ALL HAIL BLEERGH.
In tribute to Bleergh, here’s the regular season’s best and worst penalties. There were 45,144 total plays this year. Of those plays 3,868 times a flag was throw, and of those, 3,436 penalties were accepted.
Here are the best (in the eyes of Bleergh) single penalties of the season. These are all DPI, in case you were wondering.
| Team | Player | Yards |
| MIA | M.Fitzpatrick | 41 |
| BUF | P.Gaines | 43 |
| SF | A.Exum | 43 |
| DET | M.Ford | 43 |
| NO | K.Crawley | 45 |
| WAS | M.Nicholson | 46 |
| BUF | P.Gaines | 47 |
| WAS | J.Norman | 47 |
| HOU | K.Jackson | 47 |
| CAR | J.Bradberry | 48 |
| GB | R.Greene | 48 |
| LA | L.Joyner | 48 |
| OAK | D.Rodgers-Cromartie | 50 |
| CAR | D.Jackson | 52 |
| SEA | B.McDougald | 56 |
Shocked and saddened that the biggest penalty was only for 56 yards.
Here are the worst (in the eyes of Bleergh) penalties of the season. This surprised me as well as I wasn’t expecting this number of penalties with so little yards.
| Penalty yards | Occurred |
| 0 yards | 23 times |
| 1 yard | 32 times |
| 2 yards | 34 times |
| 3 yard2 | 31 times |
| 4 yards | 59 times |
| 5 yards | 1506 times |
Here are the most penalized players by yards for the season.
| Player | Number of penalties | Total yards |
| E.Apple | 9 | 106 |
| B.Skrine | 7 | 107 |
| M.Moses | 14 | 108 |
| J.Brown | 15 | 110 |
| T.Smith | 14 | 110 |
| B.Webb | 8 | 113 |
| R.Jensen | 11 | 120 |
| T.Hill | 12 | 120 |
| S.Nelson | 9 | 121 |
| J.Jones | 11 | 123 |
| J.Mills | 10 | 123 |
| K.Crawley | 6 | 126 |
| D.Jackson | 9 | 131 |
| P.Gaines | 3 | 131 |
| J.Jackson | 15 | 145 |
| M.Fitzpatrick | 10 | 152 |
Now by number of penalties, some repeat offenders. Again this is for the season.
| Player | Number of penalties | Total yards |
| D.Dawkins | 11 | 91 |
| J.Jones | 11 | 123 |
| M.Pouncey | 11 | 90 |
| N.Lawson | 11 | 84 |
| R.Jensen | 11 | 120 |
| B.Hart | 12 | 75 |
| B.Parker | 12 | 85 |
| J.Davenport | 12 | 85 |
| T.Hill | 12 | 120 |
| J.Clowney | 13 | 95 |
| T.Williams | 13 | 92 |
| M.Moses | 14 | 108 |
| T.Smith | 14 | 110 |
| J.Brown | 15 | 110 |
| J.Jackson | 15 | 145 |
There were 55 TDs and 7 field goals reversed by penalties. Here are the penalties for TD’s with the biggest yardage that were nullified. Bleergh like these. There weren’t any fun field goal descriptions.
| Yards gained | Penalty yards | Description | Penalty |
| 33 | 10 | L.JACKSON LEFT TACKLE FOR 33 YARDS | OFFENSIVE HOLDING |
| 35 | 5 | J.ROSEN PASS SHORT LEFT INTENDED FOR 11-L.FITZGERALD INTERCEPTED BY 39-E.JACKSON AT ARI 35. 39-E.JACKSON FOR 35 YARDS | DEFENSIVE OFFSIDE |
| 42 | 10 | A.EKELER LEFT TACKLE FOR 42 YARDS. | OFFENSIVE HOLDING |
| 44 | 10 | T.COLEMAN LEFT TACKLE FOR 44 YARDS | ILLEGAL BLOCK ABOVE THE WAIST |
| 46 | 10 | M.STAFFORD PASS DEEP LEFT TO 19-K.GOLLADAY FOR 46 YARDS | ILLEGAL USE OF HANDS |
| 52 | 10 | J.ADAMS UP THE MIDDLE FOR 52 YARDS, TOUCHDOWN NULLIFIED BY PENALTY | OFFENSIVE HOLDING |
| 57 | 10 | D.JOHNSON UP THE MIDDLE FOR 57 YARDS | OFFENSIVE HOLDING |
| 62 | 10 | D.HENRY RIGHT END FOR 62 YARDS | OFFENSIVE HOLDING |
| 75 | 10 | C.WENTZ PASS DEEP MIDDLE TO 88-D.GOEDERT FOR 75 YARDS | OFFENSIVE PASS INTERFERENCE |
| 76 | 10 | B.MAYFIELD PASS DEEP RIGHT TO 11-A.CALLAWAY FOR 76 YARDS | OFFENSIVE HOLDING |
| 89 | 10 | C.KEENUM PASS SHORT MIDDLE INTENDED FOR 82-J.HEUERMAN INTERCEPTED BY 48-P.ONWUASOR AT BAL 11. 48-P.ONWUASOR FOR 89 YARDS | ILLEGAL BLOCK ABOVE THE WAIST |
Here’s the total number of penalties per team this season. I’ve bolded the highest and lowest in each column.
| Team | Penalties Called | Penalties against | Penalties declined | Total accepted penalty yards | Average yards per penalty |
| ARIZONA | 120 | 100 | 20 | 781 | 7.81 |
| ATLANTA | 121 | 101 | 20 | 899 | 8.90 |
| BALTIMORE | 124 | 116 | 8 | 940 | 8.10 |
| BUFFALO | 129 | 115 | 14 | 977 | 8.50 |
| CAROLINA | 105 | 92 | 13 | 818 | 8.89 |
| CHICAGO | 108 | 97 | 11 | 796 | 8.21 |
| CINCINNATI | 126 | 114 | 12 | 957 | 8.39 |
| CLEVELAND | 130 | 112 | 18 | 894 | 7.98 |
| DALLAS | 111 | 104 | 7 | 885 | 8.51 |
| DENVER | 147 | 125 | 22 | 985 | 7.88 |
| DETROIT | 108 | 93 | 15 | 837 | 9.00 |
| GREEN BAY | 126 | 108 | 18 | 937 | 8.68 |
| HOUSTON | 114 | 104 | 10 | 782 | 7.52 |
| INDIANAPOLIS | 135 | 120 | 15 | 953 | 7.94 |
| JACKSONVILLE | 134 | 120 | 14 | 1107 | 9.23 |
| KANSAS CITY | 157 | 137 | 20 | 1152 | 8.41 |
| LOS ANGELES CHARGERS | 109 | 96 | 13 | 878 | 9.15 |
| LOS ANGELES RAMS | 113 | 111 | 2 | 967 | 8.56 |
| MIAMI | 132 | 108 | 24 | 978 | 9.06 |
| MINNESOTA | 105 | 92 | 13 | 779 | 8.47 |
| NEW ENGLAND | 106 | 93 | 13 | 744 | 8.00 |
| NEW ORLEANS | 106 | 94 | 12 | 939 | 9.99 |
| NEW YORK GIANTS | 125 | 113 | 12 | 936 | 8.28 |
| NEW YORK JETS | 125 | 114 | 11 | 948 | 8.32 |
| OAKLAND | 124 | 110 | 14 | 965 | 8.77 |
| PHILADELPHIA | 128 | 110 | 18 | 1011 | 9.19 |
| PITTSBURGH | 109 | 100 | 9 | 852 | 8.52 |
| SAN FRANCISCO | 118 | 110 | 8 | 954 | 8.67 |
| SEATTLE | 127 | 111 | 16 | 972 | 8.76 |
| TAMPA BAY | 131 | 117 | 14 | 975 | 8.33 |
| TENNESSEE | 93 | 82 | 11 | 727 | 8.87 |
| WASHINGTON | 121 | 115 | 6 | 1008 | 8.77 |
I do find it interesting that with the range in the of number of penalties per team, that the average penalty yardage by team is right around the league average of 8.5 yards.
Challenges
These are all over the place. Some team don’t challenge at all( ATL,LAC), others, challenge and consistently lose(BUF,PIT), others challenge and do well(JAX).
| Team | Challenges | Call reversed |
| ARIZONA | 3 | 0 |
| ATLANTA | 1 | 0 |
| BALTIMORE | 6 | 3 |
| BUFFALO | 6 | 0 |
| CAROLINA | 7 | 4 |
| CHICAGO | 3 | 0 |
| CINCINNATI | 6 | 3 |
| CLEVELAND | 4 | 3 |
| DALLAS | 5 | 2 |
| DENVER | 7 | 2 |
| DETROIT | 7 | 3 |
| GREEN BAY | 3 | 1 |
| HOUSTON | 4 | 2 |
| INDIANAPOLIS | 4 | 2 |
| JACKSONVILLE | 8 | 7 |
| KANSAS CITY | 5 | 3 |
| LOS ANGELES CHARGERS | 1 | 0 |
| LOS ANGELES RAMS | 7 | 3 |
| MIAMI | 3 | 0 |
| MINNESOTA | 5 | 1 |
| NEW ENGLAND | 5 | 2 |
| NEW ORLEANS | 7 | 3 |
| NEW YORK GIANTS | 5 | 2 |
| NEW YORK JETS | 2 | 2 |
| OAKLAND* | 7 | 3 |
| PHILADELPHIA | 6 | 3 |
| PITTSBURGH | 5 | 0 |
| SAN FRANCISCO | 6 | 2 |
| SEATTLE | 5 | 4 |
| TAMPA BAY | 5 | 1 |
| TENNESSEE | 5 | 0 |
| WASHINGTON | 3 | 2 |
*special note that Chucky tried to challenge a play inside of the last 2 minutes of a game. This lead to a penalty, which pleases Bleergh.
Now that I’m one with these spreadsheets, I’ll try to do these weekly for the next regular season, assuming I can find the play by play data for download. The lack of data has been the holdup for some of these. There were a few weeks where I did this from the NFL game sheets. While it’s not too bad to do for the playoffs with just a few games, there’s no way I’m do that for any given regular season week. I’m way too lazy for that.
BLEERGH will now rest until August, at which time planning will begin on how to improve on last years work.
I’m actually surprised there aren’t more really short penalties. If you’re a defense on a goal line stand, is there any point in not trying to time the snap or commit a hold/dpi?
The awarding of an automatic first down on some defensive penalties can kill you, also if it is an early down and it gets moved closer the offense has more options.
Hold/DPI grants Auto 1st Down. Plus if you repeatedly go offsides on 3rd down and stop them, I think Palpably Unfair Act may kick in, probably with awarding automatic first down.
LOVE these! I think the data shows that there are way too many stupid penalties.
Is the Lesser Footy Penalty god also Bleergh? Or is he known as something else since they use those cute little cards instead of flags?
I believe that in ‘Murrica and Canadia, he is known as James, but in the rest of the world he is still Bleergh, but looks nothing like the North American version of Bleergh.
Also, the Salt Lake City MLS is attempting to change the name to the Spanish translation of Bleergh, you know, for authenticity.
From King Hippo:
There is also the linesman/assistant ref who can put up a flag to indicate the attack is offside. Lesser BLEERGH works, since is Lesser Footy
The rule book is about a quarter of the size; that helps.
And that’s just for how to define a catch
Looking forward to this next season!