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 (1636), Defensive Holding (1114), Roughing the Passer (600), Illegal Contact (358), 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
Seattle	128	163	-35	1443	1627	-184	35	43	-8	-251	33	43	-10
Houston	127	145	-18	1281	1589	-308	35	40	-5	-92	28	43	-15
Detroit	123	174	-51	1270	1754	-484	36	41	-5	-251	33	41	-8
Tampa Bay	136	123	13	1464	1207	257	43	33	10	146	29	35	-6
Washington	142	126	16	1325	1433	-108	38	30	8	127	30	26	4
Dallas	144	138	6	1505	1436	69	35	40	-5	97	34	31	3
Green Bay	178	125	53	2115	1200	915	37	27	10	304	46	28	18
Arizona	146	116	30	1652	1014	638	37	34	3	221	27	30	-3
Indianapolis	146	122	24	1589	1426	163	43	27	16	287	35	35	0
LA Chargers	140	152	-12	1417	1564	-147	33	37	-4	-87	34	40	-6
Chicago	138	128	10	1388	1450	-62	46	22	24	218	45	30	15
New Orleans	129	168	-39	1380	1715	-335	27	34	-7	-261	51	56	-5
Denver	158	147	11	1699	1685	14	36	36	0	-11	37	34	3
N.Y. Giants	139	127	12	1447	1454	-7	35	37	-2	-55	39	27	12
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
Cleveland	138	128	10	1285	1551	-266	34	44	-10	20	33	40	-7
Miami	117	142	-25	1397	1368	29	38	40	-2	-213	25	33	-8
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
Buffalo	127	136	-9	1521	1362	159	40	39	1	3	30	27	3
Atlanta	161	118	43	1578	1231	347	43	27	16	247	49	41	8
Tennessee	150	133	17	1478	1345	133	40	39	1	114	36	29	7
New England	157	131	26	1582	1319	263	41	30	11	201	44	31	13
Baltimore	130	155	-25	1671	1673	-2	38	39	-1	-111	36	31	5
Pittsburgh	128	114	14	1507	1204	303	31	31	0	86	28	25	3
Carolina	143	118	25	1349	1265	84	34	31	3	128	39	28	11
Philadelphia	120	152	-32	1342	1614	-272	32	49	-17	-256	34	42	-8
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
Minnesota	158	131	27	1650	1447	203	38	40	-2	111	41	41	0
San Francisco	145	154	-9	1402	1689	-287	42	49	-7	-141	33	36	-3
Totals	4454	4454	0	47147	47147	0	1201	1201	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.