Hold On – 2024 Week 17

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January 3, 2025

By Noonefromtampa

Through week seventeen, 3,326 penalties have been enforced in 256 games for 27,082 yards, yielding an average of 6.5 penalties per team per game. Washington has been called for 106 total penalties, which is slightly over the league average at 6.63 penalties per game. They are 10th in the league for most penalties, tied with New York Giants, Green Bay and Buffalo.

The top 5 penalized teams across the league are:

  1. New York Jets – 131
  2. Tennessee – 125
  3. Baltimore – 122
  4. Seattle, Dallas – 117
  5. Carolina, Cleveland – 116

The top 5 penalty calls across the league are:

  1. Offensive Holding – 654 times
  2. False Start – 636 times
  3. Defensive Pass Interference – 296 times
  4. Unnecessary Roughness – 165 times
  5. Defensive Holding – 164 times

Week 17 Summary

Washington – 13 accepted penalties (0 declined) for 108 yards, gave up 4 first downs via penalty

Atlanta – 4 accepted penalties (1 declined) for 25 yards, gave up 2 first downs via penalty

This is the summary of penalties committed by each team:

By Penalty:

Penalty Washington Atlanta Grand Total
Defensive Holding 0 1 1
Defensive Offside 1 0 1
Defensive Pass Interference 2 0 2
False Start 2 1 3
Illegal Contact 0 1 1
Neutral Zone Infraction 1 0 1
Offensive Holding 6 1 7
Roughing the Passer 1 0 1
Grand Total 13 4 17

By Unit:

Team Defense Offense ST Grand Total
Washington 4 7 2 13
Atlanta 2 2 0 4
Grand Total 6 9 2 17

By Player:

Against Player Penalty Accepted Declined
Washington S. Cosmi False Start 1 0
Offensive Holding 2 0
M. Davis Defensive Pass Interference 2 0
B. Coleman False Start 1 0
Offensive Holding 1 0
M. Sainristil Defensive Offside 1 0
T. Biadasz Offensive Holding 1 0
D. Payne Neutral Zone Infraction 1 0
K. Osborn Offensive Holding 1 0
D. Fowler Roughing the Passer 1 0
D. Forrest Offensive Holding 1 0
Atlanta M. Bergeron Offensive Holding 0 1
G. Jarrett Defensive Holding 1 0
K. McGary Offensive Holding 1 0
C. Woerner False Start 1 0
D. Malone Illegal Contact 1 0

Washington Season Totals

By Penalty

Row Labels Defense Offense ST Grand Total
Offensive Holding 0 17 3 20
Defensive Pass Interference 18 0 0 18
False Start 0 18 0 18
Roughing the Passer 6 0 0 6
Defensive Offside 4 0 1 5
Ineligible Downfield Pass 0 5 0 5
Illegal Formation 0 4 0 4
Neutral Zone Infraction 3 1 0 4
Illegal Block Above the Waist 1 1 1 3
Defensive Too Many Men on Field 2 0 0 2
Illegal Shift 0 2 0 2
Delay of Game 0 1 1 2
Defensive Holding 2 0 0 2
Illegal Use of Hands 2 0 0 2
Taunting 0 2 0 2
Face Mask 2 0 0 2
Unnecessary Roughness 0 0 2 2
Encroachment 1 0 0 1
Kickoff Out of Bounds 0 0 1 1
Illegal Motion 0 1 0 1
Illegal Blindside Block 0 1 0 1
Offensive Too Many Men on Field 0 1 0 1
Illegal Contact 1 0 0 1
Unsportsmanlike Conduct 0 0 1 1
Grand Total 42 54 10 106

By Player:

Player Accepted Declined Offset
S. Cosmi 11 1 0
Unnamed 7 1 0
N. Igbinoghene 7 0 0
B. St-Juste 6 1 0
Z. Ertz 6 0 0
N. Allegretti 5 1 0
B. Coleman 4 2 0
D. Fowler 4 0 0
A. Wylie 3 1 0
M. Sainristil 3 0 0
D. Brown 3 0 0
J. Newton 3 0 0
M. Davis 3 0 0
M. Lattimore 3 0 0
T. Biadasz 2 0 1
O. Zaccheaus 3 0 0
C. Ferrell 2 2 0
D. Payne 2 1 0
D. Armstrong 2 0 1
J. Bates 2 0 1
C. Lucas 2 0 1
F. Luvu 2 0 0
B. Wagner 2 0 0
J. Chinn 2 0 0
B. Sinnott 2 0 0
E. Forbes 2 0 0
T. Scott 2 0 0
D. Forrest 1 0 0
K. Osborn 1 0 0
N. Bellore 1 0 0
J. McNichols 1 0 0
J. Reaves 1 0 0
Defense 1 0 0
C. York 1 0 0
T. McLaurin 1 0 0
B. Robinson 1 0 0
P. Mathis 1 0 0
Special Teams 1 0 0
J. Daniels 0 1 0

Thoughts

Washington set a 2024 season record for 13 penalties in one game, exceeding their 10-penalty game in week 2 against the New York Giants. It is hard to win games against playoff caliber teams while making that many mistakes. Washington gave up 4 first downs by penalties and allowed the Falcons to convert two fourth downs on the game tying drive. The defense has to get off the field instead of extending opponents drives.

The league average is 2.55 offensive holding penalties per game, but this officiating crew called 7 offensive holding penalties, with 6 against the Commanders. The crew is known for calling more penalties than on average, and especially for more holding penalties. So far this season, they had one game with 21 penalties called and three with 18 and two now with 17, including this game.

Sam Cosmi was called for two of the holding penalties. Both were somewhat questionable – the first one probably should not have been called, while the second was more legitimate but still rather ticky-tack. Here are the two plays.

The team chose to keep Michael Davis over Emmanuel Forbes. He did not make a good case for continued employment with his play in the Falcons game with two defensive pass interference calls. His second pass interference call along with Daron Payne’s neutral zone infraction gave the Falcons 18 free yards on the potential game winning field goal attempt.

 

Sources: nfl.com, nflpenalties.com

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