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.

Click Here For More Explanation

The table below contains the following penalties: Defensive Pass Interference (1544), Defensive Holding (1075), Roughing the Passer (572), Illegal Contact (337), Illegal Use of Hands (227), Face Mask (15 Yards) (171), Unsportsmanlike Conduct (120), Personal Foul (61), Horse Collar Tackle (54), Taunting (35), Face Mask (32), 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
Miami	115	139	-24	1387	1339	48	37	39	-2	-204	25	33	-8
N.Y. Jets	130	167	-37	1349	1788	-439	33	53	-20	-326	27	38	-11
N.Y. Giants	121	119	2	1224	1342	-118	29	35	-6	-120	39	27	12
New Orleans	122	163	-41	1304	1663	-359	24	32	-8	-283	51	56	-5
Philadelphia	113	144	-31	1249	1498	-249	28	47	-19	-270	34	42	-8
Carolina	132	114	18	1229	1195	34	30	30	0	70	39	28	11
Las Vegas	132	157	-25	1645	1628	17	41	47	-6	-181	28	39	-11
Tampa Bay	132	116	16	1415	1137	278	42	30	12	157	29	35	-6
Cleveland	127	125	2	1209	1529	-320	32	43	-11	-31	33	40	-7
Pittsburgh	120	109	11	1448	1171	277	30	31	-1	54	28	25	3
Detroit	120	165	-45	1245	1698	-453	36	40	-4	-209	33	41	-8
Green Bay	173	114	59	2032	1110	922	36	25	11	331	46	28	18
San Francisco	141	149	-8	1366	1658	-292	41	47	-6	-139	33	36	-3
Buffalo	116	128	-12	1369	1310	59	37	37	0	-24	30	27	3
LA Rams	117	126	-9	1071	1549	-478	35	37	-2	-35	24	37	-13
Baltimore	130	143	-13	1671	1485	186	38	38	0	-53	36	31	5
Seattle	123	158	-35	1405	1555	-150	35	42	-7	-229	33	43	-10
Minnesota	152	129	23	1601	1422	179	38	39	-1	88	41	41	0
Arizona	138	112	26	1546	995	551	36	34	2	198	27	30	-3
LA Chargers	133	145	-12	1336	1500	-164	32	36	-4	-85	34	40	-6
Atlanta	155	115	40	1501	1208	293	42	25	17	243	49	41	8
Washington	129	112	17	1193	1281	-88	33	27	6	131	30	26	4
Tennessee	145	127	18	1452	1276	176	39	37	2	133	36	29	7
New England	148	125	23	1484	1260	224	38	30	8	171	44	31	13
Indianapolis	145	115	30	1570	1358	212	42	27	15	312	35	35	0
Jacksonville	128	120	8	1386	1290	96	33	29	4	86	35	24	11
Houston	123	142	-19	1208	1558	-350	32	40	-8	-116	28	43	-15
Cincinnati	129	121	8	1374	1191	183	42	39	3	71	31	28	3
Dallas	135	131	4	1392	1350	42	33	37	-4	84	34	31	3
Chicago	136	122	14	1370	1378	-8	45	20	25	259	45	30	15
Denver	152	140	12	1654	1578	76	36	30	6	36	37	34	3
Kansas City	134	154	-20	1239	1624	-385	42	44	-2	-119	37	42	-5
Totals	4246	4246	0	44924	44924	0	1147	1147	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.