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 (1591), Defensive Holding (1103), Roughing the Passer (589), Illegal Contact (344), Illegal Use of Hands (232), Face Mask (15 Yards) (171), Unsportsmanlike Conduct (122), 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
LA Chargers	138	148	-10	1387	1525	-138	33	37	-4	-84	34	40	-6
Las Vegas	133	161	-28	1653	1683	-30	41	47	-6	-189	28	39	-11
Philadelphia	119	147	-28	1324	1542	-218	31	49	-18	-241	34	42	-8
Kansas City	139	156	-17	1290	1647	-357	43	45	-2	-108	37	42	-5
Arizona	143	115	28	1618	1009	609	36	34	2	207	27	30	-3
Carolina	140	116	24	1314	1238	76	33	30	3	122	39	28	11
Indianapolis	145	118	27	1570	1375	195	42	27	15	297	35	35	0
Denver	156	141	15	1690	1583	107	36	30	6	53	37	34	3
N.Y. Giants	128	123	5	1293	1415	-122	29	36	-7	-125	39	27	12
Dallas	138	133	5	1425	1375	50	33	39	-6	73	34	31	3
Seattle	127	161	-34	1438	1609	-171	35	42	-7	-235	33	43	-10
Pittsburgh	124	110	14	1478	1176	302	31	31	0	85	28	25	3
N.Y. Jets	132	172	-40	1369	1821	-452	33	54	-21	-353	27	38	-11
Buffalo	126	133	-7	1516	1337	179	40	37	3	28	30	27	3
San Francisco	144	152	-8	1396	1671	-275	42	48	-6	-130	33	36	-3
New Orleans	127	166	-39	1340	1691	-351	26	33	-7	-280	51	56	-5
Detroit	121	170	-49	1260	1728	-468	36	40	-4	-236	33	41	-8
Chicago	138	124	14	1388	1400	-12	46	20	26	268	45	30	15
Jacksonville	129	124	5	1389	1361	28	33	30	3	71	35	24	11
Cincinnati	132	128	4	1409	1229	180	42	40	2	41	31	28	3
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
Baltimore	130	154	-24	1671	1643	28	38	39	-1	-107	36	31	5
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
Tennessee	148	130	18	1470	1331	139	40	38	2	131	36	29	7
New England	152	127	25	1524	1290	234	39	30	9	183	44	31	13
Cleveland	132	125	7	1252	1529	-277	33	43	-10	2	33	40	-7
Tampa Bay	132	121	11	1415	1197	218	42	33	9	118	29	35	-6
Atlanta	159	116	43	1564	1213	351	42	26	16	244	49	41	8
Miami	115	139	-24	1387	1339	48	37	39	-2	-204	25	33	-8
Totals	4360	4360	0	46160	46160	0	1173	1173	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.