NFL increasing focus on defensive holding

[Glanvilles Grits 142]

I haven't said anything about this yet I don't think, but I hate this. I hate how many flags we see right now. Sure, maybe the number of flags will calm down once we hit the regular season but it's insane to give the offenses yet another leg up on defenses in the league.

 

They need to concentrate more on letting the receivers and defensive backs play for the football. Let defenses at least have an opportunity at fighting for position on the field.

[SteVo+ 3,702]

From the games I've seen, it seems like officials are throwing more flags in general, and not necessarily defensive penalties on corners.

[Glanvilles Grits 142]

From the games I've seen, it seems like officials are throwing more flags in general, and not necessarily defensive penalties on corners.

 

This is also true. But we have seen a huge increase in defensive flags.

[Shotgun 442]

 

I got nothing for this, someone else jump in with a clever comment.

Yeah that was a bad typo. Parity*

[OSUViking 505]

Anyone else get mad when they see at least one 40 point game every week? I actually think there was a 40 point game every week last year, but not entirely sure.

[butta54 371]

I don't like what we've seen in the preseason either but some people are acting like it is the end of the world. This year (like every year) the NFL uses the pre-season to experiment things (long extra points) and EMPHASIZE certain rules in order to get the players in the mindset for the upcoming season. This year maybe the worst over-kill I've ever seen but rest assured this is a preseason thing. Hands to the face or neck (defense and offense), Illegal contact after five yards (defense and offense), and offensive line movement before the snap (Peyton and his dirty tricks & audibles) were the focus this pre-season and they announced this even before training camp.

Edited August 20, 2014 by butta55

[BigBen07 285]

I don't like what we've seen in the preseason either but some people are acting like it is the end of the world. This year (like every year) the NFL uses the pre-season to experiment things (long extra points) and EMPHASIZE certain rules in order to get the players in the mindset for the upcoming season. This year maybe the worst overkill I've ever season but rest assured this is a preseason thing. Hands to the face or neck (defense and offense), Illegal contact after five yards (defense and offense), and offensive linemovement before the snap (Peyton and his dirty tricks & audibles) were the focus this pre-season and if they announced this even before training camp.

I agree with this. I'm sure things will wind down in the regular season once it gets going.

[DBR96A 87]

If this is where the NFL is going, then the "legal contact" zone needs to be expanded to 10 yards instead of just five.

[Glanvilles Grits 142]

If this is where the NFL is going, then the "legal contact" zone needs to be expanded to 10 yards instead of just five.

 

I actually love this idea. Again, goes back to letting the players fight for position on the field.

[.AirMcNair. 1,232]

A post from footballs future ---

 

 

 

There have been a lot of comments and complaints about the number of flags thrown this preseason. Some are especially annoyed at the increased occurrence of holding, illegal contact, and DPI. Peyton Manning lost the SB, so the NFL is favoring offense to compensate. Yada yada yada.

With a simple analysis, I have found it's simply false. I scoured the play-by-play and tabulated offensive vs defensive penalties. The offensive penalties tallied were: holding, illegal use of the hands, false start, pass interference, intentional grounding, unnecessary roughness, facemask, offsides, and other. The defensive penalties tallied were: holding, illegal use of the hands, pass interference, illegal contact, unnecessary roughness, facemask, offsides (includes encroachment and neutral zone infractions), horse collar tackles, and roughing the passer. I also tallied special teams penalties.

For now, I tallied all penalties from the first week of preseason, including the HOF game. Here is what I found.

There were 178 offensive penalties, 170 defensive penalties, and 7 special teams penalties. In 17 games.

The most called penalty was offensive holding, which was called a mind-boggling 81 times. The next one was defensive holding, with 58 infractions. The following were false start (38), other offensive penalties (28, which consists of blocking above the waist, chop blocks, delay of game, illegal motion, illegal shift, etc.), illegal contact (27), defensive offsides (20) defensive hands to the face (20), DPI (15), and OPI (12).

Let's compare the penalties that require the most subjectivity: offensive holding, defensive holding, illegal contact, and pass interference.

There were 4 fewer offensive holding calls than defensive holding and illegal contact combined. There were 3 more DPI than there were OPI. Overall, among these subjective calls, the defense was called for 7 more of these penalties. This combines to .4 more subjective calls per game against the defense. Maybe after week 2 it will even out, or maybe it will be greater. These numbers will be more telling with some more data.

Anyway, the assertion that the NFL is trying to unfairly help offenses is either wrong or greatly exaggerated. Now, the automatic first down issue is another, but the amount of penalties has not benefited one side or the other. It sure is hella annoying to see 355 penalties in 17 games, but there's no conspiracy to help offenses. I sure hope the number of penalties decreases, or it will make people (including me) angry.

Thoughts?

I will update this as I tabulate week 2 of the preseason.

[Cobresol 18]

Honest dumb question:

 

Some posit that pass-defense flags have been initiated/increased of late to decrease injuries (at least across the middle).

 

But wouldn't allowing more defensive holding/contact mean that receivers would be less likely or able to gain position across the middle, or at least enough to lead to a 'big hit'?

[FartWaffles 1,857]

The NFL, where ignoring what the real, actual fanbase wants happens.

Well sadly all Goodell has to do is point to the ratings to counter that argument. They just keep going up and up every year, and in the grand scheme of things that's really all the NFL cares about.