With the Patriots, you get the impression they’re coached better than other teams. Seldom do you see them beat themselves – they don’t make the critical error at just the wrong time like so many other teams.
So often in today’s game, we see drives extended by hits to defenseless receivers, late hits and blows to the head as a quarterback is passing. The Patriots don’t seem to make those mistakes as often as other teams.
At the website spotrac.com, there’s a filter allowing you to track each team’s fine – and they’ve got the plays in question listed for all to see.
The Patriots have a few. I think LeGarrette Blount, Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski all show up twice. But if you look at defensive players – specifically, those key fouls that extend drives – the Patriots were the only team in the league that didn’t draw a fine all year. There were 142 fines handed out to defensive players, and the Patriots didn’t get any of them.
I’m not sure how this is happening. Either the Patriots are scouting/drafting/picking players with more game smarts, or they’re doing something in preparations that gets them to perform better in games.
| FINES AGAINST DEFENSES | |
|---|---|
| Teams | Fines |
| Cincinnati | $184,385.00 |
| Seattle | $154,856.00 |
| Washington | $140,468.00 |
| Denver | $127,619.00 |
| NY Giants | $119,403.00 |
| Green Bay | $112,425.00 |
| Buffalo | $112,153.00 |
| Los Angeles | $100,271.00 |
| Pittsburgh | $82,038.00 |
| Atlanta | $79,001.00 |
| Jacksonville | $79,000.00 |
| Arizona | $69,885.00 |
| Philadelphia | $69,885.00 |
| NY Jets | $69,884.00 |
| Detroit | $66,848.00 |
| Miami | $66,846.00 |
| Chicago | $63,808.00 |
| Houston | $57,733.00 |
| Cleveland | $54,785.00 |
| Carolina | $54,692.00 |
| San Diego | $51,655.00 |
| Indianapolis | $51,654.00 |
| Kansas City | $48,616.00 |
| Minnesota | $36,462.00 |
| Dallas | $36,460.00 |
| New Orleans | $36,460.00 |
| Oakland | $33,424.00 |
| Baltimore | $27,346.00 |
| San Francisco | $27,346.00 |
| Tennessee | $27,346.00 |
| Tampa Bay | $12,154.00 |
| New England | $0.00 |
You would like to think this is just a coincidence. But if you check out the numbers from the previous season, the numbers look very similar. The top 3 teams are all teams that were again in the top 4 last year – Cincinnati, Seattle and Denver. And the Patriots were again not fined at all.
Strange.
| FINES AGAINST DEFENSES 2015 | |
|---|---|
| Team | Fines |
| Cincinnati | $194,968.00 |
| Denver | $105,486.00 |
| Seattle | $84,985.00 |
| Pittsburgh | $75,237.00 |
| Jacksonville | $60,770.00 |
| Carolina | $57,874.00 |
| Houston | $43,406.00 |
| San Diego | $41,833.00 |
| Arizona | $40,515.00 |
| Los Angeles | $40,515.00 |
| Atlanta | $40,484.00 |
| Kansas City | $34,726.00 |
| Buffalo | $31,833.00 |
| NY Giants | $28,681.00 |
| Minnesota | $26,044.00 |
| San Francisco | $26,044.00 |
| New Orleans | $26,043.00 |
| Washington | $20,248.00 |
| NY Jets | $17,542.00 |
| Chicago | $17,363.00 |
| Green Bay | $17,363.00 |
| Indianapolis | $17,363.00 |
| Miami | $17,363.00 |
| Oakland | $17,363.00 |
| Tennessee | $17,363.00 |
| Baltimore | $17,362.00 |
| Dallas | $8,681.00 |
| Cleveland | $0.00 |
| Detroit | $0.00 |
| New England | $0.00 |
| Philadelphia | $0.00 |
| Tampa Bay | $0.00 |
—Ian Allan