Self-inflicted wounds have held the New Orleans Saints back all season, and they’ve manifested nowhere better than in penalties. Procedural fouls and pre-snap infractions have haunted the Saints every step of the way in 2022, and they still haven’t improved in recent weeks.
The Saints rank fourth in the league with 80 penalties and seventh in penalties per game (6.7), and they’ve been fouled more often for false starts (22, which leads the NFL) than anything else. Their second- and third-most common infractions are defensive holding (12) and offensive holding (10), which equal the number of false starts put together. This has been a unique problem for them.
So who is responsible? The coaching staff deserves a lot of blame for not picking up on this trend and taking action early on. It’s been a problem along the offensive line and at other position groups. Whatever they’ve tried in practice to work on it hasn’t taken effect. But the players are at fault too — especially repeat offenders. Here are all of the Saints players who have been fouled for false starts this season, :