Hold On – Week 1
September 14, 2021
By Noonefromtampa
For readers who might be new to The Hog Sty, this is the weekly column we run in-season analyzing Washington penalties from the prior game and well as season trends.
Penalty History
One of the things head coach Ron Rivera preaches is to play smart football and to reduce mistakes. We saw the difference that made last season versus the prior season under Jay Gruden in the reduction of penalties.
2019 – 131 penalties committed, 106 accepted
2020 – 99 penalties committed, 88 accepted
These stats equate to a 24% reduction in penalties committed and a 17% reduction in accepted penalties in 2020 over 2019.
Comparing week 1 this season to week 1 last season, there were 9 penalties committed with one offsetting for 8 accepted last week, whereas last year there were 7 penalties committed and accepted. This is something to track going forward to see if the infractions continue to trend upwards.
Game Summary
Chargers – six penalties for 94 yards, gave up three first down
Washington – eight penalties for 57 yards, gave up one first down
| Penalty | Opponent | Washington | Grand Total |
| Clipping | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Defensive Pass Interference | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| False Start | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Illegal Block Above the Waist | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Illegal Use of Hands | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Neutral Zone Infraction | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Offensive Holding | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Roughing the Passer | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Grand Total | 6 | 8 | 14 |
As I mention in the Hold On review column before the first game, two major mental mistakes stood out from last season, delay of game/false start on the offense, special teams units and offsides/neutral zone infraction on defense. Fifty percent of the penalties in the Chargers game fell into those same two mental mistake categories. For the Chargers, 37% of their penalty yards came on defensive pass interference call (35 yards) by Asante Samuel Jr.
By Unit:
| Penalty | Defense | Offense | ST | Grand Total |
| Opponent | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| Washington | 3 | 3 | 2 | 8 |
| Grand Total | 6 | 5 | 3 | 14 |
By Player:
| Player | Penalty | Accepted | Declined | Offset |
| A. Gibson | Face Mask | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| A. Humphries | Clipping | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| A. Samuel | Defensive Pass Interference | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| B. Bulaga | Offensive Holding | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| B. Scherff | False Start | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| B. Scherff | Offensive Holding | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Cheeseman | Offensive Holding | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Young | Neutral Zone Infraction | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| D. James | Horse Collar Tackle | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| J. Bosa | Roughing the Passer | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Smith-Williams | Neutral Zone Infraction | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| M. Davis | Illegal Contact | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| M. Webb | Illegal Block Above the Waist | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| O. Aboushi | Illegal Use of Hands | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| T. Apke | False Start | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| W. Jackson | Defensive Pass Interference | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Game Impactors
- The defensive pass interference on Dyami Brown by Samuel: this put the ball on the Chargers 22 yards in good scoring position. Unfortunately, Washington failed to take advantage of it, almost fumbling it away on a Joey Bosa sack. It did result in a field goal for Washington.
- Joey Bosa’s first roughing the passer call just before halftime: this gave Washington a huge chuck of yardage, followed by two passes to Logan Thomas and a Taylor Heinicke scramble which put Washington close enough for 48 yard Dustin Hopkins field goal.
- A bizarre series of plays at the end of third quarter led to failed 51 yard field goal attempt. During this series, Scherff committed two penalties. On first and ten at the two minute mark, Scherff was called for offensive holding, making it first and twenty. Heinicke completed a pass for 17 yards to Terry McLaurin, making it second down and three. The next play is when it starts to get strange. There were offsetting penalties on Antonio Gibson and Derwin James, keeping the down and distance the same. Gibson lost two yards on the next play making third and five. Scherff then committed a false start penalty to take it to third and 10 yards to for a first down. Brown lost two yards on a check down with a heavy pass rush coming on an obvious passing down.
- On Washington’s last possession of the game, after Joey Bosa’s second roughing the passer call (for a low hit on the quarterback), Adam Humphries was called for clipping on a play that in prior years would have been a legal cut block. That was also most likely a mental mistake by a veteran player used to the old rules. Washington never recovered from the second and twenty situation they found themselves in and ended up punting the ball.
Other Items
While not a penalty, another bizarre call in the game was the fumble through the end zone by Justin Herbert that resulted in a touchback. Montez Sweat got credited with a strip sack on the play but looking closely at the play it does appear that Herbert’s arm was going forward and should have been ruled an incompletion. The play was reviewed but the call was not overturned.