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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Shaun Calderon

The Zebras Report ahead of Titans vs. Ravens in London

The Tennessee Titans are set to face off against the Baltimore Ravens in a game that is about as close to a must-win as you can possibly get in Week 6.

This is the final game before Tennessee’s bye week, and the last thing this team wants to be is 2-4 heading into the break. That immediately puts the team in a major hole where it’ll need to stack wins together just to climb out of it, and that’s something the Titans have been unable to do thus far.

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Fortunately for the Titans, who had some bad penalties in Week 5, they’re scheduled to have an officiating crew that has called the fewest penalties in the league heading into Week 6.

Bill Vinovich and his crew have only called 59 penalties on the year for a combined 494 yards. For perspective, last week’s officiating crew entered Week 5 already having called 64 penalties for 549 yards on the year.

Listed below is each penalty that Vinovich and his staff have called through the first five weeks, how frequently they called them, and which teams they’ve favored the most, according to NFLPenalties.com.

All other penalties not listed either haven’t been called or were negated by offsetting penalties. Scroll down below to gain a better idea of the crew’s tendencies and frequencies in which each penalty is called.

False starts

Justin Casterline/Getty Images
  • Number of times called: 12
  • Yards off false starts: 59
  • False start penalties called on home team: 7
  • False start penalties called on road team: 5
  • Average of 2.40 false start penalties called per game

Offensive holding

Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
  • Number of times called: 10
  • Yards off offensive holding: 94
  • Offensive holding penalties called on home team: 8
  • Offensive holding penalties called on road team: 2
  • Average of two offensive holding penalties called per game

Defensive pass interference (DPI)

Scott Galvin-USA TODAY Sports
  • Number of times called: 8
  • Yards off DPI: 83
  • DPI penalties called on home team: 4
  • DPI penalties called on road team: 4
  • Average of 1.60 DPI penalties called per game

Unnecessary roughness

Philip G. Pavely-USA TODAY Sports
  • Number of times called: 3
  • Yards off unnecessary roughness: 28
  • Unnecessary roughness penalties called on home team: 2
  • Unnecessary roughness penalties called on road team: 1
  • Average of 0.60 unnecessary roughness penalties called per game

Offsides/neutral zone infraction

Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
  • Number of times called: 5
  • Yards off neutral zone infraction/offsides: 25
  • Neutral zone infraction penalties called on home team: 3
  • Neutral zone infraction penalties called on road team: 2
  • Average of one neutral zone infraction penalty called per game

Face mask

Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
  • Number of times called: 2
  • Yards off face mask: 30
  • Face mask penalties called on home team: 0
  • Face mask penalties called on road team: 2
  • Average of 0.40 face mask penalties called per game

Offensive pass interference (OPI)

Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports
  • Number of times called: 2
  • Yards off OPI: 16
  • OPI penalties called on home team: 0
  • OPI penalties called on road team: 2
  • Average of 0.40 OPI penalties called per game

Ineligible downfield pass

Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
  • Number of times called: 2
  • Yards off ineligible downfield pass: 10
  • Ineligible downfield pass penalties called on home team: 2
  • Ineligible downfield pass penalties called on road team: 0
  • Average of 0.40 ineligible downfield pass penalties called per game

Intentional grounding

Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
  • Number of times called: 2
  • Yards off intentional grounding: 25
  • Intentional grounding penalties called on home team: 2
  • Intentional grounding penalties called on road team: 0
  • Average of 0.40 ineligible downfield pass penalties called per game

Horse-collar tackle

Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
  • Number of times called: 2
  • Yards off horse-collar tackle: 29
  • Horse-collar tackle penalties called on home team: 1
  • Horse-collar tackle penalties called on road team: 1
  • Average of 0.40 horse-collar tackle penalties called per game

Taunting

Syndication: The Tennessean
  • Number of times called: 1
  • Yards off taunting: 15
  • Taunting penalties called on home team: 0
  • Taunting penalties called on road team: 1
  • Average of 0.20 taunting penalties called per game

Illegal motion

Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports
  • Number of times called: 1
  • Yards off illegal motion: 5
  • Illegal motion penalties called on home team: 1
  • Illegal motion penalties called on road team: 0
  • Average of 0.20 illegal motion penalties called per game

Illegal contact

Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
  • Number of times called: 1
  • Yards off illegal contact: 5
  • Illegal contact penalties called on home team: 0
  • Illegal contact penalties called on road team: 1
  • Average of 0.20 illegal contact penalties called per game

Illegal formation

Kim Klement Neitzel-USA TODAY Sports
  • Number of times called: 1
  • Yards off illegal formation: 5
  • Illegal formation penalties called on home team: 0
  • Illegal formation penalties called on road team: 1
  • Average of 0.20 illegal formation penalties called per game

Roughing the kicker

Syndication: The Tennessean
  • Number of times called: 1
  • Yards off roughing the kicker: 15
  • Roughing the kicker penalties called on home team: 0
  • Roughing the kicker penalties called on road team: 1
  • Average of 0.20 roughing the kicker penalties called per game

Roughing the passer

Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
  • Number of times called: 1
  • Yards off roughing the passer: 15
  • Roughing the passer penalties called on home team: 1
  • Roughing the passer penalties called on road team: 0
  • Average of 0.20 roughing the passer penalties called per game

Illegal blindside block

Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
  • Number of times called: 1
  • Yards off illegal blindside block: 10
  • Illegal blindside block penalties called on home team: 0
  • Illegal blindside block penalties called on road team: 1
  • Average of 0.20 illegal blindside block penalties called per game

Offensive too many men on the field

Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports
  • Number of times called: 1
  • Yards off too many men on the field: 5
  • Too many men on the field penalties called on home team: 0
  • Too many men on the field penalties called on road team: 1
  • Average of 0.20 too many men on the field penalties called per game

Delay of game

Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
  • Number of times called: 1
  • Yards off delay of game: 5
  • Delay of game penalties called on home team: 0
  • Delay of game penalties called on road team: 1
  • Average of 0.20 delay of game penalties called per game

Illegal use of hands

Syndication: The Tennessean
  • Number of times called: 1
  • Yards off illegal use of hands: 5
  • Illegal use of hands penalties called on home team: 1
  • Illegal use of hands penalties called on road team: 0
  • Average of 0.20 illegal use of hands penalties called per game

Total of home team penalties

Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
  • 33 penalties called against the home team
  • 263 penalty yards against the home team

Total of away team penalties

Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
  • 26 penalties called against the road team
  • 221 penalty yards against the road team
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