Self-inflicted wounds have held the New Orleans Saints back all season, and they’ve manifested nowhere better than in penalties. Procedural fouls and pre-snap infractions have haunted the Saints every step of the way in 2022, and they still haven’t improved in recent weeks.
The Saints rank fourth in the league with 80 penalties and seventh in penalties per game (6.7), and they’ve been fouled more often for false starts (22, which leads the NFL) than anything else. Their second- and third-most common infractions are defensive holding (12) and offensive holding (10), which equal the number of false starts put together. This has been a unique problem for them.
