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	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	121	173	-52	1260	1751	-491	36	41	-5	-258	33	41	-8
Kansas City	141	160	-19	1309	1693	-384	45	48	-3	-131	37	42	-5
Las Vegas	137	164	-27	1683	1721	-38	42	48	-6	-174	28	39	-11
Tennessee	150	133	17	1478	1345	133	40	39	1	114	36	29	7
New Orleans	128	168	-40	1365	1715	-350	26	34	-8	-289	51	56	-5
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
LA Rams	121	132	-11	1128	1635	-507	35	40	-5	-66	24	37	-13
Pittsburgh	128	114	14	1507	1204	303	31	31	0	86	28	25	3
Cleveland	136	127	9	1266	1546	-280	33	43	-10	13	33	40	-7
LA Chargers	139	152	-13	1392	1564	-172	33	37	-4	-95	34	40	-6
Miami	116	140	-24	1392	1349	43	37	39	-2	-206	25	33	-8
Seattle	128	162	-34	1443	1624	-181	35	42	-7	-235	33	43	-10
Jacksonville	134	124	10	1454	1361	93	36	30	6	127	35	24	11
Dallas	142	137	5	1472	1422	50	35	39	-4	95	34	31	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
N.Y. Giants	134	126	8	1363	1450	-87	30	37	-7	-113	39	27	12
Buffalo	126	134	-8	1516	1348	168	40	38	2	16	30	27	3
Washington	139	124	15	1281	1400	-119	37	30	7	119	30	26	4
Cincinnati	133	128	5	1413	1229	184	42	40	2	44	31	28	3
Arizona	144	116	28	1623	1014	609	36	34	2	206	27	30	-3
Denver	157	142	15	1695	1601	94	36	31	5	47	37	34	3
N.Y. Jets	133	173	-40	1384	1847	-463	33	55	-22	-381	27	38	-11
Indianapolis	146	121	25	1589	1401	188	43	27	16	295	35	35	0
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
Green Bay	178	123	55	2115	1171	944	37	26	11	319	46	28	18
Tampa Bay	135	121	14	1461	1197	264	43	33	10	153	29	35	-6
Chicago	138	125	13	1388	1405	-17	46	21	25	256	45	30	15
Houston	126	145	-19	1278	1589	-311	34	40	-6	-108	28	43	-15
Atlanta	159	117	42	1564	1226	338	42	27	15	234	49	41	8
Totals	4422	4422	0	46815	46815	0	1188	1188	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.