Team Penalty Trends 2010-2012

[Doomsay]

Over the past 2 years, the Cowboys have more pre-snap penalties than any other team.

[rbr651]

Originally Posted by cannonball44

as a football guy, i hold the philosophy that penalties take the place of talent when maximum effort is no longer enough. pretty much a bad player who cant do his job is forced to resort to things like holding, false starting, PI'ing because theyre just not good enough to get it done without the "help" it offers. this is not to take away the incredible play by superstars on the other side. of course i'd expect to see more PI pebalties against the Calvin Johnsons of the league, and more false starts and holding penalties against the premiere pass rushers.

unfortunately i dont think that was the case with our secondary last year, or the Oline from this year. im interested to see what '07 penalty stats are (the last year we had a a solid OLine and DB core.

Well 5 of the 10 most penalized teams were playoff teams to include San Fran, Seattle and Houston. While only 4 of the top ten made the playoffs with the top team being Atlanta. It could be quite the opposite especially when you're talking about defenses. You have Baltimore/San Fran 2 teams the use intimidation to control offenses, they were number one and two for most unnecessary roughness calls in the NFL.

[TheXFactor]

Originally Posted by rbr651

Well 5 of the 10 most penalized teams were playoff teams to include San Fran, Seattle and Houston. While only 4 of the top ten made the playoffs with the top team being Atlanta. It could be quite the opposite especially when you're talking about defenses. You have Baltimore/San Fran 2 teams the use intimidation to control offenses, they were number one and two for most unnecessary roughness calls in the NFL.

Baltimore hardly controlled offenses this year

[kmd24]

Originally Posted by Idgit

I believe the offensive penalties are more damning than the defensive ones.

As far as I can remember from the one or two studies I've read, it's the reverse.

The explanation for causation that was offered is that defensive penalties are harder to overcome because many of them are automatic first downs, and the ones that aren't automatic (offsides, 12-men, delay of game) often result in a first down. OTOH, offensive penalties can be overcome more easily because most of them don't result in a loss of down, so there is always a chance to overcome the loss of yardage, particularly for 1st down penalties.

[Coy]

This falls on Garrett no way around it.

[blindzebra]

Seems like after every game we talk about officiating being bad.

Not saying there is a fix but game in and game out it sure seems like if it is close we get called for it, while our opponent gets away with blatant stuff.

Take that over a full schedule and it has to impact the stats.

[perrykemp]

Originally Posted by blindzebra

Seems like after every game we talk about officiating being bad.

Not saying there is a fix but game in and game out it sure seems like if it is close we get called for it, while our opponent gets away with blatant stuff.

Take that over a full schedule and it has to impact the stats.

I don't believe that there is an anti-Cowboy bias in the officiating for a second. All NFL fans of all NFL club basically share the sentiment and I've never bought into it or seen any hard evidence of it.

[jterrell]

We improved quite a lot in penalties it seemed to me when we benched Free for series at a time.

If guys make mistakes you pull them.

Especially if it is a repetitive, mental mistake.

[blindzebra]

Originally Posted by perrykemp

I don't believe that there is an anti-Cowboy bias in the officiating for a second. All NFL fans of all NFL club basically share the sentiment and I've never bought into it or seen any hard evidence of it.

Well when I see Hall mugging Dez all game without a flag and then see him called for illegal contact against Seattle's #3 WR I have to wonder.

[Manwiththeplan]

sometimes players that are physically outmatched commit penalties. I'd willing to wager that the majority of these were O-line penalties.

[Venger]

Okay, I am gonna ask - are the pre snap penalties in any way Romo centered? And I ask this as a huge Romo fan, but it seems to me that when examining this issue the QB needs to also be seen as a potential source - cadence, too many pre snap changes/audibles, etc. Just askin' folks... not sayin', just askin'...

[HoustonFrog]

I think penalties is a discipline/coaching thing and one of my bigger issues with Garrett. I know its a lower level sample but when I played high school ball our coach was a real stickler for stupid plays...penalties, missed assignments, etc. In film sessions we would constantly be drilled on this stuff. In practice we would run plays until we got it right..not just going through the motions. We would run laps, do updowns, etc for stupid/negative plays until the discipline was drilled into our heads. I know most NFL teams barely have enough time to go over scheme but it floors me that this issue happens with the Cowboys. To me Garrett isn't doing his job. I also want to know what the coaches do conditioning wise because late in games when you need that concentration, sometimes conditioning comes into play.

[Chocolate Lab]

Remember when penalties were all Wade's fault, when Garrett couldn't wait to get down to business and clean up this mess but was handcuffed because he was so respectful of the chain of command?

Good times.

[superpunk]

Originally Posted by Chocolate Lab

Remember when penalties were all Wade's fault, when Garrett couldn't wait to get down to business and clean up this mess but was handcuffed because he was so respectful of the chain of command?

Good times.

It's all part of the process - wherein "process" is the laundry list of excuses made up to excuse Jason Garrett's failings - not just as a head coach - but as a coach of any sort.

Don't worry, it will all be fixed next year. Trust me. Landry, Bellichick, Cleveland, etc.

[Picksix]

We seem to place the responsibility of penalties on the coach more than the players. Fair enough. But my question is, what are some things, realistically, that Garrett could/should do to decrease this. We talk about holding players accountable, but are you really going to bench Jason Witten for a false start, when it's now 3rd and 7 at midfield, with a minute to go and we need to score? Is it scheming? Conditioning/Fatigue? Is it lack of focus? How can you get players to focus better? Is it an overall culture that fails to promote discipline? How can that discipline be improved?