.

with a good, talented team that executes consistently. Weaker, less talented teams are affected much more by penalties, which is why our penalties aren’t a big worry for us IMO.

One thing that drives me nuts is the inconsistency among officiating crews. You can watch the Cowboys game and see a penalty (seems to always be at a critical time) and then watch another game and the same exact thing isn’t called. I think Parcells was sensitive to the various crews and what they watched for. I think it was part of his coaching style, I’m not sure that we have the same focus with this coaching staff.

Something not discussed between the he says/she says short yardage debates:
Penalties the last 4 games, I noticed I didn’t seem to see as many, so looked them up:
5 – 30 yards
5 – 24 yds.
6 – 49 yds.
4 – 21 yds.

Not just few penalties, but a major lack of negative yardage also!

Which indicates, for one thing, not very many pass interference calls. Jenkins has made a huge difference.
(Newman looks like he’s got one more season then turns into Anthony Henry in 2011, but that’s another post.)

Overall stats for the season are still terrible, but interesting to note that along w/ the Raiders (of course) the Packers, Eagles, Bengals, and Ravens also have more penalties.

Dallas has the 8th most penalty yards in the league also-but the recent improvement has been a real reason for the improved play lately.
Not as many stupid penalties at the worst time, which indicates focus-which indicates leadership.
And I credit mostly Romo. His demeanor is completely different than earlier this year, and even more so previous seasons.

It amount to me is not near as important because some are not as big in yardage and what downs they occur. The stat I want to see is redzone opportunities with penalties and points included. Then how many penalties occurred on 3rd down and killed drives that would be a better evaluation of the impact of penalties.

Pittsburgh ranks 9th and had only 90 less yards in penalties then teams like the Cardinals, Cowboys and Bengals which are ranked 25th-28th.

- Number of penatlies by Officiating crew for all NFL
- above number during cowboy games

What’s hilarious is that when faced with stats that don’t back up their perceptions, they want to look at smaller samplings, different qualifying categorization, or just disregard the stats as meaningless…cause they don’t match their long held fallacy.

Wade was crucified over his presser when he stated penalties don’t mean much when it comes to wins/lossses.

Now that he’s proven right, some still can’t admit that penalties, while exacerbating and maddening, do not determine whether you win or not.

This is a complete reversal of the long proven “turnover margin = wins” theory.

I found them to be more an indicator of overall lack of discipline and preparation, if not ability. Something those stats don’t show is the type of penalty, such as offsides, false starts, etc. The Cowboys seemed to consistently have procedural penalties over the past few years, and seemingly at the worst times. I felt like it showed a lack of accountability, team discipline, and preparation.