Assessing the Penalties - Offensive Line - Kudos to D'Alessandris

[GreatWhiteNorthRaven]

Compared penalties last year vs. this year and was just flabbergasted by the results. We all remember the ridiculous amount of drive stalling penalties.

Total Penalties
2016 - 125 (Tied for 6th most in the league)
2017 (through 14 games) - 81 (5th fewest in the league).

That's a massive downgrade. We went from one of the most penalized teams in the league to the least. However where did they happen?

2016 penalty breakdown
Of our 125 penalties, 49 were "offensive line specific" (offensive holding and false starts).

To isolate the offensive holding calls that could have happened on a wide receiver or tight end or on ST's, I will remove those ones.

Of the 34 offensive holding calls, 13 were on non-offensive line players (this includes ST plays, TE's and WR's).

Of the 15 false start calls, 4 were non-offensive line players (including ST, TE's and WR's).

So of our 125 penalties, 32 (25.6%) were because of OL holding or false starts.

Note - I didn't include things like unnecessary roughness because that's more of a team discipline and not so much the offensive line unit itself. I also didn't include illegal shifts or illegal formations because that's usually the entire offense and not really the OL (unless the OL moves down field).

Notex2 - there were no OL penalties for blocks in the back and only 1 for illegal hands to the face, but I didn't include it.

So all in all, 32 penalties through 16 games averages out to exactly 2 per game. That's 2 too many drive killing penalties per game.

2017 penalty breakdown

Of our 81 penalties through 14 games, 25 have been from holding or false starts. Again I'll isolate for OL specific.

Of our 15 offensive holding penalties, 8 were on non offensive line players.

Of our 10 false start penalties, 4 were on non offensive line players.

So of 81 penalties, 13 (16%) have been on offensive line players for typical OL penalties. That averages out to less than one a game.

Overall

It's a dramatic decrease and D'Alessandris (and Roman) deserve major kudos.

In 2016 we were ranked tied for the most offensive holding penalties in the league with Oakland and Oakland played 1 more game than us (playoffs). In 2017 we are ranked tied for the 6th fewest.

Major kudos.

[Jsmoove]

I feel like we been watching the offense finally gel in the 3 weeks, the Oline has been nothing short of spectacular even in the loss to the steelers they were good. Kudos to the Oline coaches and Roman.

[GreatWhiteNorthRaven]

I feel like we been watching the offense finally gel in the 3 weeks, the Oline has been nothing short of spectacular even in the loss to the steelers they were good. Kudos to the Oline coaches and Roman.

For the record we've only had 3 OL peanlties in the last 3 weeks.

2 of them were on Howard.

Vs. Lions - Howard - illegal block above the waist
Vs. Steelers - 0 - Ricard had an offensive holding call
Vs. Browns - Howard - offensive holding
Vs. Browns - Hurst - False start.

[Jsmoove]

For the record we've only had 3 OL peanlties in the last 3 weeks.

2 of them were on Howard.

Vs. Lions - Howard - illegal block above the waist
Vs. Steelers - 0 - Ricard had an offensive holding call
Vs. Browns - Howard - offensive holding
Vs. Browns - Hurst - False start.

that's amazing, I remember the days this Oline couldn't get out of it's own way nowadays they barely commit penalties. Shit even James Hurst now looks like a starter. Skura looks legit, even the other back up guys have been serviceable and many of them were rookies and cast offs, good coaching is just money.

[GreatWhiteNorthRaven]

that's amazing, I remember the days this Oline couldn't get out of it's own way nowadays they barely commit penalties. Shit even James Hurst now looks like a starter. Skura looks legit, even the other back up guys have been serviceable and many of them were rookies and cast offs, good coaching is just money.

Apparently the OL in Buffalo is playing well under Castillo. I don't get it.

FOr obvious reasons I want to say it was him, but why is he having success elsewhere?

[Bhcforlife]

Thread is about the penalties but in general I think he deserves major kudos. Getting the line to more or less be an effective unit week to week despite losing so many players, he's been a miracle worker. He's got Hurst a second NFL contract, and a relatively big one as a starting player, something I would have never thought possible.

We give Harbaugh a ton of shit for his coaching decisions and rightfully so for the most part, but this (and Roman) have been great hires.

[Jsmoove]

Apparently the OL in Buffalo is playing well under Castillo. I don't get it.

FOr obvious reasons I want to say it was him, but why is he having success elsewhere?

We know Catillo knows his shit, because we've seen guys get coached up individually under him but I just think Juan had too much say in things here because of Harbaugh, in buffalo he's just doing his job nothing more or less.

[GreatWhiteNorthRaven]

Thread is about the penalties but in general I think he deserves major kudos. Getting the line to more or less be an effective unit week to week despite losing so many players, he's been a miracle worker. He's got Hurst a second NFL contract, and a relatively big one as a starting player, something I would have never thought possible.

We give Harbaugh a ton of shit for his coaching decisions and rightfully so for the most part, but this (and Roman) have been great hires.

the discipline in general is significantly better.

[mmi16]

For the record we've only had 3 OL peanlties in the last 3 weeks.

2 of them were on Howard.

Vs. Lions - Howard - illegal block above the waist
Vs. Steelers - 0 - Ricard had an offensive holding call
Vs. Browns - Howard - offensive holding
Vs. Browns - Hurst - False start.

In time past all those would have happened on one drive.

[The Excellector]

If you look deeper into Howard's holding penalty from yesterday, the commentator made a good point about it in saying that was the safe play. They already essentially had the game in hand. Under no circumstances were they even going to risk Flacco being touched. That goes down in the statbook, but I honestly would even count that one.

[GreatWhiteNorthRaven]

If you look deeper into Howard's holding penalty from yesterday, the commentator made a good point about it in saying that was the safe play. They already essentially had the game in hand. Under no circumstances were they even going to risk Flacco being touched. That goes down in the statbook, but I honestly would even count that one.

For sure. I said that when it happened. It's kind of like taking a penalty in hockey or a foul in basketball. Sometimes it is the right call.

[Ravenswintitle]

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