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 (1585), Defensive Holding (1096), Roughing the Passer (586), Illegal Contact (343), Illegal Use of Hands (231), Face Mask (15 Yards) (171), Unsportsmanlike Conduct (121), Personal Foul (61), Horse Collar Tackle (56), Face Mask (37), 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	176	120	56	2095	1149	946	37	26	11	333	46	28	18
Washington	137	124	13	1248	1400	-152	37	30	7	112	30	26	4
Minnesota	156	131	25	1633	1447	186	38	40	-2	96	41	41	0
Chicago	137	124	13	1375	1400	-25	46	20	26	261	45	30	15
Baltimore	130	154	-24	1671	1643	28	38	39	-1	-107	36	31	5
Buffalo	122	133	-11	1486	1337	149	39	37	2	-7	30	27	3
LA Rams	118	131	-13	1076	1629	-553	35	40	-5	-73	24	37	-13
Houston	126	144	-18	1278	1578	-300	34	40	-6	-99	28	43	-15
Detroit	121	169	-48	1260	1715	-455	36	40	-4	-229	33	41	-8
San Francisco	142	150	-8	1381	1661	-280	41	47	-6	-133	33	36	-3
Seattle	127	160	-33	1438	1604	-166	35	42	-7	-229	33	43	-10
Tennessee	148	130	18	1470	1331	139	40	38	2	131	36	29	7
Denver	154	141	13	1674	1583	91	36	30	6	39	37	34	3
N.Y. Giants	128	122	6	1293	1392	-99	29	36	-7	-120	39	27	12
Las Vegas	132	161	-29	1645	1683	-38	41	47	-6	-196	28	39	-11
New England	152	127	25	1524	1290	234	39	30	9	183	44	31	13
New Orleans	125	164	-39	1330	1676	-346	25	32	-7	-277	51	56	-5
Arizona	142	113	29	1580	999	581	36	34	2	211	27	30	-3
Jacksonville	129	123	6	1389	1336	53	33	30	3	76	35	24	11
Carolina	138	115	23	1304	1200	104	33	30	3	118	39	28	11
Cincinnati	131	128	3	1384	1229	155	42	40	2	36	31	28	3
Cleveland	132	125	7	1252	1529	-277	33	43	-10	2	33	40	-7
Kansas City	138	156	-18	1275	1647	-372	42	45	-3	-121	37	42	-5
LA Chargers	138	147	-9	1387	1517	-130	33	37	-4	-77	34	40	-6
Philadelphia	119	146	-27	1324	1527	-203	31	48	-17	-228	34	42	-8
Tampa Bay	132	121	11	1415	1197	218	42	33	9	118	29	35	-6
Dallas	137	133	4	1402	1375	27	33	39	-6	68	34	31	3
Pittsburgh	123	110	13	1473	1176	297	31	31	0	79	28	25	3
Atlanta	159	116	43	1564	1213	351	42	26	16	244	49	41	8
N.Y. Jets	132	168	-36	1369	1791	-422	33	53	-20	-318	27	38	-11
Indianapolis	145	116	29	1570	1359	211	42	27	15	311	35	35	0
Miami	115	139	-24	1387	1339	48	37	39	-2	-204	25	33	-8
Totals	4341	4341	0	45952	45952	0	1169	1169	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.