For this blog, I thought I would point out some of the highs and lows regarding penalties taken in week one action. I always feel that penalties are under-reported in football. In hockey, penalty minutes is a major statistic and it can even be broken down into major and minor penalties for each player. In football, all that is easily available is the penalties totals for each team. I hope to change that this year.
The reason I am tracking penalties is I do believe it is a major part of evaluating a player. If we are comparing two top defensive ends for an all-star vote, isn’t the number of roughing the passer penalties taken by each as important a statistic as the amount of sacks. I would argue the 15 yards and automatic first down given to a player for each transgression hurts more than the benefit received from a sack. Different positions would have their most relevant penalties. For offensive linemen, I would like to know who gets the most illegal procedure and holding penalties. For defensive backs, I want to see who gets the most interference penalties.
So, I am not going to release all of my raw data in week one, because we really don’t have enough to go on yet. I will point out some highlights and lowlights.
I also want to clarify how I am tracking the penalties. All unnecessary roughness penalties, whether roughing the passer or someone else, are simply called roughing. I’m using the amount of yardage that the player was charged with in the game. For example, an interference penalty has the ball spotted at the point of the infraction, so whatever that yardage is, that is what I am using. No yards penalties can be either 15 or 5 yards, and I will apply the correct number. The only exception for this is I am not minimizing the yardage when the penalty is reduced due to being half the distance to the goal. For example, if the offensive team is on their 8 yard line and is charged with a holding penalty, the ball is moved half the distance to the goal, or to the 4 yard line. In these cases, I am still charging the player with the normal 10 yard penalty. Because of this, my totals will not match perfectly the official stats.
So what stood out this week?
The reason I am tracking penalties is I do believe it is a major part of evaluating a player. If we are comparing two top defensive ends for an all-star vote, isn’t the number of roughing the passer penalties taken by each as important a statistic as the amount of sacks. I would argue the 15 yards and automatic first down given to a player for each transgression hurts more than the benefit received from a sack. Different positions would have their most relevant penalties. For offensive linemen, I would like to know who gets the most illegal procedure and holding penalties. For defensive backs, I want to see who gets the most interference penalties.
So, I am not going to release all of my raw data in week one, because we really don’t have enough to go on yet. I will point out some highlights and lowlights.
I also want to clarify how I am tracking the penalties. All unnecessary roughness penalties, whether roughing the passer or someone else, are simply called roughing. I’m using the amount of yardage that the player was charged with in the game. For example, an interference penalty has the ball spotted at the point of the infraction, so whatever that yardage is, that is what I am using. No yards penalties can be either 15 or 5 yards, and I will apply the correct number. The only exception for this is I am not minimizing the yardage when the penalty is reduced due to being half the distance to the goal. For example, if the offensive team is on their 8 yard line and is charged with a holding penalty, the ball is moved half the distance to the goal, or to the 4 yard line. In these cases, I am still charging the player with the normal 10 yard penalty. Because of this, my totals will not match perfectly the official stats.
So what stood out this week?
- Team with the most penalties: Toronto with 20 for 183
- Team with the least penalties: BC with 7 for 60
- Team with the most penalties with a win: Calgary with 12 for 150
- Team with the fewest penalties with a loss: BC with 7 for 60
- Team with the most major penalties: Calgary with 6
- Team with the most holding penalties:
- BC: only player with multiple penalties is Johnson with two offsides for 10 yards
- Calgary: two multiple penalty takers: MacDougall and Raymond, both 2 for 25
- Edmonton: two multiple penalty takers: Rottier with 2 for 15 and McCoil with 2 for 10.
- Hamilton: Breaux had 3 for 38 yards, Butler had 3 for 40 yards
- Montreal: one player with multiple infractions Webb with 2 for 25, also had the biggest penalty with Hebert taking a rough play disqualification for 25 yards.
- Saskatchewan: only player with more than one penalty was Chick with two offsides for 10 yards.
- Toronto: three multiple penalty takers: Brown (3-25), Gibson (3-15) (all offsides!), and Emery (2-30)
- Winnipeg: no multiple penalty takers
