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 (1624), Defensive Holding (1111), Roughing the Passer (594), Illegal Contact (351), Illegal Use of Hands (233), Face Mask (15 Yards) (171), Unsportsmanlike Conduct (123), Personal Foul (61), Horse Collar Tackle (56), Face Mask (44), 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	Games	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
Detroit	273	0.443	0.634	-0.190	4.615	6.414	-1.799	0.132	0.150	-0.018	-0.945	0.121	0.150	-0.029
Kansas City	293	0.481	0.546	-0.065	4.468	5.778	-1.311	0.154	0.164	-0.010	-0.447	0.126	0.143	-0.017
Las Vegas	268	0.511	0.612	-0.101	6.280	6.422	-0.142	0.157	0.179	-0.022	-0.649	0.104	0.146	-0.041
Tennessee	273	0.549	0.487	0.062	5.414	4.927	0.487	0.147	0.143	0.004	0.418	0.132	0.106	0.026
New Orleans	281	0.456	0.598	-0.142	4.858	6.103	-1.246	0.093	0.121	-0.028	-1.028	0.181	0.199	-0.018
New England	291	0.540	0.450	0.089	5.436	4.533	0.904	0.141	0.103	0.038	0.691	0.151	0.107	0.045
Baltimore	287	0.453	0.540	-0.087	5.822	5.829	-0.007	0.132	0.136	-0.003	-0.387	0.125	0.108	0.017
LA Rams	279	0.434	0.473	-0.039	4.043	5.860	-1.817	0.125	0.143	-0.018	-0.237	0.086	0.133	-0.047
Pittsburgh	280	0.457	0.407	0.050	5.382	4.300	1.082	0.111	0.111	0.000	0.307	0.100	0.089	0.011
Cleveland	269	0.506	0.472	0.033	4.706	5.747	-1.041	0.123	0.160	-0.037	0.048	0.123	0.149	-0.026
LA Chargers	273	0.509	0.557	-0.048	5.099	5.729	-0.630	0.121	0.136	-0.015	-0.348	0.125	0.147	-0.022
Miami	269	0.431	0.520	-0.089	5.175	5.015	0.160	0.138	0.145	-0.007	-0.766	0.093	0.123	-0.030
Seattle	285	0.449	0.568	-0.119	5.063	5.698	-0.635	0.123	0.147	-0.025	-0.825	0.116	0.151	-0.035
Jacksonville	271	0.494	0.458	0.037	5.365	5.022	0.343	0.133	0.111	0.022	0.469	0.129	0.089	0.041
Dallas	277	0.513	0.495	0.018	5.314	5.134	0.181	0.126	0.141	-0.014	0.343	0.123	0.112	0.011
Carolina	273	0.524	0.432	0.092	4.941	4.634	0.308	0.125	0.114	0.011	0.469	0.143	0.103	0.040
Philadelphia	284	0.423	0.535	-0.113	4.725	5.683	-0.958	0.113	0.173	-0.060	-0.901	0.120	0.148	-0.028
N.Y. Giants	273	0.491	0.462	0.029	4.993	5.311	-0.319	0.110	0.136	-0.026	-0.414	0.143	0.099	0.044
Buffalo	278	0.453	0.482	-0.029	5.453	4.849	0.604	0.144	0.137	0.007	0.058	0.108	0.097	0.011
Washington	271	0.513	0.458	0.055	4.727	5.166	-0.439	0.137	0.111	0.026	0.439	0.111	0.096	0.015
Cincinnati	278	0.478	0.460	0.018	5.083	4.421	0.662	0.151	0.144	0.007	0.158	0.112	0.101	0.011
Arizona	272	0.529	0.426	0.103	5.967	3.728	2.239	0.132	0.125	0.007	0.757	0.099	0.110	-0.011
Denver	277	0.567	0.513	0.054	6.119	5.780	0.339	0.130	0.112	0.018	0.170	0.134	0.123	0.011
N.Y. Jets	272	0.489	0.636	-0.147	5.088	6.790	-1.702	0.121	0.202	-0.081	-1.401	0.099	0.140	-0.040
Indianapolis	279	0.523	0.434	0.090	5.695	5.022	0.674	0.154	0.097	0.057	1.057	0.125	0.125	0.000
Minnesota	275	0.575	0.476	0.098	6.000	5.262	0.738	0.138	0.145	-0.007	0.404	0.149	0.149	0.000
San Francisco	286	0.507	0.538	-0.031	4.902	5.906	-1.003	0.147	0.171	-0.024	-0.493	0.115	0.126	-0.010
Green Bay	289	0.616	0.426	0.190	7.318	4.052	3.266	0.128	0.090	0.038	1.104	0.159	0.097	0.062
Tampa Bay	276	0.489	0.438	0.051	5.293	4.337	0.957	0.156	0.120	0.036	0.554	0.105	0.127	-0.022
Chicago	268	0.515	0.466	0.049	5.179	5.243	-0.063	0.172	0.078	0.093	0.955	0.168	0.112	0.056
Houston	279	0.452	0.520	-0.068	4.581	5.695	-1.115	0.122	0.143	-0.022	-0.387	0.100	0.154	-0.054
Atlanta	273	0.582	0.429	0.154	5.729	4.491	1.238	0.154	0.099	0.055	0.857	0.179	0.150	0.029

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.