Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Penalties - Game 15 - Cardinals

http://cowboysblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/12/bob-sturms-penalty-analysis-vs-2.html

The Cowboys had another week where it seemed they had too many penalties and some could be easily discussed as a key element in defeat. The Marion Barber helmet penalty is nothing short of idiotic, and another 3 false start penalties that bring the Cowboys season total for presnap flags to an amazing 32!

So, is this team sliding back into the bad habits of the Wade Phillips era?

Actually, no.

For games 1-8, the Cowboys were amongst the league leaders (and that is bad) in flags and yardage. 62 penalties for 506 yards in those 8 games. The average for each game was 7.8 flags for 63 yards.

Since then, games 9-15, the Cowboys have 41 flags for 312 yards. The average under Jason Garrett is 5.8 flags per game for 44 yards.

For the year, the Cowboys still rank 6th in most penalties. But, under Garrett, they are 14th in the league.

No team wants any penalties, but under Phillips, this team was among the worst in football. Under Garrett, they are flagged as often as an average team in the NFL.

Game 15 vs Arizona:
WkQPlayerPenaltyYardsUnitFD
151ChurchHolding10ST
151JamesPass Interference4DefFD
151FreeFalse Start5Off
152JenkinsPass InterferenceDeclinedDef
152ChoiceFalse Start5Off
153McCrayRun into Kicker5ST
153DavisFalse Start5Off
153BarberUnsportsmanlike Conduct15Off


Totals: 8 penalites, with 7 accepted for a total of 49 yards. Once again, the Cowboys had more penalties than their opponents, but this time by a slim 7 to 6 margin. The offense had 4 penalties, with 3 being of the maddening "false start" variety. Special Teams had 2 more, and the defense had 2 as well, with Mike Jenkins guilty of yet another pass interference.

Worst Offender: Nobody had a horrible day personally, but special note that Marion Barber, Tashard Choice, and Bradie James were all called for their 1st penalties of the season. For Bradie in particular, I think it is pretty impressive for a player to play virtually every down of every game in the middle of the defense and to never be flagged for any violation.

Here are your season totals - Keep in mind, my totals include declined and offsetting penalties. For football reasons, they matter way more than just accepted penalties.

This is through Week 15:

OFFENSE

PlayerTotalHoldPresnapIll BlockOther
Free113710
Colombo81502
Gurode84202
Austin70322
Witten60402
Davis42200
Barron33000
Romo30102
Bryant30102
Kosier32100
Kitna20200
Bennett10010
Holland10100
Jones10100
Costa11000
Ogletree10100
Choice10100
Barber10001
Totals651632413



DEFENSE

PlayerTotalOffsideRoughPass InfOther
Jenkins80062
Ware65001
Brooking30120
Olshansky31200
Ratliff31110
Spencer32100
Brent21001
Scandrick20011
Ball20002
Newman20101
Sensabaugh10001
Bowen10001
McCann10010
Church10001
James10010
Team10001
Totals401061212


The Pass interference penalties are shocking to me. The Team has 12, so you would assume that the two starting corner backs have the most. Mike Jenkins has 6, representing half of the team's total. But, Terence Newman has 0. He hasn't been great this year, but he also hasn't had to tackle a guy to keep him from making a play. Just an interesting note.


SPECIAL TEAMS

PlayerTotalOffsideRoughIll BlockOther
Church30021
McBriar20002
Buehler20002
McCray20002
Scandrick11000
Hamlin10010
L Williams10100
Ball10001
Ladocuer10001
Newman10001
Lee10001
Hurd10001
Cummings10001
Totals1811313



------------------------------

Based on many requests, I have constructed yet another chart below that will help you put some of these numbers into proper context. Below is the week by week penalties that were accepted for the Cowboys and their opponents in each game. This way, you can see how Wade did vs Garrett or how the Cowboys did against their opponents in a scenario that would account for different tones by different officiating crews throughout the season. Enjoy:


WeekDal PenYardsOpp PenYards
Wk 1-Was1281542
Wk 2-Chi650210
Wk 3-Hou849532
Wk 4-Ten12133440
Wk 5- Min1191545
Wk 6- NYG542646
Wk 7- Jac320636
Wk 8- GB540220
Wk 9- NYG560869
Wk 10- Det6391076
Wk 11- NO419430
Wk 12- IND535328
Wk 13- PHI540659
Wk 14- Was970325
Wk 15- Arz749643
Totals10381875601

HTML Tables



Bob Sturm is host of BaD Radio on The Ticket 1310 AM Mondays through Fridays at 12-3 p.m. He also hosts The Ticket's Cowboys pregame show. Follow Bob on Twitter at www.twitter.com/bobanddan Bob offers his exclusive analysis after games on SportsDayDFW.com

Read all of Bob's posts at this link:
http://cowboysblog.dallasnews.com/archives/bob-sturm

No comments: