The past three seasons have seen a sharp decline in the number of penalties called in the NFL. In 2004, a total of 27 teams had at least 100 penalties by the end of the season. One year later, in 2005, teams averaged 7.3 penalties per game for an average of 58.2 penalty yards per game. During that 2005 season, the Cowboys (who finished 9-7) committed 99 penalties, which was tied for the sixth fewest in the league. The Cowboys only lost 739 yards that season due to penalties, which was third best in the NFL.
Three seasons later, the number of penalties in the league as a whole has dropped significantly. Heading into week 17, teams are averaging 5.6 penalties per game and are losing 44.7 yards from those penalties. Only four teams have surpassed 100 penalties (though seven have at least 94 and may surpass 100 this Sunday), and no team yet has given up 1,000 yards in penalties on the season.
One of those teams that has surpassed 100 penalties this year is Dallas, which leads the league by a pretty comfortable margin:
32. Dallas – 115 penalties, 911 yards
31. Oakland – 105 penalties, 798 yards
30. Tennessee – 105 penalties, 825 yards
29. Green Bay- 104 penalties, 924 yards
As I will explain a little bit below, there is little correlation between the penalty rankings and results, for as you can see, the Titans are doing just fine notwithstanding their penalties. What I find interesting is that the Cowboys have been relatively consistent in the number of penalties that have been called against them, even though officials during the middle of the decade were calling many more penalties. Here is a look at the Cowboys’ numbers:
| Year | # Penalties (NFL Rank) | Pen. Yds. (NFL Rank) | # of Teams, 100 or more penalties |
| 1998 | 128 (27) | 1106 (27) | 23 |
| 1999 | 136 (31) | 1196 (31) | 20 |
| 2000 | 108 (22) | 963 (26) | 15 |
| 2001 | 91 (14) | 744 (13) | 11 |
| 2002 | 105 (18t) | 974 (28) | 21 |
| 2003 | 98 (10t) | 837 (13) | 19 |
| 2004 | 105 (9) | 867 (10) | 27 |
| 2005 | 99 (6t) | 739 (3) | 24 |
| 2006 | 100 (21) | 939 (27) | 12 |
| 2007 | 104 (25) | 815 (25) | 11 |
| 2008* | 115 (32) | 911 (31) | 4 |
*- Through 15 games
The immediate reaction of some might be to say that this just shows that Wade Phillips can’t discipline his team and that these stats reflect this lack of discipline. There may be some truth to that, given that the Cowboys ranked much higher in this category under Bill Parcells than they have under Phillips. However, that theory wouldn’t explain why the least penalized team on this list was coached by Dave Campo during a season (2001) when the Cowboys started four different players at quarterback.
One of my theories is that the penalties reflect how complicated new offensive systems have been. Notice that the most penalized teams on this list were the 1998 and 1999 Cowboys. Head coach Chan Gailey during those seasons replaced the timing-based offense that the Cowboys had used during their Super Bowl seasons. The number of penalties climbed from 116 in 1997 (tied for 24th that season) to 128 in 1998 (ranked 27th) to 136 in 1999 (ranked last in the NFL).
The similarity here is that the Cowboys’ passing attack has become more wide-open with Tony Romo at the helm since 2006, which might account for the increase in the number of penalties.
Another theory is that the penalties have remained constant because of false start penalties and that these have nothing to do with the head coach’s discipline or philosophy. The 1998 and 1999 teams had Erik Williams at right tackle, and he was as notorious for dumb penalties as Flozell Adams is right now. Nobody has been able to correct Adams’ mistakes, and he is called for at least one penalty in just about every game.
So anyway, it is never a great thing to see that your team is the worst in the league in terms of penalties, but a closer look reveals that this fact doesn’t mean as much as I might have thought.
* * *
The Cowboys are certainly not the worst team with regard to penalties. That would have to go to the Raiders, who since 2003 have finished last in the league in penalties three times and who are almost always in the bottom five otherwise. The most penalized team in a single year since 1998 was the 1998 Kansas City Chiefs, who were penalized 158 times for 1,304 yards.
* * *
Further proof that penalty stats don’t prove anything (making me wonder aloud why I am writing a post on penalty stats): Of the five Super Bowl Champions in Dallas, the least penalized team was coached not by Tom Landry, not by Jimmy Johnson, but rather by Barry Switzer in 1995.
In fact, Tom Landry’ 1971 Cowboys were the most penalized team in the 26-team NFL that season. And Johnson’s discipline did not prevent Dallas from finishing in the middle of the road in terms of penalties.
1971: 94 penalties in 14 games (26th in the NFL out of 26 teams); 952 yards (25th in the NFL).
1977: 108 penalties in 14 games (25th in the NFL out of 28 teams); 865 yards (20th in the NFL).
1992: 91 penalties in 16 games (tied for 11th in the NFL out of 28 teams); 650 yards (5th in the NFL).
1993: 94 penalties in 16 games (tied for 13h in the NFL); 944 yards (15th in the NFL)
1995: 90 penalties in 16 games (8th in the NFL); 695 yards (8th in the NFL).
Maybe there is no definite correlation between penalties and losing, but it cannot be disputed that the effort to overcome penalties has made winning much more difficult for the Cowboys.
Imagine how many more third down conversions we’d have, or how much better our red-zone numbers might be, if we weren’t trying to overcome stupid penalties in every game?