In this article, we are going to look into the influence referees and penalties have on a typical NFL game and season. First, all the penalty data comes from nflpenalties.com. If you would like to reveiw any of the data here, or data going back 10 years, you can do so on their site.
Let’s break this article down into 2 parts:
- What influence do penalties have on the game?
- What penalties are being called this season in comparison to pervious seasons?
If you would like to read more about the penalty research issues & fixes, the full article is posted here:
NFL 2023 - Referees & Penalties Midseason Report
What influence do penalties have on an NFL Game?
First we should try to use the data to determine the amount penalties influence the outcome of NFL games. To do that we are going to look at two charts:
- Win % by Penalty Calls Differential
- Win % by Penalty Yardage Differential
Let’s start with Win % based on the difference of total penalties called against each team. In the chart below you will see the penalty differnces , amount of times a difference occured, team records, & Win %.
Win % by Penalty Amount Difference
Look at the range from 8 Fewer to 8 More in the win % column. You will see almost a direct relationship between penalty difference and Win %. The less penalties called against a team, the higher its chances of winning. Outside the 8 Fewer to 8 More range we get into smaller sample sizes, so we are going to see more chaos in the records & Win % numbers
How about the relationship between Penalty Yardage and Win %, will we see the same thing there?
We have many small ranges in this chart so we are going to see a bit of chaos, but again if you look from 60-64 Fewer to 60-64 More range, you will again see a strong correlation between Win % and penalty yardage differential.
Win % by Penalty Yardage Difference
Therefore, the amount penalties called against a team, and/or the more penalty yardage called against a team relative its opponent, can swing Win % about 10% in either direction. Thus this +/- 10% influence is about the influence referees can have on any single game, assuming they dont go completely flag crazy against one team.
What penalties are being called this season in comparison to previous seasons?
The following chart will show NFL Penalties over the past 5 years broken down by quarter, offense, defense, ST, amount of penalties and penalty yardage. As you can see, if we project out the 2023 penalties, we are headed for the most penalties called in a season since 2019, and the most penalties called on the defense since 2020. So it is fair to say, based on the projections, that referees are having more of an influence in 2023 than they have had since at least 2020.
If they are calling more penalties, what kind of penalties are the calling more of & when are they calling them?
This is the sticky wicket. Different penalties have different punishments. All are punished by yardage, but some grant automatic first downs. However, automatic 1st down penalties are the drive changers. When they are taking place late in a game, it is going to appear as though, and in fact it actually may be, a game that is unduly influenced by penalties.
Look a the amount of penalties called in the 4th quarter thus far in 2023(445). This projects out to about 900 4th quarter penalties in 2023, which again would be the most in the 4th quarter since 2019.
The real damning information comes in form of the following charts. The first is Automatic First Down Passing Penalties FOR each team. In this chart the team listed is the beneficiary of an automatic 1st down penalty via the 4 main types of defensive passing penalties: Defensive Holding, Defensive Pass Interference, Illegal Contact, & Roughing the Passer.
As we can see, Tennessee has benefitted the most and Chicago has benefitted the least. And there is a large difference between teams that benefitted most vs teams that have benefitted least.
Automatic 1st Down Penalties FOR
Here is the same chart but now we are looking at automatic 1st penalties AGAINST each team
Automatic 1st Down Penalties AGAINST
Below is a chart showing NET automatic 1st down penalties by team(FOR - AGAINST). It is sorted from team most punished to most helped. Since all these penalties come with auto 1st down, the Total column shows the amount of free 1st downs a team has given away(negative#) or gained(positive #).
NFL 2023 NET automatic first down penalties
Now I am simply going to repost one chart with 2022 and extrapolated 2023 data. This should allow us to see changes in amount/type of calls between 2022 & 2023.
Automatic First Down Penalty Calls 2022 vs 2023
So in 2022, there were 610 of these types of penalties called against the defense for a total of 6529 yards.
In 2023, there are projected to be 695 types of these penalties called for a total of 7348 yards.
The changes:
- Total calls - up from 2.24 calls to 2.56 calls, an increase of 13.95%
- Defensive Holding calls - Down 10.87%
- Defensive Pass Interfence calls - Up 27.98%
- Illegal Contact calls - Up 26.30%
- Roughing the Passer calls - Up 27.82%
So while one of the 4 calls is showing a decrease of just under 11%, it is the least damaging penalty(along with Illegal Contact) among the four. Meanwhile, the most damaging types of calls, Pass Interference & Roughing the Passer are both up nearly 28%(as is illegal contact). Essentially all the referees have done is changed a few of the defensive holding calls into illegal contact calls. While at the same time throwing a fairly massive increase of supremely damaging defensive penalties.
And if we simply combine this information, with the information about 4th quarter penalties being up, it means the referees are throwing more of the most damaging types of defensive passing penalties in 2023 than they have since at least 2020. By doing this they are going to put there influence on games at the very edges of that +/- 10%, as opposed to having less influence over outcomes this year.
Enjoy your football Sunday & best of luck to your team. They may need it.
Your telling me KC is just middle of the pack? Aw man I wanted that super bowl really bad.
We will have REFBALL and we will like it!
Total penalties are 3rd and defensive penalties are 2nd/3rd of the 5 years in the study, but somehow the refs are calling too many penalties?
I suspect the same is going to be true of the AFD penalties — it’s going to be a nothing burger if you look at it over a period of time. You can find data to support a lot of conclusions.
Is the 2022 data through week 9, or full season? (It looks like full season in the initial charts). If so, you are comparing different things - as we get later the season there are fewer penalties:
2002:
Week 1: 204
Week 5: 201
Week 9: 135 (166 scaled to 16 games)
Week 13: 153 (163 scaled to 16 games)
Week 17: 1582022 full year average was 177 / 16 games.
Do the refs suck? Yes, it’s an impossible job and the NFL refuses to do the obvious thing and have a replay official in the booth that can call down in 15 second before the next play and say ‘that wasn’t a hold’ or ‘you missed a facemask’, and that’s dumb.
But let’s be real, they aren’t doing it to screw any teams, and they aren’t worse about it than prior years. They just don’t have enough people and/or the technology made available to them to see and call everything that goes on during the modern day game.
Hi Alyssa! Nice to see you on the thread 8-)
If you read this as me implying the refs are purposely screwing the Saints, or secretly placing wagers on the Jags, then I messed up somewhere, and its my bad. Sorry bout that.
I agree with the decelerating penalties theory, but I believe it is especially prevelent when the NFL introduces a new protection rule(i think maybe 2020 & 2022 were last two years). I was not aware of a crackdown or implementation of new safety rules this year. In fact I would say they are simply enforcing the rules of 2020 & 2022 more often, and at times, incorrectly.
As far as complaining about too many penalties, that was not the aim of the article at all. It was to show there was a marked increase in a particularly damaging type of penalty and the timing of them. And while I agree we both can get the stats to say anything we want in the end, the statistics and math used do support the claim of a significant increase in 4th quarter auto 1st down passing penalties thus far this season.
Hope you have a nice week and good luck to your team!
Amazing analysis. Now we have to keep going and investigate ref crews, ref names, who is penalizing which teams the most, refs who refuse to call obvious penalties (Last pass in the Giants/Bills game), etc
What’s interesting here to me, based on the lions, they don’t FEEL like they are getting hosed as much as they used to.
But looking at this info, they are still getting hosed by the refs.
The biggest difference for them, in my opinion, is they aren’t letting the penalties bring them down and change the game.
With the sol, a bad penalty just completely decimated them. Now they don’t seem to be as negatively affected.
But yeah, they’re still getting hosed.
I wish broadcasts and other media talked about penalty stats similar to other stats. There’s only like 1 website that actually tracks penalty data like this and most people don’t know about it.
The average r/nfl poster is going to be shocked to see KC with no RTP calls and middle of the pack in automatic first down. People think KC gets more help from the refs when its simply not true. It won’t change their firmly set belief op, but it will be a temporary moment of confusion.
“But why would the Jaguars just all of a sudden be the NFLs sweetheart team!!! We have never and will never get calls in our favor!!!”
Gas lighting motherfuckers, Tlaw and Goodell catch up in the back of Waffle House
The simple question to ask on RTP is how many QBs suffered injuries on hits that were (or should have been) penalties? The answer should tell us if the league has gone to far.