A Word About Penalties

Last year, right before the season's final game against the New Orleans Saints, I mentioned that the Eagles had led the league in penalty yards in 2006.  I also posted a chart showing just how much penalties had dropped leaguewide and asking if anyone in the media was going to notice that any time soon.

Then, of course, the Eagles lost to the Saints, I lost all appetite for reading or writing about football for a few weeks and I missed this article in the New York Times that looked at that very issue.  The link is subscription-only, but here are some excerpts:

The number of penalty flags thrown in the N.F.L declined 20 percent this season compared to a year ago, a drop that reversed a trend that had taken hold in recent seasons.

According to an analysis by The New York Times, 2006 marked the first time since 2001 that the overall number of penalties went down, instead of up. Penalties for offensive holding (down 34 percent) and defensive holding (down 32 percent) were among those showing the sharpest decline from 2005. Penalties for delay of game, defensive offside, false starts, pass interference and roughing the passer decreased at least 15 percent.

...

Pereira said that the steady increase in penalties since 2001 had become a concern for the league.

''Of course it had,'' he said. ''The trend has a history of going up and down. But nobody goes to the game to see penalties.''

...

Asked why holding penalties on both offense and defense decreased so dramatically, Pereira said the interpretation of holding had become clearer for officials to judge.

''We rewrote the rule, where officials could look for specific things, like with pass interference,'' Pereira said. ''When we categorized it, and put down specific things to look for, I think that emphasis created a lesser amount of holding calls. Because there might be some relationship between the amount of holding and the increase in rushing, we'll take a look at that during the off-season to see if anything needs to be addressed.''

...

The Bears had more penalties during the regular season (132) than any other playoff team, and the Colts, their Super Bowl opponent, were one of the least penalized teams with 95 infractions. They trailed only the Denver Broncos (77), the Jets (79), Pittsburgh (85), the Cleveland Browns (87), the Kansas City Chiefs (89) and New Orleans (90).

The Eagles have never been particularly good with penalties under Andy Reid.  Here's a table showing how the Eagles have compared to the league average the last five years in penalties and penalty yards:

	Penalties			Penalty Yards
	Average	Eagles	Difference	Average	Eagles	Difference
2006	95	112	17	786	983	197
2005	116	134	18	931	1130	199
2004	112	124	12	913	952	39
2003	106	96	-10	876	817	-59
2002	104	111	7	864	897	33

Only in 2003 were the Iggles better than average.  That's surprising to me.

That last point in the Times article is particularly interesting.  I have always associated lots of penalties with a lack of discipline, figuring good teams should be lower on that list.  Clearly, given some of those names, there's not a one-to-one relationship.

In fact, FootballOutsiders.com did a study a few years ago that found the opposite:

It defies everything every coach and commentator says, not to mention common sense. I can’t explain it, but I can’t ignore it either.  There is no correlation between a team’s penalties and its won-loss record...

If you need more proof of the mathematical type, there was a (very small) negative correlation coefficient between wins and net penalties (-.10) as well as wins and net penalty yards (-.08) in 2002.

It's interesting and worth reading the whole thing.  I still think it would be nice if we could get to maybe, you know, average next year.

Comments

[McTumms]

That Saints playoff game? The Saints had three penalties. THREE! [Cough] bullshit [cough]. Remember Bush's TD? Mike Karney held Considine, threw him in front of another oncoming Eagle (how's that Weight Gain 4000 treating you, beefcake?), and then held his hands up in guilt (not the only time that game). No call. Awesome.

Our penalties DID matter in that game (in fact, both Saints games last year--remember the Gaither, 12-men penalty?). Dhani's fate was sealed with that back-breaking defensive holding call, and Scott Young's false start...ugh, Scott Young's false start...

The type and timing of penalties matter more than the aggregate number of infractions. The Eagles are a more aggressive team both offensively and defensively. Agressiveness in scheme and playcalling puts extra strain on a team's personnel. The better the personnel, the more confident--and perhaps reckless--coaches become. (Would the Eagles spread the field and throw deep as often without their offensive line? Would JJ blitz if Izel Jenkins were one-on-one outside?) Still, penalties ought not be overlooked.

[GM-Carson]

Thanks for the WSBGM's link, as you are now linked up on my blog too.