< Back to Front Page Text size – +

Patriots & penalties

Email|Link|Comments (7) Posted by Mike Reiss, Globe Staff October 30, 2008 06:00 AM

The Patriots have been called for 22 accepted penalties this season. Five other penalties have been called that were declined by the opposition.

With 27 penalties in seven games, the Patriots have been flagged an average of 3.85 times per game, which is impressive.

The league recently reassigned one penalty from the Broncos game, changing an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Vince Wilfork and assessing it to James Sanders after his interception.

Breaking down those 27 penalties, by specific call and by player flagged:

Penalties

False start – 5

Unnecessary roughness - 4

Offensive holding – 3

Defensive pass interference -- 2

Face mask – 2

11 penalties tied with 1 (offensive illegal formation, defensive holding, encroachment, illegal contact, illegal touching of a kick, offensive pass interference, roughing the passer, special teams delay of game*, special teams holding, special teams illegal formation, unsportsmanlike conduct)

Player breakdown

Matt Light – 3

Deltha O’Neal – 2

Stephen Spach -- 2**

18 players tied with 1 (Sam Aiken, Gary Guyton, Chris Hanson*, Rodney Harrison, Ellis Hobbs, Logan Mankins, Jerod Mayo, Brandon Meriweather, Randy Moss, James Sanders, Matthew Slater, David Thomas, Mike Vrabel, Ty Warren, Benjamin Watson, Vince Wilfork,
Jonathan Wilhite, Billy Yates)

* penalty was intentionally taken to create more room for a punt
** no longer with team
*** the Patriots as a team were flagged for two penalties

» Back to Front Page

7 comments so far...

With Rodney out for the year, I guess the unsportsmanlike conduct and the unnecessary roughness penalties will go down. Great job, Mike. Thanks a lot. Do you know where the Pats rank in the league in terms of penalty? And do you know the total yards the Pats got penalized for? Thanks.

Posted by Supreme12 October 30, 08 08:14 AM

Hi Supreme 12. The Patriots are the NFL's least penalized team in terms of total penalties and average per game (stats don't include declined penalties). The Texans are right behind them, with one more total penalty. It's also important to keep in mind that not all teams have had their bye, which is why the average is good to look at. Total yards penalized for the Patriots: 244.
--Mike

Posted by Mike Reiss October 30, 08 08:39 AM

How can the Rams claim there was nothing called in the Rams game when there was a holding penalty that they declined? I know it doesn't officially count as a penalty because there were no yards lost, but the flag was thrown.

Posted by Jim L. October 30, 08 09:04 AM

I have a feeling this is going to change this week because you know Bill Polian and his staff have shown these stats to the league and the referees...Expect at least 7 penalties this week.

Posted by ProvMan October 30, 08 10:06 AM

this is just what we needed before the colts game....the flags will be flying left and right in indie ;\

Posted by Alex October 30, 08 11:27 AM

Odd. Vince Wilfork has only been flagged once in seven games.

Posted by PaulK October 30, 08 11:47 AM

Vince Wilfork just got fined 35K for a pattern of behavior and he's been penalized once this season. As I just stated in the other thread, this the fine on Wilfork is simply more Patriots hating going on. Only now, the commissioner is joining in the fun. I guess this explains why Al Davis still hasn't been sanctioned for the lies he was spewing about the Patriots last month. Give me a break. The entire NFL is becoming a serious joke.

Posted by Bruce October 30, 08 02:10 PM

DO NOT HIT THE SUBMIT BUTTON MORE THAN ONCE!

You must be logged in to submit a comment.

This blogger might want to review your comment before posting it.

Mike Reiss, Christopher L. Gasper and the rest of the Globe team provide regular updates –and a behind-the-scenes look– on the daily happenings of the Patriots.

see all globe blogs