Tag: Fouls

NFL assigns referee Carl Cheffers to work Saints-Packers Week 1

NFL assigns referee Carl Cheffers to work Saints-Packers Week 1

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The New Orleans Saints’ regular season opener with the Green Bay Packers will be officiated by referee Carl Cheffers and his crew, per Football Zebras. Cheffers is a 13-year veteran in this role who spent 7 years as a side judge prior to his promotion in 2008.

Cheffers was the NFL’s handpicked referee for Super Bowl LV and recently spent a few days at Saints training camp to help players acclimate. He didn’t officiate a single Saints game in 2020, but New Orleans is 13-2 for games he’s refereed in his career. This Saints-Packers game will be played at a neutral site in Jacksonville’s TIAA Bank Field, but it’s worth noting Cheffers and his crew called 88 penalties on home teams against 121 fouls for away teams.

That total (209) ranked second-highest in the league last year. Additionally, Cheffers’ crew threw 1.48 more penalty flags per game for 8.7 more penalty yards per game than the NFL average. False starts (42 times, per NFLPenalties.com) and offensive holding (34) were by far their most common fouls, followed by defensive pass interference (22).

Let’s compare those top three penalties for Cheffers’ crew against what the Saints and Packers averaged per game last season:

Defensive pass interference Offensive holding False starts Total penalties
Cheffers 1.29 2.00 2.47 12.33
New Orleans 1.06 0.83 0.67 5.98
Green Bay 0.39 1.11 0.39 5.09
NFL average 0.58 0.89 0.96 5.39

As we can see, the DPI trend is a problem — the Saints nearly doubled the NFL average for DPI (9.81) with 19 such penalties, so they’ll have to really watch themselves on Sunday with Cheffers’ flag-happy crew on hand. Here’s hoping for a clean game without any controversial decisions. We can hope, right?

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Trae Young’s new foul-drawing move has NBA coaches livid, but they need to get over it

This is a foul

Foul drawing is an essential skill in the NBA. It’s a necessity at this point. The best scorers in the league do it on a nightly basis to score as efficiently as possible.

We see it from the best of the best. James Harden, LeBron James, Luka Doncic, Giannis Antetokounmpo. They draw fouls like crazy every single night.

So it’s no wonder that Trae Young, as one of the best scorers in the league, does it, too. And he’s doing it better than anyone else so far this season.

Young is averaging league leading 12.1 free throw attempts per game this season. As effective as Young has become at getting to the line, though, he’s also become just as effective at frustrating head coaches around the league when doing it. His new foul baiting move has them so frustrated.

Young dribbles the ball downhill off of a screen and roll. The defender follows him down the lane and Young abruptly stops and shoots a floater. The defender never stops in time, they bump him and it’s a foul.

It looks something like this.

If referees are going to call that foul, it’s extremely hard to defend. He’s been catching dudes with this all season.

https://youtu.be/A7F2C2BIvqQ

There’s just not really much you can do. You have to chase over the top because Young is a shooter. You also can’t switch it and keep the big man in front of Young because the big slips and the lob threat is there.

It has coaches so frustrated. Tom Thibodeau gave the ref an earful after Young did this against the Knicks.

Steve Nash also railed against the play after the Hawks played his Nets. He said “that’s not basketball.”

Lots of people agree. They don’t believe it’s a foul

Here’s the thing, though — everyone needs to get over it. It is, in fact, a basketball play. And it is, indeed, a foul. The reason why Trae Young can draw this foul is because he is such an elite offensive player.

He has an answer for every strategy you could use to defend this. Want to go under the screen instead? Cool. He’ll pop a 30 foot 3-pointer with no hesitation. Want to switch it? He’ll go by your big man or pass to the post. Want to trap? Fine. He’ll pass out of it. And if you hang on his hip, clearly, he’ll draw a foul on you.

It’s a tough position for the defense to be in. Yes, it’s annoying. But he’s actually shooting the ball and is getting bumped. By letter of the law, that is a foul.

Just defend it. It’s not impossible. We see defenders do this consistently, as NBA aficionado Mike Prada points out. There’s just a certain pacing to it.

So, yeah. Stop complaining about this foul. Just defend it better.

 

 

Saints still lead the NFL in penalty yards through 4 weeks

The New Orleans Saints lead the NFL in penalty yards through their first four games, mostly due to defensive pass interference fouls.

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With the majority of NFL teams having played four games to start the 2020 season, and the New Orleans Saints are still an outlier when it comes to penalties. While they were fouled just four times for 67 yards in their win over the Detroit Lions, the Saints still lead the league in total penalty yardage (398), averaging nearly 100 yards per game.

Most of that can be attributed to defensive penalties; their offense has yielded just 70 penalty yards, the twelfth-fewest number in the NFL. The defense leads the league with 328 penalty yards. About 61.3% of that yardage has come from defensive pass interference fouls alone, where New Orleans has given up nearly as many yards (244) as the next three teams combined (252 from the Indianapolis Colts, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and New England Patriots, who have played just three games so far).

Things will continue to normalize as the sample size grows with more games being played. This week, the New York Jets and Chicago Bears each racked up more than 100 penalty yards, helping to close the gap between the Saints and the rest of the NFL. But that’s not company the Saints want to keep, and even now they are an outlier among outliers — the NFL average for defensive penalty yards per game is just 113.4. The Saints have nearly tripled that.

Wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders called out the NFL’s officiating after Week 3’s loss to the Green Bay Packers, publicly asking why opposing defenders were allowed to get away with penalty-worthy moves that earned flags for his Saints teammates. Through four weeks, the Saints have been the beneficiary of just 19 penalties, the seventh-fewest in the league (tying with the Patriots, who play Monday night).

And there were moments when the referees took aim at the Saints for fouls in coverage against Detroit. Linebacker Alex Anzalone was flagged twice, once for DPI and again for illegal contact, on moves that didn’t appear very egregious but still helped lead to Lions touchdowns. Free safety Marcus Williams was also penalized for competing on a contested catch, despite having turned his head around to look for the ball.

Maybe the NFL’s officiating brotherhood is still stinging from last year’s rebuke, when Saints coach Sean Payton helped introduce a new rule making pass interference subject to replay review (it didn’t take; the rule was ineffective and criticized for slowing down game flow, and abandoned after one year). That was a big affront to their authority and it’s easy to explain this trend away as them looking for any reason to penalize Payton’s team. But you’d think they could be better professionals and not stoop to that.

Whatever the case, the Saints must continue to clean up their act. Giving up so many free yards to opposing teams has put them in too many tight spots this season. Whether it’s changes in coaching instruction or play style, the Saints have to keep tweaking things to limit the impact penalties can have on their games. It’s tough enough to beat one opponent, much less two.

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3 Saints players fined more than $32,000 for fouls vs. Buccaneers

The NFL fined Saints players Cameron Jordan, Marshon Lattimore, and D.J. Swearinger a combined $32,412 for fouls against the Buccaneers.

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The NFL office in New York normally issues fines to players each week after games are played, but their review process must have been slowed down this year. Three New Orleans Saints players received hits to their wallets on Saturday from Week 1’s win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Defensive end Cameron Jordan wasn’t penalized for a punch thrown at a Buccaneers player at the time, but he did receive a $12,500 fine from the NFL, per Amie Just of the Times-Picayune | New Orleans Advocate. Jordan could appeal — and from the end zone angle it appears he was striking at the football, attempting to create a fumble — but it happened so close to the whistle that he probably won’t have much success.

The Athletic’s Greg Auman reported that Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore was fined $10,500 for shoving Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans after a play in the second quarter. Lattimore did draw a flag for unnecessary roughness from the scrap, but Evans was not penalized or fined for punching back and knocking Lattimore’s helmet from his head. That’s a situation the NFL and its officials on the scene should have handled with a more even hand.

Just also reported that Saints safety D.J. Swearinger was issued a $9,412 fine for unnecessary roughness after a big hit against Buccaneers slot receiver Chris Godwin, who missed Week 2’s game while sidelined in the NFL’s concussion policy. Swearinger’s foul also cost the Saints three yards of field position with the Buccaneers offense already deep in New Orleans territory, setting them up for an easy 2-yard touchdown pass.

It’s not the best start to the season, but it’s a reflection of New Orleans’ issues. They haven’t played disciplined football and have given their opponents to many free yards by committing penalties. They must clean up their act if they want to remain in the thick of the NFC playoffs race.

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Referee Shawn Hochuli assigned to work Week 2 Saints-Raiders game

The NFL assigned referee Shawn Hochuli to its Week 2 Monday Night Football game between the New Orleans Saints and the Las Vegas Raiders.

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One of the NFL’s fresher-faced referees will be on hand when the New Orleans Saints kick off against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next week. The league assigned Shawn Hochuli and his crew to its next Monday Night Football game, where all spotlights will be trained on Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

Hochuli, the son of longtime referee and long-winded speaker Ed Hochuli (who retired in 2018), was promoted to the post after working as a side judge and back judge from 2014 to 2017. In Week 1, Hochuli’s crew threw a dozen penalty flags with six each on the Seattle Seahawks (drawing 46 penalty yards) and the Atlanta Falcons (72 yards) in a 38-25 Seahawks win on the road.

He has worked three Saints games in his career, but two of those matchups were 2015 games when he was a back judge. Hochuli did take the stage as a referee in last year’s Monday Night Football game with the Indianapolis Colts at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, which the Saints won handily 34-7. The Saints and Colts drew similar penalty numbers in that matchup, with the Saints netting six flags for 52 yards while the Colts received seven fouls for 49 yards.

So far, Hochuli and his crew have done a great job calling games evenly. We’ll see if they keep it up under the spotlight on Sept. 21.

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Don’t single out Eli Apple for Saints’ penalties on defense

New Orleans Saints cornerback Eli Apple may have struggled recently, but don’t blame him for the team’s penalties when he’s playing so often

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Whether they’re playing too sloppy or are simply victims of variance, the New Orleans Saints are committing too many penalties. It’s something they know they need to clean up, and it’s a point of emphasis for Saints coach Sean Payton and his staff.

Some Saints fans have been eager to single out cornerback Eli Apple, who leads the defensive backs with seven accepted penalties (three others were offset or declined by the offense) through New Orleans’ first twelve games. But doing that is a really ignorant move given context. He’s been a clean player for much of the season, but hit a slump with six fouls in his last three games, including three penalties last Thursday against the Atlanta Falcons.

Per charting from Pro Football Focus, Apple leads all Saints cornerbacks in both snaps played (802) and coverage snaps (560). Of course he’s going to draw more targets — and more opportunities to commit a mistake — by playing more often than his peers. Considering all 10 of the penalties he’s drawn (though just seven were accepted, remember), that’s a rate of just one foul every 80.2 snaps he plays. In other words, he’s being flagged for 1.2% of his total snaps.

Compare that to his peers. Rookie defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson has only played 369 total snaps (270 in coverage), but he’s drawn six penalties (all of them accepted). That’s a foul every 61.5 snaps, or 1.6% of his time on the field. Some rookie mistakes are to be expected, and that inexperience extends to Apple, who has only worn black and gold in 24 games (including the playoffs). He’s had very little time to learn from a quality coaching staff in New Orleans after struggling to understand whatever New York Giants coach Pat Shurmur and his staff, few of whom should keep their jobs after another losing season, were trying to teach him.

Hypothetically, the player who would replace Apple if he were benched is cornerback P.J. Williams, who has played 586 snaps (388 in coverage) but drawn four penalty flags. His penalty rate is 0.7%, or one foul every 146.5 snaps. But Williams has the worst coverage grade from PFF and was abused last week by Carolina Panthers sleeper D.J. Moore. He’s a solid slot specialist who can’t handle extended action outside.

The last cornerback worth examining is the best of the group: Marshon Lattimore, who has played 612 defensive snaps (dropping back in coverage on 425 of them) and only been flagged three times (one of them offset). That’s a rate of one foul every 204 snaps, or 0.5% of his total playing-time. While Lattimore’s hamstring issues are still lingering over from his college days, he’s clearly the best player in the group, and someone the others should model their game after.

Look at the difference between them. Lattimore’s penalty rate (0.5%) really isn’t that far off from Apple’s (1.2%), all things considered. Apple’s penalty rate is almost indistinguishable from those of the players some fans insist should be playing ahead of him, whether it’s Gardner-Johnson (1.6%) or Williams (0.7%). Gardner-Johnson is still learning his role as a nickel or dime defender, while Williams has proven many times he can’t hack it in Apple’s position.

So be thankful that the Saints are 10-2, and that Apple has been a big part of their success. Be thankful that the Saints aren’t starting the likes of Ken Crawley, Sterling Moore, B.W. Webb, Brandon Browner, and Corey White at cornerback anymore. Things could be so much worse than having Apple lined up on the outside.

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What’s with the penalty disparity between the Saints and their opponents?

The New Orleans Saints rank among the most-penalized NFL teams, but their opponents are playing uncharacteristically clean against them.

The New Orleans Saints have overcome plenty of adversity this year, ranging from the five-week loss of starting quarterback Drew Brees to an opening-half schedule that saw them travel to play four opponents on the road in their first six weeks. They’ve also dealt with extra attention from the NFL’s referees and their officiating crews. That’s just part of the game, but this season (and in recent weeks specifically), it’s been unprecedented.

Check out the chart above from Jeff Asher of AH Datalytics, sourced from Pro Football Reference. From what we can see there, the Saints and their opponents have largely been penalized at similar rates; New Orleans played largely-clean football from 2006 to 2009, though a brief window from 2015 to 2017 saw their sloppy play benefit their opponents. But this latest surge in fouls has been very clearly one-sided.

The Saints are averaging 7.9 penalties per game, which ranks eighth-worst in the NFL. That’s turned into 68.3 penalty yards per game, nearly the equivalent of an offensive drive downfield after good starting field position. It’s kept a number of opposing drives alive, with New Orleans’ opponents gaining the second-most first downs by penalty per game (2.8) in the league.

And as the chart above demonstrates, the teams playing the Saints are not being held to the same standard. Those opponents are averaging the fewest penalties per game (5.3) and penalty yards surrendered per game (40.6) in football, granting the Saints the second-fewest first downs by penalty per game (0.92) around the NFL.

In a perfect world, officials would keep things fair and balanced and refuse to let one team get away with foul-worthy plays while turning a blind eye to their opponents. However, so long as people — with limited vision and too much autonomy to make judgment calls — are in charge, mistakes are going to happen. You would expect one team to end the day with fewer penalties than their opponent; typically speaking, some teams are better-coached and more disciplined than others. But the difference between how the Saints are being judged and how their opponents are being officiated deserves inspection.

One possible answer for that disparity could be that the Saints are playing a schedule filled with the league’s fewest-penalized teams. That’s not the case. New Orleans has played many teams ranked inside the top half of the league in penalties and penalty yards per game. We’ve broken down their penalty stats per game against what they were fouled for in the Saints’ games in the chart below:

This illustrates how officiating was nearly even to start the year, if marginally beneficial to the Saints. But over time (especially in recent weeks) there has been a visible shift in opposing teams being fouled less often against the Saints than in their typical games. Things bottomed out in Week 6 against the Jacksonville Jaguars, when they were fouled for 6.8 penalties and 61.5 penalty yards below their season averages. There’s been a clear shift since that game.

On the whole, the Saints’ opponents have averaged 2.2 fewer penalties per game and 21.4 fewer penalty yards per game when playing against New Orleans than in their typical outings. In a vacuum, that isn’t much. But when considered in the big picture, those numbers snowball into 35.2 penalties and 342.4 penalty yards over a 16-game season.

So what gives? Are the Saints playing sloppy, while their opponents suddenly turn in their cleanest games of the year back-to-back-to-back? Or are the officials allowing the teams playing the Saints to get away with the ticky-tack fouls that happen on every down (holding, hands-to-the-face, that sort of thing) while not giving New Orleans the same leeway? It’s bizarre to say the least.

A big part of the problem is limited sample size. Analyzing the game from a quantifiable perspective like this works in other sports like baseball and basketball because there are literally hundreds (if not thousands) of data points to work with, whereas football begins and ends very quickly, relying on a 16-game regular season and four-stage postseason tournament. Instances like this are easy to explain away as an outlier, a freak accident, against what recent history informs us. That said, it’s totally understandable if fans aren’t satisfied with that explanation. It’s frustrating to see your team get fouled for what the other squad gets away with, week in and week out.

For his part, Saints coach Sean Payton isn’t going to chalk up these lost plays and surrendered yards to any biases from the NFL’s officials. He’s preached the need for improved coaching from his staff as well as better discipline from his players, summing up the situation after their penalty-filled Week 12 win over the Carolina Panthers as, “We are going to need to be smarter in bigger games.” That makes sense, because it’s all he and his team can control.

Hopefully the Saints can clean it up and give the officials fewer opportunities to impact their games. Despite dealing with quality opponents and a fine-combed approach by the zebras, the Saints are still 10-2 and owners of their third consecutive NFC South title.

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