The Arizona Cardinals Have a Penalty Problem

And they know it.

Arizona Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur watches from the sidelines as they play the Seattle Seahawks at State Farm Stadium in Glendale on Sept. 20, 2026. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

The Arizona Cardinals have a penalty problem.

Through three weeks of football, the Cardinals are 1-2 for a multitude of reasons ranging from simply being outcoached to overall poor execution on the field.

The NFL rewards those who are consistent at a high level, but discipline is often what points the arrow towards winning football. The Cardinals have had neither consistency or discipline to begin 2026.

Arizona is one of nine teams in the NFL to be averaging eight penalties per game through three weeks of football. Though it's a small sample size, that's up from the Cardinals' 6.8 per game total from 2025.

“Yes, common denominator is it’s us, not them. We have to get it cleaned up and they know that," Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur said on Monday.

In terms of penalty yards, only the Green Bay Packers (92) are committing a higher average than the Cardinals' 81.7 average penalty yards per game total.

Oftentimes, Arizona's penalties come before the snap (false start, illegal formation) — all controllable things according to LaFleur. Seven of the Cardinals' 24 penalties through three weeks came before the snap.

“You have to focus in on it. Like I told you guys two weeks ago, sometimes you speak it into existence. I don’t think we’ve done that. We know it needs to get done. We’re professionals — coaches and players and we’re in it with them, but that certainly is an aspect that has to get cleaned up because whether it was the pre-snap operation on that fourth drive or the holding on the first and second drive, it killed us," LaFleur added.

"The third drive we got knocked back with the OPI, which I won’t comment any further on that, but it was three penalties that killed us in those first three drives and against a very good team like that it just put us in that hole.”

This can oftentimes be a problem under first-year coaches, especially ones who are establishing a brand new system for players to learn. That unfamiliarity/lack of experience can often lead to pre-snap mistakes.

Yet that's not a good excuse — and if the Cardinals are indeed going to play spoiler in 2026, they can't put themselves in the hole against better teams with self-inflicted wounds.