There’s a glaring name atop the NFL penalty statistics and it’s the Arizona Cardinals.
However, when we’re talking “top,” it’s not the most, rather the fewest.
After five weeks of the NFL season, the Cardinals have been penalized a league-low 19 times and there were none declined or offset.
There were 14 teams with penalties from 20-to-29 and the second-fewest was Tennessee with 23. However, the Titans were on their bye in Week 5 and have played four games.
In yards, the Cardinals lost 200 yards, which ranked eighth-best in the league. The team with the lowest is Tampa Bay (167). Negatively affecting the Cardinals’ total was a 47-yard pass interference penalty against cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting in Week 4 against the Commanders.
In last week’s win over the 49ers, there was one penalty, which was false start on wide receiver Michael Wilson. Overall, there have been three false starts with only one against an offensive lineman: center Hjalte Froholdt against the Rams. The other was by rookie tight end Tip Reiman against the Lions.
Breaking it down, there have been eight penalties for 63 yards by the offense, eight for 122 against the defense and three for 15 on special teams. There was one penalty on Matt Prater when a kickoff against the Bills failed to reach the landing zone. While the ball is placed on the 40-yard line in those situations, no yards are listed in the official statistics.
Head coach Jonathan Gannon has been consistent in his answers when asked about the penalties.
Last Monday, he said, “Every crew’s different, and that’s a human element, a human component of the game. Technique is huge when it comes to penalties, and I think decision making is huge when it comes to penalties. That’s one of the things I’m talking about. We put a lot on our guys to understand the rules of the game and to play clean football.
“Especially with what I want of us in how we play with effort, violence and motor and all that stuff. It can be a challenge to make bang—bang split-second decisions to make the correct decision, but we educate our guys, and we show them. We point out the good, we point out the bad and our guys do a good job of handling that.”
Wednesday, he was asked if he learned anything specifically in his previous coaching spots to hopefully affect penalties in a positive way.
“You’ve got to educate your guys, and you’ve got to hold them accountable,” Gannon said. “It starts in practice, but again, it’s technique and decision-making. Like I’ve said, we put a lot on our guys to make the correct decisions. Knowing that bang-bang plays, sometimes it’s going to happen. Our guys understand the crews that are calling the games, and we try to educate them on that. What they’re looking for or what the NFL is putting emphasis on.
“It’s going good right now. It has to stay consistent, but if we get flagged a bunch in Green Bay, hopefully you can overcome it. Hopefully that doesn’t happen, but you’ve got to be able to overcome some of those too at times. I do think that kind of goes into a little bit of our DNA: The opponent shouldn’t be yourself. Our guys understand that, and they’ve been doing a good job with it.”
NFL team ranks by penalties after five weeks (teams with an asterisk played four games):
Arizona: 19-200
*Tennessee: 23-179
Tampa Bay: 24-167
Cincinnati: 24-168
Buffalo: 24-180
Indianapolis: 25-190
San Francisco: 25-245
*L.A. Chargers: 26-185
L.A. Rams: 27-209
Kansas City: 27-245
*Philadelphia: 28-196
Las Vegas: 28-212
New England: 28-277
N.Y. Giants: 29-238
*New Orleans: 29-290
Washington: 30-228
Jacksonville: 30-237
Atlanta: 31-268
*Detroit: 31-307
Carolina: 32-276
Chicago: 35-270
Pittsburgh: 36-256
Denver: 36-353
Minnesota: 37-281
Seattle: 37-283
N.Y. Jets: 39-352
Green Bay: 40-298
Dallas: 43-331
Miami: 43-390
Cleveland: 43-402
Houston: 47-391
Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.
