NFL 2023 Referees Penalties Report – Are They Throwing More Flags?
Time to get the final Referees Penalties report for 2023. First let’s break down all the penalties called in 2023 by type of penalty and compare it to the penalties called in 2022.
2023 Penalties Called vs 2022 Penalties Called
- Penalties are broken down by Home vs Away. The color coding just signifies which side saw more penalties.
- The final column is Home Advantage – The difference of Home Penalties – Away Penalties.
- For home advantage and other charts, RED is an increase in penalties called. GREEN is decrease.
- There were 3107 penalties called in 2023 for 25,620 yards.
- There were 47 less penalties called in 2023 vs 2022 for 266 less yards.
- Penalties were split 1525 against Home teams and 1582 against Away teams.
- Home teams seem to have less defensive penalties called against them, but far more offensive holding calls are called against home teams.
Change In Penalties 2023 vs 2022
In the next chart we are simply looking at the change in penalty calls and yardage. Which penalties were called more often in 2023 vs 2022, and which were called less often.
The Penalties Calls Showing The Biggest Decreases were:
- Offensive Holding -51
- Ineligible Man Downfield & Defensive Holding -42
- Illegal Block Above The Waist -34
The Penalties Calls Showing The Biggest Increases were:
- Defensive Pass Interference +37
- Illegal Contact +22
- Offensive Offside +18
2023 Passing Penalties vs 2022 Passing Penalties
Here is a look at Passing Penalties called in 2023 & 2022.
- There were 625 passing penalties called in 2023, 15 more than 2022 (2.46% increase)
- Defensive holding penalties showed a 20% decrease with 44 less called in 2023 compared to 2022
- Defensive Pass Interference showed a 15.88% increase with 37 more called in 2023 vs 2022.
- Illegal Contact saw a 32.84% increase in 2023 vs 2022 with 22 more calls this year.
- Roughing the passer was called 93 times in both 2023 & 2022.
- Tip of the cap to the Browns & Falcons, the only teams who did not rough the passer in 2023.
Change In Passing Penalties By Team
- Atlanta, Arizona, Tennessee, Philadelphia & Pittsburgh saw the biggest increase in passing penalties against.
- Philadelphia, Atlanta, Arizona, & Seattle all saw passing penalty yardage increase by over 100 yards
- Jacksonville, NYG, Miami, Indianapolis, & Denver saw the biggest decrease in passing penalties against.
- Indianapolis, Kansas City & Jacksonville all saw passing penalty yardage decrease by over 100 yards.
Penalties By Team 2023 vs 2022
- The Jets had the most penalties called against (114), followed by Cleveland (115), Dallas (115) & Houston (114).
- The Raiders (75) had the least amount of penalties called against, folowed by Cincinnati (76) and the Chargers (79)
- Cleveland was the beneficiary of the most calls against their opponent (118), followed by Minnesota (111), Jacksonville (108) & Philadelphia (107)
- Chicago (72) benefitted from the least amount of call against their opponent, followed by K.C. (73), & New England (75)
Change In Penalties By Team 2023 vs 2022
- The Raiders saw the biggest decrease in penalties against in 2023 (-38), followed by Cincinnati & NY Giants (-23)
- The Jets saw the biggest increase in penalties against in 2023 (+33), followed by Houston (+26) & Chcago (+19)
- Cleveland (+30) saw the biggest increase in benefitting from penalties, followed by the Rams (+23) & Chargers (+21)
- Kansas City (-45) saw the biggest decrease in benefitting from penalties, followed by Cincinnati (-24), & NY Giants (-20)
