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Flag On The Play: New York Jets Struggle With Penalties

The Jets will need to ensure they're not giving the Packers free yardage next week, as we look at the culprits this week.

Jeff Zelevansky

In total the Jets were flagged 11 times for 105 yards (with two 10 yard penalties declined). Against the Raiders that is manageable but if you play sloppy football like that against teams like the Packers, it won't be quite as easy to over come. So I've decided to name and shame those who cost us important yardage and tally them throughout the season.

So without further delay, here is the table of shame after week one of the NFL season.

68 - Breno Giacomini - False Start - 5 Yards

66 - Willie Colon - Holding - 10 Yards

60 - D'Brickashaw Ferguson - Holding - 10 Yards

56 - Demario Davis - Offside - 5 Yards

87 - Eric Decker - Holding - 10 Yards

66 - Willie Colon - False Start - 5 Yards

39 - Antonio Allen - Holding - 10 Yards (Declined)

91 - Sheldon Richardson - Offside - 5 Yards

87 - Eric Decker - Pass Interference - 9 Yards

66- Willie Colon - Face Mask - 15 Yards

97 - Calvin Pace - Roughing The Passer - 15 Yards

30 - Darrin Walls - Pass Interference - 16 Yards

85 - Jeff Cumberland - Holding - 10 Yards

Any penalty that is declined will still go in the table below because they still committed the penalty and that's how I do it.

(D) = Declined

Player Penalties Yards Cost
Willie Colon 3 30
Eric Decker 2 19
Darrin Walls 1 16
Calvin Pace 1 15
D'Brickashaw Ferguson 1 10
Breno Giacomini 1 5
Demario Davis 1 5
Sheldon Richardson 1 5
Antonio Allen 1 (D)
10
Jeff Cumberland 1 (D) 10

Let me just say there are different kinds of penalties, which obviously goes beyond the statistics. For example, the penalty that Walls took was probably a good one, he bit on the play and had he not knocked Jones off his route, he would have taken it to the house. On the other side of the spectrum you have Calvin Pace who decided to take a little cheap-shot at Derek Carr with a roughing the passer penalty. So one was in the best interest of the team and the other was an idiotic move by a team veteran.

Expect to see a lot of penalties over the course of the first few weeks as players adapt to the officials. The zebras seem to be looking for any contact between receivers and defensive backs, for example the hold on Decker was definitely a penalty, however his pass interference was a load of rubbish in my mind, he barely brushed him and if receivers can't do that, it may be a long season.

This is something to keep an eye on over the course of the season. So that's exactly what we are going to do.