Penalties..A Chiefs Problem

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Penalties..A Chiefs Problem
Mar 13, 2006, 8:51:22 AM by Bob Gretz - FAQ


(First of Three Parts)


Dick Vermeil called it “smart football.” Other coaches over the years have used similar descriptions. No matter the differences in verbiage, they share the same foundation: good football teams do not beat themselves.

“The other team is trying to win the game,” said Chiefs head coach Herman Edwards. “You cannot help them. You cannot give them opportunities and improve their chances, while hurting yours. That’s not smart football.”

Smart football is winning the battle of turnovers and controlling penalties. Our focus this week is on penalties. Despite Vermeil’s constant discussion of the subject, the Chiefs have not been a very smart team in the last two seasons when it comes to limiting their penalties. In fact, with the opposite of smart being dumb, the Chiefs have really dumbed down their efforts in limiting the influence the officials have in the outcome of their games.

In the first three years of the Vermeil era, the Chiefs ranked among the least penalized teams in the league, leading the NFL in fewest penalties in 2002 (with 75 accepted) and finishing second in 2003 (with 79.) In those two seasons, they finished with a combined record of 21-11 and made the playoffs once.

In the last two seasons, the Chiefs have ranked among the bottom half of the league in penalties. They were tied for 20th with 117 penalties walked off against them in 2004 and last season, they were tied for 17th with 115 flags. Their combined record in those two seasons was 17-15, with no trips to the post-season.

Understand that a lack of penalties does not guarantee victory or a championship. A flag deluge does not mean a team cannot win or walk away with the Super Bowl. When the New England Patriots won the title after the 2003 season, they finished tied for 22nd in most penalties (111.) Vermeil’s team in St. Louis that won the Super Bowl after the 1999 season was 21st in most penalties (113.) On average, the last 10 Super Bowl winners finished with 103.7 penalties and ranked 14th in the league in that category.

But over the last three seasons, the teams that limited their flags, almost always made the playoffs. Last year, the top four teams in fewest flags made the dance. In 2004, five of the top six least penalized teams were in the playoffs and the season before, it was eight of the top nine teams.

For the Chiefs, the change in penalties has an obvious fork in the road that came after the 2003 season. In 2001-03, the Chiefs had only four games out of 48 where they had eight penalties or more walked off against them. In 2004-05, they had 13 in 32 games. That’s an increase of more than 300 percent. On the reverse side, in the first three Vermeil seasons they had 25 of 48 games with four penalties or fewer. In the last two seasons, they’ve had only three of 32 games with four penalties or fewer.

So what was the difference? The only obvious factor was the change at defensive coordinator, where Greg Robinson left after the dismal post-season performance against Indianapolis and was replaced by Gunther Cunningham.

But the increase in penalties has not been strictly a defensive problem. Here’s how the numbers break down:




There’s no question the Chiefs play a more aggressive defensive style under Cunningham than they did with Robinson. That’s one reason the penalties on that side of the ball went up in 2004. But Cunningham and his unit got that back under control in 2005, dropping the number of flags from 49 to 33. The same thing happened on special teams, as the numbers went up in 2004, but then fell again last year (from 17 to 25 to 19.)

The Chiefs penalty problem the last two years has really shown itself on the offensive side of the ball, and especially in two key calls: false starts and holding. Here are the numbers:



The jump in holding calls this past season is not hard to understand, with all the shuffling that came with the hamstring injury suffered by left tackle Willie Roaf in the season opener. Jordan Black played left and right tackle during the season, before ultimately losing his starting job on the right side to John Welbourn. Black led all Chiefs blockers in holding calls with five, while Roaf, Brian Waters and Tony Gonzalez had three holding calls each.

The big increase in false starts over the last two years is very hard to explain, especially when it’s breaks down almost 50-50 at home and on the road (12 at home and 13 on the road in 2005.) Because of the problems in dealing with crowd noise away from home, the number of calls should be significantly higher on the road.

But those false starts are just a continuation of growing problem with the offense in pre-snap penalties that skyrocketed last year. These are flags for things like false starts, illegal formation, illegal motion, illegal shifts and delay of game:




These pre-snap penalties are almost always about focus and concentration. These are the types of penalties that drive coaches nuts, because they are almost always preventable. The Chiefs offense has plenty of pre-snap movement, shifting and motion, making them more vulnerable to these types of calls. But, after five seasons in the offense, that should not be a problem and it does not explain the huge increase in false starts. None of the other categories of pre-snap offensive penalties saw a more than 100 percent increase over two seasons.

The Chiefs were a productive offense the last two years, but their efficiency would have been even better had they not been giving away yards.

But at least the offense has the ability to make up those yards; not so with the defense and last year, the Chiefs defense helped opponents scoring drives 11 times with penalty yardage. Here are just a few instances where defensive gifts helped the other team:

At Denver, the Broncos drove 70 yards in 10 plays to score a touchdown, with the help of 20 yards in penalties against the Chiefs defense (an offside call against LB Kris Griffin and a personal foul call against S Sammy Knight.)
Against Philadelphia, the Eagles took over at midfield with two minutes, 40 seconds to play. They gained nothing on first down and Donovan McNabb threw incomplete on second down, but CB Dexter McCleon was called for holding, giving the Eagles a first down at the two-minute warning. Four plays later, the Eagles scored to cut the Chiefs lead at that time to 11 points. That score was a huge emotional lift and the Eagles roared back in the second half and won the game.
In the fourth quarter of Oakland’s visit to Arrowhead, the Chiefs defense gave the Raiders 37 yards in penalties (Benny Sapp 12 yards for pass interference and Jared Allen 15 yards for roughing the passer and 10 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct.) Oakland scored to pull within five points. On its next possession, the Raiders took the lead when the drive was continued after CB Dewayne Washington was flagged on a third down incompletion for holding. This was the game the Chiefs won on Larry Johnson’s last play dive into the end zone.
The evidence is compelling: the Chiefs need to do something about limiting their penalties. They can no longer afford to provide opponents with second chances, or take away their own opportunities for success. The margin for victory is too thin for the Chiefs to continue hurting themselves.

But before we talk about what the Chiefs must do to correct this situation, comes another question: does the NFL need to do something about its officiating? Penalties called and penalties accepted both hit record levels last season and penalties accepted went up for the fifth straight season. Are the zebras becoming too big a factor in the game?

We’ll take a look at the subject coming up Wednesday.

The opinions offered in this column do not necessarily reflect those of the Kansas City Chiefs.

http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/2006/03/13/gretz_penaltiesa_chiefs_problem/
 
HA!

You think you have probelms with penalities. The Raiders lead the league almost every year.

Only been going on for 40 yeqars or so! :eek:
 
CrossBones said:
HA!

You think you have probelms with penalities. The Raiders lead the league almost every year.

Only been going on for 40 yeqars or so! :eek:
Yeah...but that's only cause the officials have it in for you!! :p
 
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