defensive penalties in NFL

More flags on D spins scoreboards

By Gregg Easterbrook | ESPN.com

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/page/TMQWeekEleven141118/more-defensive-penalties-causes-change-nfl-tuesday-morning-quarterback

Green Bay and New England have outscored opponents by more than 100 points. Touchdown passes are lighting up the night sky. Seven NFL quarterbacks already have at least 20 touchdown passes — 20 years ago, only eight reached this mark on the entire season. Scoreboards are spinning as never before.

Is the reason better athletes on offense — or is the reason more penalties?

It’s well known that defensive holding flags have increased this season — blame the Seattle secondary for that. But there’s a 10-year trend toward more flags against the defensive secondary. These trends translate into more first downs and fewer punts. Result? More scoring drives.

Considering only accepted penalties, so far there have been 137 defensive pass interference walk-offs this season, compared to 110 at the same point in the season a decade ago. That’s a 25 percent increase. There have also been 137 accepted defensive holding penalties, compared to 99 at this juncture a decade ago. That’s a 38 percent increase.

Defensive pass interference means a chunk of yardage, and both fouls provide an automatic first down. A decade ago at this point in the season, there had been 568 first downs by penalty. This season it’s 652, a 15 percent increase. More first downs means fewer punts. A decade ago, 1,581 punts had been launched at this juncture. This season it’s down to 1,468.

More automatic first downs, fewer punts. Skadoosh — spinning scoreboards.

New rules against deliberate helmet-to-helmet contact also help the offense. Sunday at New Orleans, Cincinnati facing third-and-long, A.J. Green ran a stutter-go and beat the cornerback. Saints’ safety Rafael Bush was closing but pulled up one step before he would have drilled Green, who made a 38-yard reception that proved the game’s decisive down. Five years ago, Bush legally could have laid Green out, which might have broken up the catch. This year, Bush knew that contact with Green’s helmet would be an automatic first down whether the catch was made or not. So he pulled up and hoped the pass would be dropped.

That’s exactly what reformers want defenders to do in potential helmet-to-helmet situations — and if reducing helmet-to-helmet contact favors the offense, so be it. Vicious hits on defenseless players are “substantially down,” which is good news.

But much of the increase in flags against the secondary comes from what seems like a trend toward ticky-tacky calls, as if there is now an assumption of guilt against pass defenders. These corrections suggest themselves: Just as defensive holding was an officials’ “point of emphasis” this season, ignoring incidental contact should be next season. At Rule 8, Section 4, Article 4 says: “Beyond the five-yard zone, incidental contact may exist between receiver and defender as long as it does not materially affect or significantly impede the receiver, creating a distinct advantage. Additionally, Rule 8, Section 5, 3 (a) says: If there is any question whether contact is incidental, the ruling shall be no interference.”

The zebras need a refresher course in this standard.

Rather than automatic first down, defensive holding should be 10 yards and replay the down, just like offensive holding. Under current rules, the defense is penalized more than the offense for the same foul. Let’s make defensive and offensive holding equivalent.

Stricter enforcement of the pick play by the offense. This season on two-man combo patterns, many wide receivers and tight ends look like Fuzzy Thurston pulling on a Green Bay Packers 1960s power sweep. No secondary can cover a receiver who for intents and purposes has a downfield blocker before the pass is released. Here’s the rule that needs to become a point of emphasis, also at 8, 5: “Blocking more than one yard beyond the line of scrimmage by an offensive player prior to a pass being thrown is offensive pass interference. Note: It is also pass interference by the offense to block a defender beyond the line while the pass is in the air, if the block occurs in the vicinity of the player to whom the pass is thrown.”

And a fabulous suggestion from reader Zac Maodus of Fort Lauderdale, Florida: “If defensive pass interference results in automatic first down, shouldn’t offensive pass interference result in an automatic fourth down?” That rule change would discourage pick plays and pushing off by offensive receivers, swinging the pendulum toward officiating parity between offense and defense.

In other football news, if the season ended today, 4-6 Atlanta would host a playoff game, while defending champion Seattle, at 6-4, would be out; the previous defending champion, Baltimore, also 6-4, also would be out. Six teams at 6-4 would be denied the postseason, while 4-6 Atlanta got to host a party.

The NFL’s goofy playoff formula is marching toward its worst outcome since 2008, when 8-8 San Diego hosted a postseason party, but 11-5 New England wasn’t invited to the playoffs. Unless you think its worst outcome was 2010, when 7-9 Seattle hosted 11-5 New Orleans, while two 10-6 clubs did not reach the postseason. The NFL’s goofy postseason formula rewards mediocrity while punishing success. Time for a seeded tournament!

In sports-and-society news, it looks like the predicted NFL painkiller scandal is beginning. Predicted where? Here in these pages, which includes an excerpt from my 2013 book, “The King of Sports.” The book warns that “there is a small pharmacy within an NFL team facility” in which narcotics might be common. Apparently, Drug Enforcement Administration agents were attempting to determine whether that happens legally.

Since NFL players are adults who are well-compensated for knowingly assuming risks, why should anyone care if they become addicted to narcotics? Because, as in head injury and weight gain, the NFL is setting a terrible example for society. Prescription drug overdoses now cause more deaths than street-drug overdoses, and 72 percent of the deaths are from opioid painkillers. The United States is in the midst of a painkiller-abuse epidemic. Having NFL players popping painkillers — and then performing with abandon, as if football doesn’t hurt — sends the wrong message. That taxpayers subsidize this wrong message should be seen as an outrage.