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| Open your eyes! that was clearing illegal contact, not pass interference! |
The Seahawks season has been turbulent and unpredictable so far. Going into each week we never know how the team will play or what the outcome will be. They have lost games they were supposed to lose (Steelers), won games they were supposed to lose (Giants). The Seahawks have been close against teams only to lose at the end (Falcons) and pulled away early and cruised to a win (Rams). Basically they have been a very inconsistent team. However, the one place the Seahawks do have consistency is in their ability to hurt themselves with penalties.
You know how it appears that the Seahawks have an important drive stalled because they end up facing a 3rd and 30 caused by penalties in every game? Well it isn’t your imagination, they do. Throughout the season the Seahawks have been their own worst enemies, as they consistently find ways to hinder themselves through untimely and stupid penalties. Table 1 shows the total number of penalties the Seahawks have committed and the total numbers of yards surrendered because of penalties in each of their 10 games. With 96, they rank second in the league in total penalties (It should also be noted that only counts accepted penalties.) Only the Oakland Raiders have more penalties, coming in with 103 (I know it is probably just coincidence, but the Oakland Raiders old head coach Tom Cable is now the Seahawks Assistant Head Coach.) That is 96 times that the Seahawks have given the other team free yards or taken away yards from themselves. To put it another way that is 96 times that Seahawks have essentially done the other team’s job for them. So, why is there such a penalty problem?
The first and most obvious reason is probably directly related to Coach Carroll. The style of play that he preaches to his players is a fast paced athlete driven one. He wants his players to run around the field and use their speed, strength and general athleticism to make plays rather than on a complicated system or play package. He is not there to out coach the other team with strategy. To steal a cliché, he likes to let the players play. This style of play also leads to more penalties as guys rely more on muscle and adrenaline than hours of study and practice. Watching the Seahawks you can tell that lots of their penalties are caused by this hyped up athletic playing style. They struggle with personal fouls, pass interferences and illegal contact penalties, which can all be attributed to aggressive and athletic free flowing style of play. With big physical corners, the secondary has been especially suseptible to this kind of penalty.
The Head Coach also attributes to the penalty problem with his general demeanor. NFL analysts always say that coach’s hate penalties more than anything, especially stupid penalties like false starts and delay of games. Seahawks Head Coach Pete Carroll is different. In week 10 the Seahawks penalty problem was especially visible as they committed 13 penalties for 100yd and barely hung on to beat the Ravens. During his post-game press conference Carroll had this to say, “[Penalties] could have lost us the football game today, but it didn’t.” Hearing it live you could tell he was irked but not as upset as many coaches. This is a similar theme at all his press conference when penalties come up. You can tell that he is clearly frustrated with the lack of discipline on his team, but it is more of a secondary issue. From the outside looking in it appears Pete Carroll just doesn’t put the kind of emphasis on minimizing penalties that other coaches do.
The final reason I see for the Seahawks penalty problem is their general lack of experience. It has been widely noted that the Seahawks area very young team. According to the CBS broadcast last week the Seahawks are the second youngest team in the NFL. Prior to recent injuries, the Seahawks offensive line exhibited this youth and lack of experience more than any other group of the roster. Their five starters were included two rookies, a second year player and third year player and Robert Gallery. This youth has led to lots of growing pains. As they learn about the NFL style of play, the O-line has been struggling with false starts and holding penalties.
The first two reasons for the Seahawks large amount of penalties are built right into the design and build of the team. Pete Carroll wants a fast, strong athlete based team, which is going to increase penalties, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Additionally, Pete Carroll doesn’t appear to put an emphasis on decreasing penalties like other NFL coaches. Neither of these is likely change. The third reason should get better as our players age and gain experience. However, the Seahawks front office has made it their goal to keep a young team, so we should always have some problems with inexperience. As long as Pete Carroll and his staff stay in charge of the Seahawks we should expect to see the Seahawks get flagged for a higher amount of penalties than the league average. As fans we are just going to have to get used to it.
Sources: Yahoo Sports
I disagree that the penalties are heavily related to Carroll's coaching style specifically. When he coached the Trojan's they were perennially low on penalties. Even last year the Seahawks were in the bottom half of the league in penalties, I believe. There just doesn't seem to be any evidence that Carroll's coaching philosophy is incompatible with a disciplined team. I think the biggest driving issues that you hit on are the youth and the FO's vision for tall defensive backs that rely on jamming receivers.
ReplyDeleteGood post.
As an outsider looking in I can only speculate how Pete Carroll emphasizes penalty reduction. From what I have seen in year one and year two he doesn't put as much of a priority on his players not getting penalties. In 2010 the Seahawks were 11th out of 32 teams and in 2011 they are 2nd. His press conferences and reaction to penalties in game is less severe than other coaches.
ReplyDeleteOn a side note, I also thought about mentioning Tom Cable and his infuence as a possible contributing factor. This year his old team, the Oakland Raiders, are the only team worse than us this year. In fact while he was head coach in 2008-2010 the Radiers never finished worse than 3rd in the league in Penalties. There is a definite correlation between Tom Cable and penalties. However, like every good economist knows, correlation isnt causation.
I should also add that I dont think Pete Carroll is a bad coach or even doing a bad job. I also dont think that a team cant find success and get lots of penalties. The two dont necessarily go hand in hand. It is just annoying watching a team constantly hurt themselves. It is even more annoying considering little the Seahawks were penalized under Mike Holmgren.