Hold On – Week 17
January 5, 2022
By Noonefromtampa
The Washington Football Team had hopes of a rare repeat playoff appearance just a few short weeks ago. The Philadelphia Eagles drove the final nail into the coffin of the 2021 season, which was riddled by injuries and player sitting out key games with positive COVID tests.
On the other side, the Dallas Cowboys were beaten by the Arizona Cardinals and promptly complained about the unfair officiating, evidently not realizing they were one of the most penalized teams in the league going into that game. In other news, the New York Giants head coach decided the best way to deflect unwanted questions about his performance was to point out that at least his team is not fighting on the sidelines like the Washington team did. The week 18 game at the Giants just got a little more interesting.
Washington only had one penalty in the stat line this weekm Saahdiq Charles’ false start, which only counted for four yards since the ball ended up inside the 5 yard line. The league average for the season is 6.02 calls per team in a game while week 17 saw the average being 4.69 calls per team in a game (down from 5.25 last week). Washington continued the trend of being under the league average for the season (4.65 calls average versus the 6.02 calls league wide) and were also under the weekly average (1 versus 4.69).
League Wide Numbers
With their mistake-riddled performance this week, the Dallas Cowboys overtook the Las Vegas Raiders at 122 calls for Dallas and 120 for Las Vegas. Houston is in third place with 110 calls. Washington is in 27th place with 79 total calls. The Cincinnati Bengals are the least penalized team with 68 calls.
The player totals remain unchanged. Vikings offensive lineman Oli Udoh and Miami offensive lineman Austin Jackson are tied for the most penalized player in the league with 12 total calls against them. Raiders offensive lineman Alex Leatherwood and Cowboys offensive lineman Connor Williams are tied for third place with 11 calls each. Five players are tied for 5th place with 10 calls. William Jackson III is the leading Washington player with 7 calls, tying him for 30th place league-wide.
Week 17 Numbers
Game Summary:
| Team | Penalties | Yards | First Downs |
| Philadelphia | 6 | 42 | 0 |
| Washington | 1 | 4 | 2 |
Penalties called:
| Penalty | Philadelphia | Washington | Grand Total |
| Defensive Pass Interference | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| False Start | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Illegal Contact | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Neutral Zone Infraction | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Offensive Holding | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Grand Total | 6 | 1 | 7 |
Penalties by Unit:
| Team | Defense | Offense | ST | Grand Total |
| Philadelphia | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
| Washington | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Grand Total | 3 | 4 | 0 | 7 |
By Player:
| Player | Penalty | Accepted |
| L. Johnson | False Start | 2 |
| L. Dickerson | Offensive Holding | 1 |
| F. Cox | Neutral Zone Infraction | 1 |
| A. Maddox | Defensive Pass Interference | 1 |
| S. Charles | False Start | 1 |
| G. Avery | Illegal Contact | 1 |
Trends and Impacts
In the third quarter, the Eagles faced a third down and nine yards situation, Lane Johnson was called for a false start to make it third and fourteen. Great situation for a defense, right? Not when your defense is Washington’s defense which allowed Jalen Hurts to scramble out of the pocket and complete a 27 yard pass to Greg Ward for first and goal at the Washington 4 yard line. The Eagles scored a touchdown on 4th down.
That was the epitome of the Washington season encapsulated in a moment in one game: the inability of the Washington defense to force opposing teams off the field on third downs. The defense cannot do that in 2022 if the team really desires to make strides forward next season.
Overall, considering all the replacement players in the game due to injuries and positive COVID tests, the Washington Football Team has played fairly penalty free football the last several weeks, with just four penalties in the last three games.
Washington Overall Season Numbers
By Player:
| Player | Accepted | Declined | Offset | Superseded |
| W. Jackson | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| B. Scherff | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| R. Seals-Jones | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| C. Young | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Offense | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| W. Schweitzer | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| S. Charles | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| D. Payne | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| S. Cosmi | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| K. Curl | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| T. Apke | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Holcomb | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| K. Hudson | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Bates | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| M. Sweat | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| L. Thomas | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| T. McLaurin | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Leno | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| B. St-Juste | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Allen | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| E. Flowers | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Smith-Williams | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| M. Ioannidis | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Toohill | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| J. McKissic | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| K. Ismael | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| B. McCain | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Roullier | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| T. Heinicke | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| K. Fuller | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| N. Orchard | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| A. Humphries | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Lucas | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| A. Gandy-Golden | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Cheeseman | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Davis | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Patterson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| L. Collins | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| T. Way | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| T. McTyer | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| W. Bradley-King | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| S. Reyes | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| D. Roberts | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| A. Gibson | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| T. Larsen | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
By Penalty and Unit:
| Penalty | Defense | Offense | ST | Grand Total |
| False Start | 0 | 13 | 3 | 16 |
| Offensive Holding | 0 | 10 | 4 | 14 |
| Defensive Pass Interference | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| Roughing the Passer | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Defensive Offside | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Delay of Game | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Neutral Zone Infraction | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Unnecessary Roughness | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Defensive Holding | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Offensive Pass Interference | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Face Mask | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Clipping | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Illegal Touch Kick | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Illegal Double Team Block | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Illegal Formation | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Ineligible Downfield Pass | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Low Block | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Illegal Blindside Block | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Taunting | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Illegal Forward Pass | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Horse Collar Tackle | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Grand Total | 32 | 36 | 11 | 79 |
Week to Week:
| Penalty | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | Grand Total |
| False Start | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 16 |
| Offensive Holding | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| Defensive Pass Interference | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| Roughing the Passer | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Defensive Offside | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Delay of Game | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Neutral Zone Infraction | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Unnecessary Roughness | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Defensive Holding | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Offensive Pass Interference | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Face Mask | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Clipping | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Illegal Touch Kick | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Illegal Double Team Block | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Illegal Formation | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Ineligible Downfield Pass | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Low Block | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Illegal Blindside Block | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Taunting | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Illegal Forward Pass | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Horse Collar Tackle | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Grand Total | 8 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 79 |
The most common penalties committed by Washington during the season have been false start with 15 calls; offensive holding with 14 calls; and defensive pass interference with 10 calls. The offense leads the defense by three penalties 36 to 32.
Comparing Washington against the league:
| Penalty | Washington | League Average/Team |
| False Start | 16 | 17.1 |
| Offensive Holding | 14 | 19.7 |
| Defensive Pass Interference | 10 | 8.9 |
As always, any question on penalties, please post them in the comments section or hit me up on Twitter @noonefromtampa.