Yellow has Become the Official Color of the NFL
Yellow has become the new color of the National Football League, as in penalty flags galore, with officiating crews seemingly hell-bent on over-officiating games.
The flag-happy operation was on display once again in Week 6, with 174 accepted penalties totaling 1,389 yards in 13 games.
That’s an average of 13.3 penalties for an average of 106 yards per game. That total yardage is more than most NFL teams get on the ground in a game.
There were 21 flags and 149 yards in penalties in the weekend’s marquee matchup between the Texans and Chiefs and in the Seahawks-Browns game there were 19 penalties for 148 yards.
Then there was the Cowboys-Jets game, in which there were six consecutive flags on six straight plays in the final two minutes. In total, there were 17 penalties in that contest for 173 yards.
The consistency of the calls is a whole other matter, which is to say there doesn’t seem to be any, especially when it comes to pass interference.
Note to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell: Fans want to see consistency but don’t want to see over-officiated games.
The Eagles would like to see that, too.
They have been killing themselves with flags.
They’ve been penalized 42 times this year for 363 yards.
Both totals put them in the middle of the NFL pack for the most penalties and yards against. The infractions seem to come at most inopportune times, too.
Against the Packers, they were penalized nine times, with eight of them being called against the defense that led directly to eight automatic first downs.
Against the Vikings, Rasul Douglas and Sidney Jones were flagged twice each for pass interference and twice each for defensive holding. All four infractions led to Minnesota first downs and two of them came on third down when the Eagles appeared to have made a stop to get off the field.
The Vikings were not called for pass interference, though Xavier Rhodes was hit once for defensive holding. There was at least one instance when a hold or PI should have been called against the Vikings when Zach Ertz appeared to have his arms pinned to his side during one ball that went incomplete near midfield.
Head coach Doug Pederson has repeatedly defended the officiating, saying that it is a difficult game to officiate.
On Monday, Pederson addressed challenging a pass interference call vs. just biting the bullet and living to fight another play without potentially losing a timeout.
“It’s hard on the officials,” said Pederson “I get it. I understand that. I've had a couple opportunities this year already to challenge some plays that didn't go in our favor. Timeouts are obviously precious and challenges are precious in this league. And you never know when you might need one.
“Obviously if there's something there and we think there's something there, we will continue to challenge those, but until that time, I'm going to probably keep that challenge flag in my pocket.”
It would be nice if officials began keep more of their yellow flags in their pockets as well.
