Hold On – Week 8
November 3, 2021
By Noonefromtampa
What was an important penalty lesson from Week 8? If you score a touchdown, just hand the ball to the official and return to the bench. D.K. Metcalf decided to jump on and hug the goal post earning himself a 15 yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Luckily, Seattle was playing Jacksonville so the move didn’t matter in the big scheme of things, with Seattle winning handily 31-7. In the Monday Night game, Kansas City and New York Giants combined for 22 penalties for a whopping 191 yards. One can only assume the officials had tired arms after that game.
The Washington Football Team limited penalties to four calls this week, which was the same number as last week. Washington may not be playing good football, but they are playing mostly mistake free football. Fans can only hope the improved consistent play leads to more wins as the season goes on. The league average for the season is 6.32 calls per team in a game while in week 8, the average was 6.87 calls per team in a game. Washington is continuing the trend of being under the league averages for the week and season.
League Wide Numbers
The most penalized team in the NFL is still the Philadelphia with 60 flags against Washington has 47 total calls against them, which is tied at 15th place with two other teams. The players with the most penalties against them are Raiders offensive lineman Alex Leatherwood and Dallas offensive lineman Conner Williams with 8 accepted calls. Broncos tight end Noah Fant is third with 7 calls.
Week 5 Numbers
Game Summary:
| Team | Penalties | Yards | First Downs |
| Denver | 4 | 35 | 1 |
| Washington | 4 | 29 | 1 |
Penalties called:
| Penalty | Denver | Washington | Grand Total |
| Face Mask | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| False Start | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Ineligible Downfield Pass | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Neutral Zone Infraction | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Offensive Holding | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Roughing the Passer | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Grand Total | 4 | 4 | 8 |
Penalties by Unit:
| Team | Defense | Offense | ST | Grand Total |
| Denver | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| Washington | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| Grand Total | 3 | 5 | 3 | 11 |
By Player:
| Player | Penalty | Accepted | Offset |
| D. Risner | Offensive Holding | 1 | 0 |
| J. Davis | Roughing the Passer | 1 | 0 |
| J. McKissic | Unnecessary Roughness | 0 | 1 |
| J. Simmons | Taunting | 0 | 1 |
| L. Cushenberry | Ineligible Downfield Pass | 1 | 0 |
| M. Sweat | Neutral Zone Infraction | 1 | 0 |
| N. Fant | False Start | 1 | 0 |
| R. Darby | Face Mask | 1 | 0 |
| S. Charles | False Start | 1 | 0 |
| W. Schweitzer | Offensive Holding | 1 | 0 |
Trends and Impacts
The mental mistakes this week were Saahdiq Charles with a false start and Jamin Davis with a helmet-to-helmet hit which resulted in a roughing the passer penalty.
In the first quarter, penalties helped stop Denver’s first drive when they were called for offensive holding and ineligible downfield pass leaving them in a third down and 29 yards to go situation.
Overall Season Numbers
By Player:
| Player | Accepted | Declined | Offset |
| W. Jackson | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| C. Young | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| R. Seals-Jones | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| W. Schweitzer | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| S. Cosmi | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| T. McLaurin | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| B. Scherff | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| S. Charles | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| B. St-Juste | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| M. Sweat | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| T. Apke | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| J. McKissic | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| C. Leno | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| K. Fuller | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| L. Collins | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| K. Curl | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| K. Hudson | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Davis | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Roullier | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| T. Heinicke | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Patterson | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| T. McTyer | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| T. Way | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| A. Humphries | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Cheeseman | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Smith-Williams | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| A. Gandy-Golden | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Bates | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| A. Gibson | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| L. Thomas | 1 | 0 | 0 |
By Penalty and Unit:
| Penalty | Defense | Offense | ST | Grand Total |
| Offensive Holding | 0 | 7 | 3 | 10 |
| False Start | 0 | 5 | 3 | 8 |
| Defensive Pass Interference | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Neutral Zone Infraction | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Roughing the Passer | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Defensive Offside | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Unnecessary Roughness | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Defensive Holding | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Offensive Pass Interference | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Clipping | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Low Block | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Illegal Formation | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Ineligible Downfield Pass | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Illegal Touch Kick | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Illegal Forward Pass | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Illegal Double Team Block | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Grand Total | 18 | 19 | 10 | 47 |
Week to Week:
| Penalty | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Grand Total |
| Clipping | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Defensive Holding | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Defensive Pass Interference | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 |
| False Start | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| Illegal Double Team Block | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Ineligible Downfield Pass | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Neutral Zone Infraction | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Offensive Holding | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 10 |
| Roughing the Passer | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Unnecessary Roughness | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Offensive Pass Interference | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Illegal Forward Pass | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Defensive Offside | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Illegal Formation | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Low Block | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Illegal Touch Kick | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Grand Total | 8 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 47 |
The most common penalties committed by Washington during the season have been offensive holding with 10 calls; false start with 8 calls; and defensive pass interference with 7 calls.
If you have any questions on penalties, please post them in the comments section or hit me up on Twitter @noonefromtampa.