Hold On – Week 17 2022
January 5, 2023
By Noonefromtampa
First of all, everyone at The Hog Sty wishes a full and speedy recovery to Damar Hamlin. Please keep him and his family in your prayers.
The Washington Commanders had their trifecta game this week: poor execution, poor coaching decisions, and mental mistakes. It was a must-win game and they choked.
Through week 17 of completed games, 2,894 penalties have been enforced for 23,880 yards in 255 games, yielding an average of 5.67 penalties per team per game and 46.67 yards lost per team per game. Washington has been called for 90 penalties across 16 games totaling 796 yards lost, for an average of 5.63 penalties per game and 49.75 yards lost per game. The average number of penalty calls is right at the league average while average yards lost is over by 3.08 yards a game.
The most penalized teams in the league are:
- Arizona – 111 penalties for 866 yards
- Denver – 110 penalties for 935 yards
- Las Vegas – 107 penalties for 885 yards
- Miami – 106 penalties for 834 yards
- Tennessee – 105 penalties for 917 yards
The top 5 penalty calls across the league are:
- Offensive Holding, 566 times, 5,435 yards
- False Start, 549 times, 2,698 yards
- Defensive Pass Interference, 216 times, 3,717 yards
- Defensive Holding, 206 times, 986 yards
- Delay of Game, 148 times, 737 yards
Washington is second in the league for the most defensive pass interference penalties (12 calls) and is tied for first (with New Orleans) in illegal use of hands (5 calls).
Game Summary
Cleveland – 3 accepted penalties (2 declined) for 20 yards, gave up 1 first down via penalty
Washington – 5 accepted penalties (0 declined) for 24 yards, gave up 1 first down via penalty
This is the summary of penalties committed by each team:
By Penalty:
| Penalty | Cleveland | Washington | Grand Total |
| Defensive Holding | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Defensive Offside | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Defensive Too Many Men on Field | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| False Start | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Illegal Shift | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Offensive Holding | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Grand Total | 3 | 5 | 8 |
By Unit:
| Team | Defense | Offense | ST | Grand Total |
| Cleveland | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Washington | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| Grand Total | 3 | 4 | 1 | 8 |
By Player:
| Against | Player | Penalty | Accepted | Declined |
| Cleveland | P. Winfrey | Defensive Offside | 0 | 1 |
| Offense | Illegal Shift | 1 | 0 | |
| J. Conklin | Illegal Touch Pass | 0 | 1 | |
| J. Bitonio | Offensive Holding | 1 | 0 | |
| D. Ward | Defensive Holding | 1 | 0 | |
| Washington | S. Cosmi | False Start | 1 | 0 |
| C. Leno | False Start | 1 | 0 | |
| Defense | Defensive Too Many Men on Field | 1 | 0 | |
| K. Hudson | Defensive Offside | 1 | 0 | |
| M. Sweat | Defensive Offside | 1 | 0 |
Game Impactors
There were no major game impacting penalty calls in this game. It was more about the little mental mistakes that provided Cleveland with subtle advantages, such as Montez Sweat going offsides and giving the Browns a first down and Khaleke Hudson being called for offside, which allowed Cleveland to try for a touchdown from the 3 yard line instead of taking the three points from the field goal they made. Darrick Forrest saved the bacon on that by stopping Deshaun Watson for a one yard gain forcing a turnover on downs.
The Commanders defense had too many men on the field which made a third and 9 into a third and 4. Watson gained 3 yards and Jacoby Brissett converted it on a quarterback sneak on fourth down. Three plays later Amari Cooper scored a 33 yard touchdown, putting the game out of reach at 24-10.
Jahan Dotson got mugged in the end zone and did not get a call for defensive pass interference, which continued that trend. The result of Carson Wentz making that throw into double coverage was the second interception of the day by Grant Delpit and Wentz’s third overall interception.
The Commanders must stop hurting themselves with ill advised penalties if they want to become a good team.
Yearly Totals
By Player:
| Player | Accepted | Declined | Offsetting | Reversed |
| R. Wildgoose | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Offense | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| B. St-Juste | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Leno | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Holmes | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| M. Sweat | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| W. Jackson | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Wentz | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| K. Hudson | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Dotson | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| N. Martin | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| S. Cosmi | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Defense | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| A. Rogers | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| K. Fuller | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| A. Norwell | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| L. Thomas | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| T. Turner | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Lucas | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Ridgeway | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Sims | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| P. Butler | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Holcomb | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| J. Reaves | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| T. Larsen | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| A. Newell | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Cheeseman | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Smith-Williams | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| E. Obada | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| T. McLaurin | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| W. Schweitzer | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| B. McCain | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| D. Forrest | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Samuel | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| S. Charles | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Turner | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| K. Curl | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| D. Payne | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Allen | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
By Penalty:
| Penalty | Defense | Offense | ST | Grand Total |
| Offensive Holding | 0 | 10 | 8 | 18 |
| False Start | 0 | 15 | 1 | 16 |
| Defensive Pass Interference | 11 | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| Delay of Game | 0 | 5 | 2 | 7 |
| Unnecessary Roughness | 2 | 0 | 4 | 6 |
| Illegal Use of Hands | 3 | 2 | 0 | 5 |
| Illegal Contact | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Defensive Offside | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Intentional Grounding | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Offensive Pass Interference | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Defensive Holding | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Face Mask | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Defensive Too Many Men on Field | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Illegal Formation | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Illegal Double-Team Block | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Illegal Block Above the Waist | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Illegal Touch Kick | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Neutral Zone Infraction | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Illegal Motion | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Roughing the Passer | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Grand Total | 29 | 43 | 18 | 90 |
The comparison of penalties across the years 2019-2022 by week.
Year to Year Comparison:
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | |||||
| Week | Count | Yards | Count | Yards | Count | Yards | Count | Yards |
| 1 | 12 | 96 | 7 | 55 | 8 | 57 | 6 | 63 |
| 2 | 6 | 44 | 6 | 42 | 9 | 80 | 2 | 17 |
| 3 | 9 | 61 | 4 | 40 | 5 | 38 | 4 | 48 |
| 4 | 12 | 58 | 2 | 20 | 6 | 85 | 11 | 136 |
| 5 | 6 | 72 | 3 | 40 | 5 | 37 | 9 | 71 |
| 6 | 6 | 56 | 8 | 50 | 6 | 44 | 7 | 36 |
| 7 | 7 | 47 | 4 | 30 | 4 | 50 | 7 | 54 |
| 8 | 4 | 46 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 29 | 3 | 52 |
| 9 | 3 | 15 | 6 | 45 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 26 |
| 10 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 58 | 3 | 33 | 5 | 58 |
| 11 | 11 | 66 | 6 | 49 | 8 | 69 | 5 | 36 |
| 12 | 8 | 63 | 5 | 53 | 4 | 38 | 4 | 28 |
| 13 | 6 | 65 | 9 | 62 | 6 | 47 | 7 | 56 |
| 14 | 3 | 25 | 5 | 30 | 7 | 65 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | 5 | 60 | 6 | 41 | 2 | 25 | 6 | 40 |
| 16 | 6 | 51 | 5 | 26 | 1 | 13 | 6 | 51 |
| 17 | 2 | 10 | 5 | 56 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 24 |
Sources: nfl.com, nflpenalties.com