Analysis of 2006 Ravens Penalties

[Filmstudy]

During the season, I noticed the stats on NFL.com had us with 79 defensive penalties for 580 yards while the Bears had 1084 yards in total defensive penalty yards. Well, after some review, the Ravens number is way off, and I would guess the Bears number is also bad.

The Ravens were penalized 109 times (884 yards) in total in 2006 plus another 13 times that were either declined or offsetting.

The 109/13 penalties broke down as:
Offense: 57/7
Defense: 35/6
Special Teams: 17/0

Offensively they were penalized (accepted/declined where applicable):
Holding: Mughelli 3, Flynn 3/1, Wilcox, Sypniewski, Heap, Vincent 0/1
False Start: Brown 7, Heap 3, Terry 3, Pashos 3, Sypniewski 2, Mason 2, 7 others 1 each
Delay of Game: McNair 7, Boller 1
Illegal Formation: Pashos 1/2, Ogden 1/1, Team 0/1
Illegal Use of Hands: Pashos 1
Intentional Grounding: McNair 2/1
Chop Block: Chester 1
Illegal Substitution: Team 1
Ineligible Receiver: Chester 1
PF/UC/UR: Ogden, Wilcox, Pashos, Billick 1 each

Particularly with regard to their playing time, Brown and Terry stand out for their number of false starts. The tackles were called for the illegal formation penalties basically for cheating back off the line of scrimmage, with 4 of those 6 penalties coming in the first 4 games. Flynn and Mughelli were both called for a lot of holding penalties, but it is worth noting that the Ravens did not have a single holding call on LT, LG, or RT in a season where they allowed just 17 sacks!

Defensively, the penalties went as follows (accepted/declined):
Offsides/Enc/NZI: Pryce 4, Suggs 2, R Lewis, McAlister, Reed 1 each, Gregg 0/1
Illegal Contact/DH: McAlister 5, Pryce 1, Scott 1, Johnson 0/1, Thomas 0/1, Rolle 0/1
Pass Interference: McAlister 6/1, Rolle 2, Reed 1
Illegal Use of Hands: McAlister 1/1, Haley 1
Roughing the Passer: Rolle 1
PF/UC/UR: McAlister 2, Suggs 2, R Lewis 2, Reed 1

Well CMac dominates this list. He committed 15/2 of the Ravens 35/6 defensive penalties. This might be the price for putting a great corner on an island so regularly, but I have to feel some of this should have been avoided. One thing I found myself thinking several times this year was that McAlister had committed a good penalty which prevented a big play. The discipline of the defense was back in 2006 otherwise. It has seemed like the Ravens were regularly called for 3-5 roughing the passer penalties per year in the past. In a year where we sacked the QB 60 times, to have the only RTP penalty go to Rolle is remarkable. Of note is the fact that none of the regular or backup DT's committed a single accepted penalty (Franklin, Gregg, Ngata, Bannan), with Gregg's declined offsides the only infraction of the lot. Those DT's were on the field a total of 1340 individual plays logged (incl. penalties). Dwan Landry also went his entire rookie season without being flagged. The 35 total penalties are also terrific. That's just over 2 per game, and a huge improvement over 2005.

Special Teams
Illegal Block/Holding: Haley 3, Sapp 2, Mughelli 1, Oglesby 1, Martin 1
Offsides/NZI: Mughelli, Haley, Reed, McAlister 1 each
Personal Foul/UR: Sapp 1, Haley 1
Illegal Bat: Sapp 1
Roughing the Kicker: Martin 1
Interfering with a Fair Catch: Martin 1

Amazingly, the special teams had just 4 penalties in the first 9 games, and all were committed by Sapp. He still managed to lose his commanding penalty lead to Haley, who came back to lead the team with 5 ST penalties. Stills, who came very close to setting the single season, special teams tackle record did not commit a single infraction in the process.

[highwater]

Interesting stuff, Filmstudy. Haley seems like a penalty machine, given the amount of time he was on the field.

In what game did Billick get flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct? I don't recall that.

[Real Fan Dan]

Wow, we only had 10 holding penalties all year. Huh, the O line really improved this year. i wonder how many were called in 2005?

[Mikerobe]

You do a fantastic job with your posts. The NFL league office could well use someone of your talents. Thank you for your time and effort.

[donnaj]

Thanks so much for the analysis. Did you include the playoff game in your analysis? I think it was the playoff game that JO got called for holding and went ballistic on the side-line complaining about the call. When I got home and watched it, I clearly understood JO's frustration since on that play and several other ones not only was JO not holding but instead was being held.

I thought Haley had more flags than, for several games anytime the special teams were on the field and it was a flag you almost had to assume it was on Haley, he really hurt us valuable yardage on his penalties and our offense could have seriously benefitted from better field position..

I think it was also important to commend Pashos for his ability to stop the Fale Starts and Illegal Formation. In the 05-06 season he was good for what seems like at least one pergame if not more, but this year he started the season with the same lack of discipline but really improved his concentration and his game. Unfortunately just as he is starting to adapt to his strengths and weaknesses he leaves, so I think he may have some adjustment problems in Jacksonville this season.

I am hopeful that as Brown and Terry get more rep on 1st team they too will improve and their penalties will severely decrease.

C-Mac actually had a MUCH better year than last year and I felt some of his penalties were tickytack calls while others were important and smart plays to take the penalty rather than get burned and give up points. My favorite is when C-Mac throws a guy to the ground when the ball is clearly coming his way and he sees the flag thrown and gets this dumbfounded look on his face, hrows up hi hands in protest like "What, what'd I Do?" Then he kind of flashes this smirk...too funny!