Oakland Raiders: A Few Notable Numbers Through Two Weeks Of Play

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Last season, the Raiders once again, led the league in penalties. By far. It was an issue that HC Jack Del Rio addressed repeatedly last year and again, an area he’s spoken about the need to clean up. Obviously.

Last year, the Raiders were tops in the league in accepted penalties with 155 – 24 more than runner-up, Miami. Add in the declined and offsetting flags, and the Raiders had 181 penalties on the season. And they gave up 1,310 yards in field position in the process.

Next: Predicting The Regular Season Win-Loss Record

If you’re scoring at home, that’s an average of roughly 10 accepted penalties per game for 82 yards. There aren’t a lot of teams who can survive giving up that much yardage per game.

In week one, it looked like the Raiders might finally be getting their penchant for penalties under control, taking just five penalties for 49 yards against Tennessee. There were a couple of penalties taken at inopportune times that cost the team, but overall, it was an improvement over last season’s numbers.

In week two though, the Raiders started to slip back into old habits, drawing nine penalties for a total of 79 yards. Now, granted, there were a few calls – big ones – that were questionable, at best. The Bruce Irvin unnecessary roughness call chief among them.

But based on their reputation alone, the Raiders are going to draw extra scrutiny from trigger-happy refs who are just itchin’ to throw a flag. Which means, they’ll need to be smarter about putting themselves in a position where there is the possibility of having a flag thrown. Especially on important downs where the team is trying to extend a drive or the defense is trying to get off the field.

The slight uptick in penalties from week one to week two could be an anomaly. But it’s something that bears watching and should be monitored carefully.