Hold On – Week 15 2022
December 21, 2022
By Noonefromtampa
Washington made way too many mistakes to win a winnable football game. Compounding that was one of the worst officiated games that I can recall. The litany of phantom calls, missed calls, and wrong calls that were overturned diminished the credibility of the game and the league.
Through week 15 of games, 2,580 penalties have been enforced for 21.396 yards in 224 games yielding an average of 5.76 penalties per team per game and 47.76 yards lost per team per game. Washington has been called for 79 penalties across 14 games totaling 721 yards lost for an average of 5.6 penalties per game and 51.5 yards lost per game. The average number of penalty calls is slightly under the league average while average yards lost is over by 3.7 yards a game.
The most penalized teams in the league are:
- Denver – 101 penalties for 857 yards
- Las Vegas – 99 penalties for 816 yards
- Arizona – 97 penalties for 742 yards
- New Orleans – 92 penalties for 791 yards
- Seattle and Dallas – both 91 penalties; 774 yards (SEA); 697 yards (DAL)
The top 5 penalty calls across the league are:
- False Start, 491 times, 2,414 yards
- Offensive Holding, 490 times, 4,708 yards
- Defensive Pass Interference, 191 times, 3,331 yards
- Defensive Holding, 178 times, 850 yards
- Unnecessary Roughness, 136 times, 1,736 yards
Washington and Kansas City are tied for the most defensive pass interference penalties (11 calls) and is tied for first (with New Orleans) in illegal use of hands (5 calls).
Game Summary
New York Giants – 5 accepted penalties (0 declined) for 30 yards, gave up 1 first down via penalty
Washington – 6 accepted penalties (0 declined) for 40 yards, gave up 0 first downs via penalty
This is the summary of penalties committed by each team:
By Penalty:
| Penalty | NY Giants | Washington | Grand Total |
| Defensive Holding | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Delay of Game | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| False Start | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Illegal Formation | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Illegal Motion | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Neutral Zone Infraction | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Offensive Holding | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Offensive Pass Interference | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Grand Total | 5 | 6 | 11 |
By Unit:
| Team | Defense | Offense | Grand Total |
| NY Giants | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Washington | 0 | 6 | 6 |
| Grand Total | 2 | 9 | 11 |
By Player:
| Against | Player | Penalty | Accepted |
| NY Giants | E. Neal | False Start | 2 |
| K. Thibodeaux | Neutral Zone Infraction | 1 | |
| J. Feliciano | Offensive Holding | 1 | |
| D. Holmes | Defensive Holding | 1 | |
| Washington | J. Dotson | False Start | 1 |
| Offensive Pass Interference | 1 | ||
| C. Lucas | Offensive Holding | 1 | |
| T. McLaurin | Illegal Formation | 1 | |
| L. Thomas | Illegal Motion | 1 | |
| Offense | Delay of Game | 1 |
Game Impactors
The inconsistent calls made by the officials in the game was disheartening. Little mistakes often lead to bigger things. On second down, Antonio Gibson rushed for 11 yards, but Cornelius Lucas was called for holding. That resulted in the ball being on the 10 yard line instead of a first down at the 30. On the next play, Kayvon Thibodeaux strip sacked Taylor Heinicke and recovered the ball, returning it for a touchdown. First down at the thirty would have been a huge difference.
Jahan Dotson was called for offensive pass interference on the 2 point attempt. The strange decision to not just kick the extra point aside, this was a huge momentum killer. Even Cris Collinsworth questioned the validity of the call. The defensive back tried to jam Dotson, but they got tangled up and that left Curtis Samuel open for the reception. The ref saw it as offensive pass interference but it was a very judgmental call.
It is obvious from the replay at the end of the game that Terry McLaurin was not lined up correctly, but if he consulted the official and was told he was okay, then I understand his frustration. If the officials are not allowed to help, then the official should not say anything at all. That call took a touchdown off the board and the potentially game tying 2-point attempt.
Lastly, there was the huge no-call where Samuel was mugged in the end zone on fourth down. If as Collinsworth said that refs are loath to call a game-changing penalty in the end zone at the end of the game, that just gives license for teams to ignore the rules in that situation.
Mistakes killed the win, but the officials should be cited for aiding and abetting.
Yearly Totals
By Player:
| Player | Accepted | Declined | Offsetting | Reversed |
| R. Wildgoose | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Offense | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| B. St-Juste | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Holmes | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| W. Jackson | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Wentz | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| M. Sweat | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| L. Thomas | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Dotson | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| A. Rogers | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Leno | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| A. Norwell | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| K. Fuller | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| N. Martin | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Lucas | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| K. Hudson | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Ridgeway | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Sims | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Defense | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| S. Cosmi | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| T. Turner | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| D. Forrest | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Reaves | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| K. Curl | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| A. Newell | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| D. Payne | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Turner | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| E. Obada | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| S. Charles | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| B. McCain | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Holcomb | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| T. Larsen | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| T. McLaurin | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Samuel | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| P. Butler | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Smith-Williams | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Cheeseman | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Allen | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
By Penalty:
| Penalty | Defense | Offense | ST | Grand Total |
| Offensive Holding | 0 | 9 | 8 | 17 |
| False Start | 0 | 12 | 1 | 13 |
| Defensive Pass Interference | 11 | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| Delay of Game | 0 | 5 | 1 | 6 |
| Illegal Use of Hands | 3 | 2 | 0 | 5 |
| Unnecessary Roughness | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Illegal Contact | 2 | 1 | 0 | 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 |
| Illegal Formation | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Neutral Zone Infraction | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Illegal Double-Team Block | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Defensive Too Many Men on Field | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Illegal Block Above the Waist | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Defensive Offside | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Illegal Motion | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Roughing the Passer | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Grand Total | 27 | 39 | 13 | 79 |
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 |
Sources: nfl.com, nflpenalties.com
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