Fantasy Index

Factoid

Most penalized teams

Do better teams get flagged less often?

I posted the factoid, pointing out that penalties tend to go way down in the playoffs. In the last three years, there's been an average of 12.6 penalties in regular-season games, but just 8.8 penalties in playoff games. A couple of readers wrote in to theorize that playoff teams are better than non-playoff teams -- hence the tendency to see fewer flags.

Nice theory, but it doesn't hold up.

NFL teams averaged 97.9 penalties in the regular season.

Of the 12 playoff teams, seven committed an above-average number of penalties.

Penalties in 2013
TeamNo
Baltimore126
Indianapolis112
Kansas City112
Dallas112
Arizona111
New England110
Buffalo108
Philadelphia106
NY Giants105
St. Louis105
Tampa Bay105
Atlanta104
Houston103
San Diego100
Minnesota100
Green Bay99
Seattle98
Denver97
San Francisco96
Cleveland95
Miami95
Tennessee95
NY Jets92
Pittsburgh92
New Orleans91
Detroit87
Jacksonville87
Oakland87
Carolina84
Washington83
Cincinnati69
Chicago69

--Ian Allan

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