UPDATED: FO Mailbag: Opponent Penalties

Rocco Columbus: Is there any way you can determine which teams have had the most flags thrown against their opponents? The information about which teams have been flagged the most is interesting but it would be nice to see if certain teams get more calls than other teams.

Doug Farrar: The handy-dandy FO penalty database can indeed disseminate that information. Through Week 15, the Giants have had the most penalties called against their opponents with 124 (all numbers include declined and offsetting). The Falcons, Ravens, 49ers, and Vikings round out the top five. If you're playing the Colts, you're apparently doing so very cleanly -- only 65 flags on their opponents. The Seahawks, Raiders, Jaguars and Bills follow at the bottom of the list.

The Falcons have the best penalty differential, with 72 called against them and 120 on their opponents, yielding 359 fewer penalty yards (25.6 yards per game). The Pats are next, with their league-low 58 penalties dwarfed by the 96 of their opponents. They pick up 170 penalty yards on their opponents. The Giants (25 penalties; 74 penalty yards), Bengals (24/111) and Bears (18/142) finish out the top five.

Not surprisingly, the Raiders bring up the rear with a -48 penalty/-254 penalty yards disadvantage. Next comes Jacksonville (-28/-144), Green Bay (-24/-260), Dallas (-22/-243), and Indianapolis (-18/101).

Some individual penalty notes based on the most frequently called infractions:

Opposing False Start (Most): San Francisco (30), Atlanta (28), Chicago (26), New York Giants (25), St. Louis (23).

Opposing False Start (Fewest): Indianapolis (10), Pittsburgh (11), Jacksonville (11), Green Bay (11), Buffalo (12).

Opposing Holding (Most): Minnesota (26), Carolina (24), Atlanta (23), Pittsburgh (20), Tampa Bay (20).

Opposing Holding (Fewest): Arizona (8), Chicago (10), Seattle (10), Kansas City (11), New Orleans (11).

Opposing Defensive Offside (Most): New York Giants (19), Cincinnati (16), Baltimore (14), San Francisco (14), Buffalo (14).

Opposing Defensive Offside (Fewest): Seattle (2), Dallas (3), Indianapolis (4), Oakland (4), Carolina (4).

Opposing Unnecessary Roughness (Most): Denver (11), Chicago (10), Pittsburgh (8), Minnesota (8), Indianapolis (7)

Opposing Unnecessary Roughness (Fewest): St. Louis (1), Jacksonville (2), Washington (2), Oakland (2), Philadelphia (3).

Opposing Defensive Pass Interference (Most): New York Jets (12), New York Giants (10), Minnesota (8), San Francisco (8), Houston (8).

Opposing Defensive Pass Interference (Fewest): Tampa Bay (1), Washington (1), Miami (1), Buffalo (2), New Orleans (2).

UPDATE: This article [1] reveals that Steelers opponents haven't been called for offensive holding in 24 quarters on a non-special teams play. What's interesting is that the last player to get flagged, Chris Samuels, got it three times in one game (two were declined). I thought this was interesting, so I went back and checked something.

Through Week 15, there have been 377 offensive holds on non-special teams plays. From Week 1 through Week 9 (the week of the Samuels hold), 224, or 24.9 per week. From Week 10 through Week 15, 153, or 25.5 per week. When you factor early byes in, that's a pretty even count. So there weren't fewer holds, just none called against the Steelers' opponents.

This really piqued my interest, so I checked the first half/second half opponent holds for the current top ten teams in Adjusted Sack Rate.

Dallas

Weeks 1-9: 10
Weeks 10-15: 1

Minnesota

Weeks 1-9: 8
Weeks 10-15: 14 (four of those were called on Jacksonville's Tony Pashos in Week 12)

Pittsburgh

Weeks 1-9: 12
Weeks 10-15: 0

Philadelphia

Weeks 1-9: 6
Weeks 10-15: 1

New York Giants

Weeks 1-9: 8
Weeks 10-15: 4

Oakland

Weeks 1-9: 8
Weeks 10-15: 3

New York Jets

Weeks 1-9: 3
Weeks 10-15: 8

Tampa Bay

Weeks 1-9: 11
Weeks 10-15: 5

Carolina

Weeks 1-9: 14
Weeks 10-15: 9

Detroit

Weeks 1-9: 8
Weeks 10-15: 5

Some curious numbers in several cases.