If a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, the Packers journey to the top of the leaderboard has been taken 5 yards at a time.
The Packers on Thursday were guilty of defensive offside, neutral-zone infraction or encroachment four times in their victory over the Miami Dolphins. Green Bay has been flagged 20 times (16 accepted, four declined) for those infractions this season. That’s eight more than any other team and more than the six most-disciplined teams combined.
“You just had to ask me that question. You just wanted to get me going today,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur joked a day after the 30-17 victory.
Against Miami, Rashan Gary and Kingsley Enagbare lined up offside on defense.
“The only thing I would say we have to do a much better job on is we have to make sure we line up onsides. It feels like it’s Groundhog Day,” LaFleur said immediately after the game.
Plus, TJ Slaton was flagged for a neutral-zone infraction (defined as jumping into the neutral zone and causing the offensive player to move) on a field goal and Devonte Wyatt was guilty of encroachment (defined as crossing the line of scrimmage and making contact with the offensive player) on defense.
According to NFL Penalties, teams on average are guilty of 3.16 defensive offside, 1.91 neutral-zone infractions and 0.59 encroachment.
The Packers are crushing those numbers with NFL-high tallies in each.
While LaFleur’s initial response on Monday had a bit of humor, he was serious when he continued.
“No, it’s really annoying,” he said. “You’ve got to be conscious. I guess we’ve got to drill it more. I got to get refs out there at practice to tell when a guy’s offsides. I told those guys and, obviously, just telling isn’t enough. We’ve got to start checking with the officials. It’s become such a problem and it’s going to kill us.
“It hurt us yesterday. That is one thing from the defensive side of the ball that we absolutely have to get corrected. Shoot, it gave them an opportunity on the field goal. We got them to fourth-and-9, we jump offsides, they decide to go for it, they convert. Now, luckily, we held them to three but, still, you can’t put yourself in those situations, especially against really good football teams.”
The Packers are going to play a really good football team – perhaps the best football team – on Thursday night at the Detroit Lions.
Dan Campbell’s team has been flagged a total of three times for those penalties. (The Lions are no choir boys, though; only two teams have been plagued by more penalty yards.)
Overall, the Packers have been flagged 100 times (fifth-most). Of that, 81 have been accepted (seventh-most) for 589 yards (16th-most). Green Bay’s opponents have been flagged 81 times for 644 yards (10th-most), so Green Bay is a net even in penalties and a bigger beneficiary of penalty yards (plus-55, 13th-best).
Enagbare is tied for No. 1 with four offside penalties. Among defensive linemen, nobody has been guilty of more accepted penalties than Lukas Van Ness with six, including two neutral-zone infractions and one defensive offside.
“We just got to check with the refs a little bit more and, I guess, scoot back,” Enagbare said.
Packers Lead the Pack
Here are the team penalty counts from NFL Penalties for defensive offside, neutral-zone infraction and encroachment.
Green Bay
Defensive Offside: 12. Neutral-zone infraction: 5. Encroachment: 3. Total: 20.
Chicago
Defensive Offside: 8. Neutral-zone infraction: 3. Encroachment: 1. Total: 12.
N.Y. Jets
Defensive Offside: 8. Neutral-zone infraction: 3. Encroachment: 0. Total: 11.
Las Vegas
Defensive Offside: 6. Neutral-zone infraction: 4. Encroachment: 1. Total: 11.
Washington
Defensive Offside: 7. Neutral-zone infraction: 3. Encroachment: 1. Total: 11.
Denver
Defensive Offside: 5. Neutral-zone infraction: 5. Total: 10.
Cleveland
Defensive Offside: 6. Neutral-zone infraction: 3. Encroachment: 1. Total: 10.
L.A. Rams
Defensive Offside: 7. Neutral-zone infraction: 2. Encroachment: 1. Total: 10.
San Francisco
Defensive Offside: 6. Neutral-zone infraction: 2. Encroachment: 2. Total: 10.
Jacksonville
Defensive Offside: 7. Neutral-zone infraction: 1. Encroachment: 0. Total: 8.
Pittsburgh
Defensive Offside: 5. Neutral-zone infraction: 3. Encroachment: 0. Total: 8.
Tampa Bay
Defensive Offside: 7. Neutral-zone infraction: 1. Encroachment: 0. Total: 8.
Dallas
Defensive Offside: 6. Neutral-zone infraction: 1. Encroachment: 1. Total: 8.
Indianapolis
Defensive Offside: 5. Neutral-zone infraction: 1. Encroachment: 2. Total: 8.
Kansas City
Defensive Offside: 6. Neutral-zone infraction: 1. Encroachment: 0. Total: 7.
N.Y. Giants
Defensive Offside: 6. Neutral-zone infraction: 1. Encroachment: 0. Total: 7.
Philadelphia
Defensive Offside: 4. Neutral-zone infraction: 0. Encroachment: 3. Total: 7.
L.A. Chargers
Defensive Offside: 3. Neutral-zone infraction: 3. Encroachment: 0. Total: 6.
Baltimore
Defensive Offside: 3. Neutral-zone infraction: 2. Encroachment: 0. Total: 5.
Buffalo
Defensive Offside: 3. Neutral-zone infraction: 2. Encroachment: 0. Total: 5.
Arizona
Defensive Offside: 1. Neutral-zone infraction: 3. Encroachment: 0. Total: 4.
Atlanta
Defensive Offside: 2. Neutral-zone infraction: 2. Encroachment: 0. Total: 4.
Carolina
Defensive Offside: 1. Neutral-zone infraction: 3. Encroachment: 0. Total: 4.
Houston
Defensive Offside: 3. Neutral-zone infraction: 0. Encroachment: 1. Total: 4.
Miami
Defensive Offside: 2. Neutral-zone infraction: 2. Encroachment: 0. Total: 4.
Minnesota
Defensive Offside: 4. Neutral-zone infraction: 0. Encroachment: 0. Total: 4.
New England
Defensive Offside: 2. Neutral-zone infraction: 2. Encroachment: 0. Total: 4.
Cincinnati
Defensive Offside: 2. Neutral-zone infraction: 1. Encroachment: 1. Total: 4.
Detroit
Defensive Offside: 3. Neutral-zone infraction: 0. Encroachment: 0. Total: 3.
New Orleans
Defensive Offside: 2. Neutral-zone infraction: 1. Encroachment: 0. Total: 3.
Tennessee
Defensive Offside: 2. Neutral-zone infraction: 1. Encroachment: 0. Total: 3.
Seattle
Defensive Offside: 1. Neutral-zone infraction: 0. Encroachment: 1. Total: 2.
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