Hold On – Week 8
November 3, 2023
By Noonefromtampa
Through week 8 of games, 1,512 penalties have been enforced in 122 games yielding an average of 6.21 penalties per team per game. Washington has been called for 49 penalties across 8 games for an average of 6.13 penalties per game which is about the league average. They are tied with Baltimore at 15th in the league for most penalties.
The most penalized team across the league are:
- San Francisco & Buffalo – 55
- Indianapolis, New Orleans, Arizona, Denver & New England – 54
The top 5 penalty calls across the league are:
- False Start, 287 times
- Offensive Holding, 276 times
- Defensive Pass Interference, 141 times
- Defensive Holding, 89 times
- Unnecessary Roughness, 81 times
As of week 8, unnecessary roughness is being called 15.8% more over the 2022 season when looking at the count per game stat. This is about up some over last week, so it still looks like increased focus from officials is going on.
Week 8 Summary
Philadelphia – 3 accepted penalties (0 declined) for 14 yards, gave up 1 first down via penalty
Washington – 7 accepted penalties (2 declined) for 79 yards, gave up 1 first down via penalty
Thoughts
This game had some strange twists from an officiating standpoint. I don’t remember having watched a game where the NFL Replay center in New York changed the call on the field, but of course it happened to Washington. While everyone watching the game thought Washington had a first down on the Jahan Dotson reception, Darius Slay was helped off the field with an injury, giving the replay official a chance to “correct” the call. Washington challenged it but the play was upheld as “called”. I also don’t understand why Ron Rivera challenged that because the replay folks already did review it and decided it was not a catch.
That brings up another question, which is why the same officials did not correct the call when DeVonta Smith obviously did not catch a key 17 yard reception in the third quarter on a fourth down play. That play extended the drive which led to an Eagles touchdown. The Eagles-Dolphins game also had a bit of controversy when the Eagles were not penalized the entire game despite several obvious fouls being committed.
With the NFL getting more into the gambling business, poor officiating that costs fans money on bets is going to become a huge issue for the league and raise the specter of game fixing.
This is the summary of penalties committed by each team:
By Penalty:
| Penalty | Philadelphia | Washington | Grand Total |
| Defensive Pass Interference | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| False Start | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Ineligible Downfield Pass | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Intentional Grounding | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Low Block | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Neutral Zone Infraction | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Unnecessary Roughness | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Grand Total | 3 | 7 | 10 |
By Unit:
| Team | Defense | Offense | ST | Grand Total |
| Philadelphia | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Washington | 3 | 4 | 0 | 7 |
| Grand Total | 5 | 5 | 0 | 10 |
By Player:
| Against | Player | Penalty | Accepted | Declined |
| Philadelphia | I. Opeta | False Start | 1 | 0 |
| J. Sweat | Neutral Zone Infraction | 1 | 0 | |
| E. Ricks | Defensive Pass Interference | 1 | 0 | |
| Washington | B. St-Juste | Defensive Pass Interference | 1 | 0 |
| Illegal Use of Hands | 0 | 1 | ||
| L. Thomas | Low Block | 1 | 0 | |
| C. Paul | False Start | 1 | 0 | |
| S. Cosmi | Ineligible Downfield Pass | 1 | 0 | |
| J. Bates | Unnecessary Roughness | 1 | 0 | |
| D. Payne | Neutral Zone Infraction | 1 | 0 | |
| S. Howell | Intentional Grounding | 1 | 0 | |
| K. Curl | Illegal Contact | 0 | 1 |
Season Total:
| Player | Accepted | Declined | Offset |
| A. Wylie | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| B. St-Juste | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| C. Leno | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| J. Bates | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Young | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Davis | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| S. Cosmi | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| N. Gates | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Offense | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| S. Howell | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| L. Thomas | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| S. Charles | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| D. Payne | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| M. Sweat | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| K. Fuller | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| T. Castro-Fields | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| B. Pringle | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Dotson | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Barton | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| D. Mayo | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Paul | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| D. Johnson | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Martin | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Holmes | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Defense | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| E. Forbes | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| D. Brown | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| K. Curl | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| J. Smith-Williams | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Sources: nfl.com, nflpenalties.com