Hold On – Week 16
December 29, 2023
By Noonefromtampa
Through week 16 of games, 2,850 penalties have been enforced in 240 games yielding an average of 5.94 penalties per team per game. Washington had been called for 78 penalties across 15 games for an average of 5.2 penalties per game which is below the league average by almost three-quarters of a penalty. They are 26th in the league for most penalties.
The top five most penalized teams are:
- New York Jets – 111
- Dallas – 108
- Seattle – 107
- Cleveland – 104
- Houston, Tennessee (tie) – 102
The top 5 penalty calls across the league are:
- False Start, 560 times
- Offensive Holding, 517 times
- Defensive Pass Interference, 254 times
- Defensive Holding, 163 times
- Unnecessary Roughness, 151 times
As of week 16, unnecessary roughness is being called 10.5% more over the 2022 season when looking at the count per game stat which is slightly from week 15.
Week 16 Summary
New York Jets – 14 accepted penalties (2 declined) for 150 yards, gave up 4 first downs via penalty
Washington – 8 accepted penalties (2 declined) for 68 yards, gave up 3 first downs via penalty
Thoughts
By starting Sam Howell over Jacoby Brissett, head coach Ron Rivera essentially gave Washington the best chance of not winning against a mistake prone team, ensuring a top pick in the 2024 NFL draft for the new owners. Now that the biggest scheduling impediment has been overcome, Brissett will start the final two games against playoff teams.
Washington uncharacteristically made a lot of mental mistakes in the game which led to unnecessary penalties. Tariq Castro-Fields gave the Jets a first down by encroaching on a fourth down and three punting situation to give them a free 5 yards and a first down. Washington also had 3 false starts and an illegal touch on another punt. The illegal touch comes from the gunner not establishing himself inbounds before being the first player to touch the ball.
Between penalties and injury timeouts, the game ran for three hours and thirty minutes. So, if you felt this game was extra long this week, well . . . it was. With Charles Leno out for this game, Benjamin St-Juste re-took the lead in player penalties.
This is the summary of penalties committed by each team:
By Penalty:
| Penalty | New York Jets | Washington | Grand Total |
| Defensive Holding | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Defensive Offside | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Defensive Pass Interference | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Delay of Game | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Encroachment | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Face Mask | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| False Start | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Horse Collar Tackle | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Illegal Contact | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Illegal Touch Kick | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Intentional Grounding | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Offensive Holding | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Offensive Offside | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Grand Total | 14 | 8 | 22 |
By Unit:
| Team | Defense | Offense | ST | Grand Total |
| New York Jets | 6 | 8 | 0 | 14 |
| Washington | 2 | 2 | 4 | 8 |
| Grand Total | 8 | 10 | 4 | 22 |
By Player:
| Against | Player | Penalty | Accepted | Declined |
| New York Jets | M. Becton | False Start | 1 | 0 |
| Offensive Holding | 1 | 1 | ||
| T. Siemian | Intentional Grounding | 2 | 0 | |
| G. Wilson | Offensive Offside | 1 | 1 | |
| B. Echols | Illegal Contact | 1 | 0 | |
| Defensive Offside | 1 | 0 | ||
| Offense | Delay of Game | 1 | 0 | |
| A. Gardner | Defensive Pass Interference | 1 | 0 | |
| J. Tippmann | Offensive Holding | 1 | 0 | |
| D. Reed | Defensive Pass Interference | 1 | 0 | |
| C. Mosley | Face Mask | 1 | 0 | |
| J. Brownlee | Horse Collar Tackle | 1 | 0 | |
| T. Conklin | False Start | 1 | 0 | |
| Washington | C. Holmes | False Start | 1 | 0 |
| Illegal Touch Kick | 1 | 0 | ||
| B. St-Juste | Defensive Pass Interference | 1 | 0 | |
| Defensive Holding | 1 | 0 | ||
| T. Castro-Fields | Encroachment | 1 | 0 | |
| Offense | Illegal Formation | 0 | 1 | |
| J. Dotson | Offensive Offside | 0 | 1 | |
| C. Lucas | False Start | 1 | 0 | |
| A. Gibson | False Start | 1 | 0 | |
| D. Brown | Offensive Holding | 1 | 0 |
Season Total:
| Player | Accepted | Declined | Offset |
| B. St-Juste | 9 | 2 | 0 |
| C. Leno | 8 | 1 | 0 |
| C. Holmes | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| A. Wylie | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| Offense | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| L. Thomas | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| D. Payne | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| J. Bates | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| S. Cosmi | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Young | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Davis | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| D. Brown | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| T. Castro-Fields | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| N. Gates | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| J. Dotson | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| M. Sweat | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| S. Howell | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Allen | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| E. Forbes | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Defense | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| S. Charles | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| K. Fuller | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| C. Barton | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| B. Pringle | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| D. Mayo | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Martin | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| D. Johnson | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Paul | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| K. Henry | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| A. Gibson | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Lucas | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| K. Curl | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| J.Smith-Williams | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| C. Samuel | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Sources: nfl.com, nflpenalties.com