Drive Extending Automatic First Down Penalties - 2009 to Present

This page shows all penalties that resulted in an automatic first down, based on the type of penalty, on 3rd and 4th down.

In other words the offense would likely have punted or settled in some form, but the drive was extended by an automatic first down. There are many additional penalties that based on the penalty yardage and distance remaining resulted in a first down. Declined and Offsetting penalties are not shown in this table. Penalties occurring on special teams are not included.

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The table below contains the following penalties: Defensive Pass Interference (1643), Defensive Holding (1121), Roughing the Passer (601), Illegal Contact (360), Illegal Use of Hands (233), Face Mask (15 Yards) (171), Unsportsmanlike Conduct (124), Personal Foul (61), Horse Collar Tackle (56), Face Mask (47), Taunting (36), Lowering the Head to Initiate Contact (10), Tripping (6), and Lowering the Head to Make Forcible Contact (2)

Scroll left and right for additional columns.

Team	Benefitted Offense	Harmed Defense	Net Count	Benefitted Off Yards	Harmed Def Yards	Net Penalty Yards	Off Desperation	Def Desperation	Net Desperation	Net Yardage Mitigated	Off TDs	Def TDs	Net TDs
Green Bay	178	127	51	2115	1226	889	37	27	10	286	46	28	18
Pittsburgh	130	114	16	1533	1204	329	31	31	0	104	28	25	3
Dallas	146	139	7	1510	1453	57	36	40	-4	104	34	31	3
Denver	159	149	10	1716	1690	26	36	37	-1	-18	37	34	3
Indianapolis	146	123	23	1589	1431	158	43	28	15	281	35	35	0
Tennessee	151	133	18	1483	1345	138	41	39	2	120	36	29	7
New Orleans	129	169	-40	1380	1720	-340	27	34	-7	-263	51	56	-5
Tampa Bay	137	123	14	1469	1207	262	43	33	10	148	29	35	-6
Cleveland	139	129	10	1290	1556	-266	34	45	-11	14	33	40	-7
New England	158	132	26	1587	1324	263	42	30	12	207	44	31	13
San Francisco	145	155	-10	1402	1694	-292	42	49	-7	-144	33	36	-3
Houston	128	145	-17	1286	1589	-303	35	40	-5	-89	28	43	-15
Carolina	143	119	24	1349	1270	79	34	31	3	121	39	28	11
Buffalo	128	136	-8	1526	1362	164	40	39	1	10	30	27	3
Atlanta	161	119	42	1578	1237	341	43	27	16	240	49	41	8
Miami	118	142	-24	1403	1368	35	38	40	-2	-206	25	33	-8
Chicago	139	129	10	1393	1453	-60	46	22	24	221	45	30	15
Baltimore	131	156	-25	1674	1678	-4	38	39	-1	-114	36	31	5
N.Y. Giants	139	128	11	1447	1468	-21	35	38	-3	-66	39	27	12
Philadelphia	121	152	-31	1356	1614	-258	33	49	-16	-245	34	42	-8
LA Chargers	141	153	-12	1426	1569	-143	33	38	-5	-95	34	40	-6
Minnesota	159	132	27	1655	1456	199	39	40	-1	119	41	41	0
Seattle	128	163	-35	1443	1627	-184	35	43	-8	-251	33	43	-10
Detroit	123	174	-51	1270	1754	-484	36	41	-5	-251	33	41	-8
Washington	142	126	16	1325	1433	-108	38	30	8	127	30	26	4
Arizona	146	116	30	1652	1014	638	37	34	3	221	27	30	-3
Las Vegas	138	166	-28	1688	1726	-38	43	48	-5	-172	28	39	-11
Kansas City	143	161	-18	1314	1698	-384	45	49	-4	-133	37	42	-5
Jacksonville	134	128	6	1454	1390	64	36	30	6	109	35	24	11
LA Rams	125	132	-7	1157	1635	-478	35	40	-5	-48	24	37	-13
Cincinnati	133	128	5	1413	1229	184	42	40	2	44	31	28	3
N.Y. Jets	133	173	-40	1384	1847	-463	33	55	-22	-381	27	38	-11
Totals	4471	4471	0	47267	47267	0	1206	1206	0	0	1111	1111	0

More Explanation

"Desperation" is 3rd and 10 or more or 4th and 6 or more. A team with an Off Desperation of 24 has gotten 24 automatic first downs when they were in a desperate situation. A team with a Def Desperation of 19 has given up 19 automatic first downs when they had the offense in a desperate situation. "Yardage Mitigated" is the total yardage the offense had remaining to get a first down when the flag was thrown granting a first down.

Off TDs/Def TDs: Shows if the drive resulted in a TD. Why not track total points? Because we can't reasonably know if a team was in FG range, and if so what percentage the penalty helped. We can be reasonably sure the team wouldn't have a TD if not for the penalty.

For Example: Arizona is playing Carolina. Arizona has the ball 3rd and 11 and Carolina is called for Defensive Holding. It's 5 yards and an automatic first down. The drive resulted in a TD. The play is tabulated as follows.

Arizona: +1 Benefitted Offense, +1 Net Count, +5 Benefitted Off Yards, +5 Net Penaly Yards, +1 Off Desperation, +1 Net Desperation, +11 Net Yardage Mitigated, +1 Off TD, +1 Net TD.

Carolina: +1 Harmed Defense, -1 Net Count, +5 Harmed Def Yards, -5 Net Penaly Yards, +1 Def Desperation, -1 Net Desperation, -11 Net Yardage Mitigated, +1 Def TD, -1 Net TD.

Issues with the Data: While by and large these penalties extend drives, it is possible that some of these drives would not have ended. The offense might accept a 15 yard penalty on a play where they otherwise only gained 6, but got the first down. This table does not account for that. Also if the penalty occurred on 3rd down the team may have gone for it on 4th and extended the drive that way.