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 (1647), Defensive Holding (1126), Roughing the Passer (603), Illegal Contact (363), Illegal Use of Hands (233), Face Mask (15 Yards) (171), Unsportsmanlike Conduct (124), Personal Foul (61), Horse Collar Tackle (56), Face Mask (47), Taunting (37), 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
Cleveland	141	130	11	1324	1561	-237	34	46	-12	6	33	40	-7
N.Y. Jets	134	175	-41	1389	1881	-492	34	55	-21	-373	27	38	-11
Baltimore	131	157	-26	1674	1716	-42	38	39	-1	-123	36	31	5
Minnesota	161	132	29	1698	1456	242	40	40	0	141	41	41	0
N.Y. Giants	139	129	10	1447	1473	-26	35	38	-3	-75	39	27	12
Chicago	141	129	12	1403	1453	-50	47	22	25	240	45	30	15
New Orleans	129	172	-43	1380	1755	-375	27	34	-7	-282	51	56	-5
Carolina	146	119	27	1382	1270	112	34	31	3	141	39	28	11
Indianapolis	147	124	23	1604	1436	168	44	28	16	283	35	35	0
Atlanta	162	120	42	1583	1252	331	43	28	15	238	49	41	8
Dallas	146	140	6	1510	1458	52	36	40	-4	98	34	31	3
Arizona	147	116	31	1657	1014	643	37	34	3	227	27	30	-3
Seattle	128	164	-36	1443	1632	-189	35	43	-8	-253	33	43	-10
Washington	143	126	17	1330	1433	-103	38	30	8	129	30	26	4
LA Rams	126	132	-6	1162	1635	-473	35	40	-5	-45	24	37	-13
Green Bay	178	128	50	2115	1229	886	37	27	10	282	46	28	18
Detroit	123	175	-52	1270	1759	-489	36	42	-6	-264	33	41	-8
Cincinnati	133	129	4	1413	1234	179	42	41	1	34	31	28	3
Pittsburgh	130	114	16	1533	1204	329	31	31	0	104	28	25	3
Denver	159	149	10	1716	1690	26	36	37	-1	-18	37	34	3
Tennessee	151	133	18	1483	1345	138	41	39	2	120	36	29	7
Tampa Bay	137	123	14	1469	1207	262	43	33	10	148	29	35	-6
New England	158	132	26	1587	1324	263	42	30	12	207	44	31	13
San Francisco	145	155	-10	1402	1694	-292	42	49	-7	-144	33	36	-3
Houston	128	145	-17	1286	1589	-303	35	40	-5	-89	28	43	-15
Buffalo	128	136	-8	1526	1362	164	40	39	1	10	30	27	3
Miami	118	142	-24	1403	1368	35	38	40	-2	-206	25	33	-8
Philadelphia	121	152	-31	1356	1614	-258	33	49	-16	-245	34	42	-8
LA Chargers	141	153	-12	1426	1569	-143	33	38	-5	-95	34	40	-6
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
Jacksonville	134	128	6	1454	1390	64	36	30	6	109	35	24	11
Totals	4486	4486	0	47427	47427	0	1210	1210	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.