Speaker 1: Hey, it's Bills by the Numbers, brought to you by
Speaker 1: FanDuel make every moment more coming up? What penalties were
Speaker 1: the biggest problems for the Bills in twenty twenty one?
Speaker 1: We take a look. Will the points of emphasis for
Speaker 1: officials this year be a benefit or a problem for
Speaker 1: the way the Bills play on offense and defense? We
Speaker 1: discuss plus, former head of NFL Officiating Dean Blandino, joins
Speaker 1: us to tell us where we can expect to see
Speaker 1: penalties go up or go down? Steve, there's a flag
Speaker 1: on the play. So happy to have you here with
Speaker 1: us on Bills by the Numbers. Bills Wall of Famer
Speaker 1: Steam Pasker, Bills insider Chris Brown with you as usual,
Speaker 1: and it's a yellow flag edition of Bills by the Numbers.
Speaker 1: We begin with the following facts. The Bills had the
Speaker 1: sixth most penalties against in the league last year one
Speaker 1: hundred and thirteen called against, seventh most in net penalty
Speaker 1: yards and second in the league, and automatic first downs
Speaker 1: awarded to the opponent via penalty. They did get better
Speaker 1: from the first half to the second half of the
Speaker 1: season in twenty twenty one, reduce their penalty accounts slightly,
Speaker 1: and they were at their best Steve in their two
Speaker 1: playoff games, with just three penalties assessed in the wildcard
Speaker 1: round and three in the divisional playoff. But coach McDermott
Speaker 1: always wants better. As we know, as much as a
Speaker 1: coach emphasizes it, how realistic is it, Steve to get
Speaker 1: your roster to be more disciplined in the area of penalties. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it can happen. I'm you always over emphasize it because
Speaker 1: it always makes it seem like you're going to play
Speaker 1: soft and play scared if you're trying not to get penalties,
Speaker 1: and the truth, that's not really the truth. The truth
Speaker 1: is you have to make an effort. Particularly most of
Speaker 1: these you think about in the secondary and up in
Speaker 1: the offensive line and in the defensive line where you
Speaker 1: get a lot of defensive holdings. That kind of thing.
Speaker 1: Also you get guys. A little of it can be
Speaker 1: attributed to coaching, because if you get your team into
Speaker 1: a matchup that they can't win an individual matchup, that
Speaker 1: guy's gonna get desperate. He's not going to get one
Speaker 1: to get beat, and he's gonna latch on and get
Speaker 1: kind of holding penalties out of desperation because he can't
Speaker 1: win that matchup. Same thing, and it's the same kind
Speaker 1: of It's not just in pass coverage with a linebacker,
Speaker 1: running back, or what have you. It's also an offensive
Speaker 1: lineman getting matched up with an elite pass rusher that
Speaker 1: they know they got neat help on and don't get any.
Speaker 1: So a little bit of that is coaching and matchups
Speaker 1: and getting your guys in a position where they can win.
Speaker 1: But there's no question players can be disciplined and think
Speaker 1: about that stuff. A player gets fewer penalties when he's
Speaker 1: really confident and really prepared, and that does fall on coaching,
Speaker 1: right and I think coach McDermott would be in the
Speaker 1: same boat as most coaches. As we've heard over the years,
Speaker 1: the effort penalties you can stomach to a certain degree.
Speaker 1: It's the pre snap unforced error penalties that drive coaches
Speaker 1: up a wall. And there was some of that. Although
Speaker 1: the Bills were not ranked highly in the area of
Speaker 1: presnap penalties last year, they had a fair amount. I
Speaker 1: think they were somewhere in the lower third of the
Speaker 1: league though in number of pre snap penalties called against.
Speaker 1: Dallas was the worst team in the league and penalties
Speaker 1: by far, and it wasn't even close. We can get
Speaker 1: into that a little bit later. On the good side,
Speaker 1: As I said, ninth fewest pre snap penalties the most
Speaker 1: popular penalties called against the Bills, and I imagine this
Speaker 1: is largely the case for the thirty one other teams.
Speaker 1: Offensive holding twenty three infractions, false start eighteen infractions, defensive
Speaker 1: holding thirteen penalties, defensive PI nine, unnecessary roughness eight, and
Speaker 1: roughing the passer eight. We knew holding was a point
Speaker 1: of emphasis last season, so that's no surprise, Steve. Which
Speaker 1: one of these penalty categories might surprise you the most?
Speaker 1: Concerning the Bill style of play. False starts are always
Speaker 1: a problem. You give one a game, Yeah, they had
Speaker 1: eighteen and seventeen games. That's not awful. And I think
Speaker 1: defensive pass interference is tough because I think those are
Speaker 1: the really tough ones because those are so it's a
Speaker 1: spot foul. So if you're thirty five yards down the
Speaker 1: field and you get an pass interference, the ball is
Speaker 1: spotted right at that spot, so it's a thirty five
Speaker 1: yard completion. Those are really really tough, and I think
Speaker 1: any team would tell you, you know, they can put
Speaker 1: up with kind of a five yard penalty and you
Speaker 1: know the next down, giving up a thirty five yard
Speaker 1: explosive play because of an official through a flag is
Speaker 1: a really tough one to swallow, right. The one that
Speaker 1: surprised me was roughing the passer and the fact that
Speaker 1: there were only eight if you go back and think
Speaker 1: of twenty twenty one. To me, if you asked me
Speaker 1: what stood out most about officiating, it was how quick
Speaker 1: the flag came out for roughing the passer. You barely
Speaker 1: breathe on a quarterback, and the flag was coming out
Speaker 1: last year, and that, from what we understand, is going
Speaker 1: to be relaxed this year. Glancing blows inadvertent contact to
Speaker 1: the head or neck area or below the knee are
Speaker 1: not going to be called this year, so we shouldn't
Speaker 1: see as many. But seeing seeing eight for roughing the passer,
Speaker 1: if you ask me, I would have guessed twice that
Speaker 1: would have been flagged against the Bills and most teams
Speaker 1: for that matter. One of the instances too is the Bills,
Speaker 1: you know, didn't have a dominant pass rush, so and
Speaker 1: also with the with the current you know atmosphere in
Speaker 1: the league, you get roughing the passer calls the Bills
Speaker 1: do a lot because their secondary is really good and
Speaker 1: the quarterback of the other team is extending the play
Speaker 1: and you're chasing, chasing, chasing, chasing, and then you reach
Speaker 1: into that gray area of what wasn't an extra step
Speaker 1: you give that to declare himself as a runner. You
Speaker 1: feel like, as a defensive lineman, you've got to force
Speaker 1: that guy to throw the football, so you're pushing it
Speaker 1: to the very end he throws it you you double
Speaker 1: hand shove him out of bounds. It's a penalty. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's pretty frustrating for a defense, particularly when he chased
Speaker 1: the guy all over the yard. Yeah, And that's probably
Speaker 1: why unnecessary roughness was up there too, because once that
Speaker 1: quarterback's out of the pocket, he's not necessarily a quarterback
Speaker 1: if he declares himself as a runner, and if he
Speaker 1: gets out of bounds just as you get there and
Speaker 1: you knock him after he's taken a step out of bounds,
Speaker 1: you're getting hit for unnecessary roughness. And I would if
Speaker 1: you ask me to guess, I would say four of
Speaker 1: those eight unnecessary roughness calls against the Bills last year,
Speaker 1: it probably hits like that, and it's pretty frustrating too,
Speaker 1: because what happens if the quarterback pump fakes and you
Speaker 1: don't double chuck him, He's still got the ball and
Speaker 1: you didn't get him on the ground, So you never
Speaker 1: That's how fine the line is, how fast it happens,
Speaker 1: and you know it's it's a lot to ask of
Speaker 1: a defender, but all of us would agree when push
Speaker 1: comes to shovey, you need to protect the guys throwing
Speaker 1: the football. I think, Yeah, nobody wants to go see
Speaker 1: Joe Toby Percy Joe, Yeah, we don't want to go
Speaker 1: see Joey Bagadonnut's played quarterback even for the other team. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So it's a star driven league and they protect those guys,
Speaker 1: and with good reason. The entire franchise rests on their
Speaker 1: ability to line up every week. Okay, you mentioned the
Speaker 1: Bill's defense, So, knowing the points of emphasis this season,
Speaker 1: which include tighter calling of illegal contact, looser calling of
Speaker 1: defensive pass interference, and more leniency with respect to roughing
Speaker 1: the passer as we mentioned, what do you foresee for
Speaker 1: Buffalo's defense in twenty twenty two? Knowing we expect the
Speaker 1: pass rush to be significantly better this year, They're gonna
Speaker 1: be some times where it's gonna be frustrating because they're
Speaker 1: gonna get home and they're gonna get called for penalty. Um,
Speaker 1: they still will call hits to the head on the
Speaker 1: quarterback if it's forcible. They still will call load shots
Speaker 1: on the quarterbacks legs. They still will call the extra
Speaker 1: step and a defender puts the guy on the ground,
Speaker 1: And I think you're a seat have more instances to
Speaker 1: have judgment calls against the Bills because their pass rush
Speaker 1: is going to be closer to the quarterback by and large.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I think it's going to be a frustrating
Speaker 1: year at times for Bills fans watching their team play
Speaker 1: so well up front and then you know, having them
Speaker 1: force an incompletion on third down and get have to
Speaker 1: give them a first down because of a penalty in
Speaker 1: the pocket. Yeah, my fear is out of the pass
Speaker 1: rush will be better, So that means there are going
Speaker 1: to be around the quarterback more. And even though roughing
Speaker 1: the pastor might be called less and there might be
Speaker 1: more leniency in that area, I think with the frequency
Speaker 1: with which this defense is expected to be around the quarterback,
Speaker 1: I think the number is going to be about the
Speaker 1: same in terms of the roughing the pastor calls that
Speaker 1: we've seen in the past. And yes, you're right, that
Speaker 1: is going to be supremely frustrating for Bills fans watching it,
Speaker 1: either in the stadium or at home on their televisions.
Speaker 1: Flip that around now, Steve, and do you believe Buffalo's
Speaker 1: offense could be even more difficult to stop in light
Speaker 1: of some of these changes more illegal contact calls? And
Speaker 1: we know the separation that the Bills receiving corps can
Speaker 1: get with alarming regularity at times. Lighter though on roughing
Speaker 1: the passer, yeah, that's where mine you know, as a
Speaker 1: former guy who practice being a wide receiver and then
Speaker 1: covered kicks on Sunday, I felt like that was all
Speaker 1: The rules have always been tilted towards the offense, particularly
Speaker 1: in the secondary, and I always thought, right, when you
Speaker 1: see this, it's going to be like, well, there are
Speaker 1: going to be some players who have much better seasons
Speaker 1: statistically than they otherwise would have with these penalties the
Speaker 1: way they're called, because some players are just in that
Speaker 1: are in that level of being able to just get
Speaker 1: enough separation, and this will give them more separation. It
Speaker 1: will help them be a better receiver. They're gonna have
Speaker 1: some I don't want to say mediocre, but by NFL stands,
Speaker 1: you're gonna have some guys that are more effective than
Speaker 1: they otherwise would have been because these rules, and I
Speaker 1: think particularly smaller guys who are less physical, who can't
Speaker 1: get jostled around at the top of their route, are
Speaker 1: gonna be You're gonna see him standing by themselves in
Speaker 1: a field, Mackenzie like Zaie McKenzie, Cole Beasley, Shakier, all
Speaker 1: of those guys out of Jameson Crowder and of course
Speaker 1: Digs as well, because he, you know, he's a same
Speaker 1: kind of guy as a route runner. Precision, those guys
Speaker 1: are gonna have more separation or draw more flags, draw
Speaker 1: more flags, no question about it. Yeah, I foresee a
Speaker 1: lot of three five yards and yeah, and a fresh
Speaker 1: set of downs. Yeah. And that's the point of it.
Speaker 1: That's basically one of the caveats of this. They want
Speaker 1: they want to see more, more points, more yards. Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: And the reason I foresee that is because this receiving
Speaker 1: corps is based on or is largely made up of
Speaker 1: receivers who get early separation in the down. And if
Speaker 1: you want to prevent that and you grab a little
Speaker 1: bit or you know, past five yards you can get
Speaker 1: a lot of flags against this Billings and even trying
Speaker 1: to even grabbing the jersey to stay with the guys
Speaker 1: so he doesn't get separation that falls under and you know,
Speaker 1: you're it's the same. It's the same penalty. So yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's gonna be a problem for defenses. They're gonna
Speaker 1: have to really struggle with it and and try and
Speaker 1: keep up. It's it's stacked against them, no question about it.
Speaker 1: And that's why I think in this day and age,
Speaker 1: the Bills have been served so well by the quality
Speaker 1: of guys they have in their secondary. That they've got
Speaker 1: top notch guys at every spot, and that that means something.
Speaker 1: It really does. The league may argue, hey, we're throwing
Speaker 1: the defense at home. We're gonna lighten up on the
Speaker 1: defensive pass interference, allow more hand battles, and I was like,
Speaker 1: I'll believe that when I see it. Um thing, if
Speaker 1: the balls in the air, Yeah, it's penalty, right, We'll
Speaker 1: see how they call it. It will be interesting, to
Speaker 1: say the least. We move ahead now to the Numbers game,
Speaker 1: where Steve is going to yes and see if he
Speaker 1: can nail down the players who drew the most penalty
Speaker 1: flags for the Bills last season. So, Steve, we need
Speaker 1: five of the top ten players for penalty flags for
Speaker 1: the Bills in twenty twenty one. What do you say,
Speaker 1: all right, who got the most penalty I'll say ed Oliver.
Speaker 1: Ed Oliver is right at the bottom of the top
Speaker 1: ten with five penalties. This could be offense or defense.
Speaker 1: Offense or defense. Top five flag drawers for the Bills
Speaker 1: last season, Darryl Williams number six, six penalties assessed against him.
Speaker 1: Spencer Brown. Spencer Brown is number three with seven buttger Nope,
Speaker 1: not on the list. Dawkins beon. Dawkins tied with Spencer
Speaker 1: Brown for seven penalties. You need one more to satisfy
Speaker 1: my quota of five. You are four for four. I
Speaker 1: think right missed miser you got, so you're four for
Speaker 1: five on your guesses. I'll say, we'll see who you
Speaker 1: have a I'll say, uh, Levi Wallace, you got the
Speaker 1: guy in the top spot eight penalties assessed. That's a
Speaker 1: guy that you met, Like we were talking about, it's
Speaker 1: a tough spot. He's not elite athleticism and so if
Speaker 1: he's playing a fast guy and it feels he's got
Speaker 1: to grab, he's got to grab, and you got back,
Speaker 1: I get him. That was hit five out of ten. Yeah,
Speaker 1: eight penalties assessed against Levi Wallace. That was the most
Speaker 1: on the team last year, obviously in Pittsburgh. Now Dion Dawkins,
Speaker 1: Spencer Brown, Jordan Poyer all with seven last year, tied
Speaker 1: with Daryl Williams for six, Seranne who got some special
Speaker 1: team last year, and then three the last four players
Speaker 1: tied with five along with ed Oliver Tredebous White with five,
Speaker 1: Emmanuel Sanders with five, and Dawson Knox with five. So
Speaker 1: offensive pi. Dawson Knox also got a couple holding calls
Speaker 1: I believe, and a false start. I think Emmanuel Sanders
Speaker 1: had a couple of false starts last year of memory serves.
Speaker 1: But Steve, you just whipped through that thing like a
Speaker 1: hot knife through butter. I do know this team. I
Speaker 1: don't know anybody else, but I know this team. Good
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Speaker 1: partner of the Buffalo Bills. Here now to help us
Speaker 1: with the points of emphasis four officials this season is
Speaker 1: the former head of NFL officiating and the current Fox
Speaker 1: Sports NFL rules analyst. It's Dean Blandino, who recently put
Speaker 1: together a right up on the thirty third team where
Speaker 1: he shares which penalties are likely to go up or
Speaker 1: down in twenty twenty two. Let's talk with Dean. All right, Dan,
Speaker 1: let's begin here. As you pointed out in your write
Speaker 1: up end video on the thirty third team, total penalties
Speaker 1: were up from twenty twenty to about fourteen per game
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty one. But I think that was expected,
Speaker 1: knowing there was a huge drop in holding calls back
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty, and that's the most popular penalty called,
Speaker 1: I believe if I have my facts right. But it
Speaker 1: was still down from the historical average of sixteen to
Speaker 1: seventeen a game. So with the points of emphasis this
Speaker 1: season for the officials, do you think we'll move closer
Speaker 1: to the historical average? I do. I think twenty twenty
Speaker 1: was somewhat of an anomaly. The holding calls were historically low,
Speaker 1: and the Competition Committee recognized that. And look, officials aren't
Speaker 1: going to call every hold that occurs, but they do
Speaker 1: a really good job. And for the most part, in
Speaker 1: you know, the last twenty five thirty years, you see
Speaker 1: about three holds per game. It was down to two
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty. I think the officiating department, in conjunction
Speaker 1: with the Competition Committee, did a good job in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty one of just getting you know, getting the foules
Speaker 1: you needed to get to focusing on the point of attack.
Speaker 1: But I think with some of the other points of emphasis,
Speaker 1: illegal contact, things like that, I think we will see
Speaker 1: the number rise. I don't know if we'll get to
Speaker 1: sixteen sixteen and a half where we've been, but but
Speaker 1: I think you'll probably see closer to fifteen thousand. What
Speaker 1: drives the movement on points of emphasis? Yeah, so that
Speaker 1: comes from typically can come from a lot of different sources.
Speaker 1: It can come from the players. The Competition Committee meets
Speaker 1: with members of the NFLPA, current and former players to
Speaker 1: address their concerns that happens at the combine. In Indianapoli, USUM.
Speaker 1: The coaches, there's a coach's subcommittee. Andy reid Is and
Speaker 1: John Harbaugh on that. Other coaches, you know, Ron Rivera,
Speaker 1: some other from the Competition committee, they've worked together. They
Speaker 1: look at different trends, and that's where that taunting emphasis
Speaker 1: came from last year, really the coaches. They felt that
Speaker 1: the sportsmanship, some of the in your face stuff, stuff
Speaker 1: directed at your opponent, was starting to rise, and they
Speaker 1: felt that they wanted to curb that. So that's where
Speaker 1: those points of emphasis come from. Typically it's sportsmanship or
Speaker 1: players safety, and where you see those things like downfields,
Speaker 1: you know, the contact if you want to help, you know,
Speaker 1: the passing game, keep that in a good place though,
Speaker 1: that's kind of where that comes from. You mentioned illegal
Speaker 1: contact already, Dean, and we know that's going to be
Speaker 1: a point of emphasis this year. Only thirty six such
Speaker 1: penalties called last season illegal contact, which is probably why
Speaker 1: it's a point of emphasis this year. But what kind
Speaker 1: of spike does history tell you we should expect for
Speaker 1: one like illegal contact that's a point of emphasis this year. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think the last time we emphasis emphasized that it
Speaker 1: was twenty fourteen, and the fouls tripled from the previous
Speaker 1: same thing back in yeah, two thousand and four. Same thing.
Speaker 1: But when you have to look at it in put
Speaker 1: it in context, when you say the fouls tripled, Okay,
Speaker 1: if we had thirty six last year, we triple that, right,
Speaker 1: we end up at let's say one hundred, a little
Speaker 1: over one hundred, you know, out of two hundred and
Speaker 1: seventy two games. It's not like you're going to see
Speaker 1: one game, right, So, so it's you'll see more of it.
Speaker 1: It's it's a point of emphasis. I think there was
Speaker 1: too much happening downfield with the contact where the defenders
Speaker 1: were disrupting routes beyond five and so, and the passing
Speaker 1: game did suffer. You know, passing yards per game dropped.
Speaker 1: It was the second lowest since two thousand and ten.
Speaker 1: And I think that was probably the biggest driver in
Speaker 1: the committee who was saying, Okay, we've got to we've
Speaker 1: got to make sure that we're we're enforcing this rule correctly.
Speaker 1: It's not like we're going to go out and say, hey,
Speaker 1: we've just got to throw the flag just to throw
Speaker 1: the flag. You got to enforce it correctly. So they
Speaker 1: felt that the officials weren't calling fouls last year that
Speaker 1: were and they want to they want to kind of
Speaker 1: you know, put that, put an end to that and
Speaker 1: make sure that they're calling the fouls that are there.
Speaker 1: What do you see as the season rolls on, how
Speaker 1: big a lead time is there before the players get
Speaker 1: used to the new standard of normal in the secondary
Speaker 1: as guys are running around, do you see a spike
Speaker 1: like in the first month of the season, then then
Speaker 1: it tapers off kind of thing where the players get
Speaker 1: it used to the new norm. Yeah, that's typically what happens.
Speaker 1: And we've even seen it in the preseason. I think
Speaker 1: preseason week one there were fifteen you know, almost won
Speaker 1: a game, which which would be, you know, significantly higher
Speaker 1: than where we have been. And then and then week
Speaker 1: two it started to drop. And I think you see
Speaker 1: that in anytime you emphasize something, it's it's they're high
Speaker 1: early and then the players start to adjust, the coaches
Speaker 1: understand where the line is, and it starts to kind
Speaker 1: of regulate itself. So I would expect a spike early
Speaker 1: and then as the season, as you move into probably
Speaker 1: the second quarter of the season, it'll start to it'll
Speaker 1: start to come down and you'll get to, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: we'll have a higher number, no question, but I don't
Speaker 1: think we're going to see fifteen sixteen per week. That's
Speaker 1: that's not going to happen. And you you work with
Speaker 1: the officials directly, what what kind of feedback and I
Speaker 1: guess feedback on consistency and calling it the same in
Speaker 1: one game one week and the same in the next
Speaker 1: game the nether week, that kind of thing. What kind
Speaker 1: of feedback do you get from the officials about what
Speaker 1: they see and how difficult it is to administer consistently
Speaker 1: across you know, two hundred and some odd games. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's the biggest challenge you have to have. The two
Speaker 1: hundred and seventy two games you've got, you've got seventeen
Speaker 1: different crews. You've got, for the most part, five officials
Speaker 1: on every crew can call illegal contact, the two line
Speaker 1: of scrimmage officials and the three down field officials. So
Speaker 1: you've got over a hundred officials that you're trying to
Speaker 1: get on the same page. And that foul, that's a
Speaker 1: difficult foul because it's a two step foul. You have
Speaker 1: to the official has to see the contact beyond five
Speaker 1: and then find the ball now because the quarterback has
Speaker 1: to have the ball in the pocket for that foul
Speaker 1: to apply. So it's not just seeing it like holding
Speaker 1: and calling it. You've got to find the football. Is
Speaker 1: it gone, is it gone somewhere else? Is it thrown
Speaker 1: to that receiver? Now I have to process, Okay, is
Speaker 1: it illegal contact or is it defensive pass difference? So
Speaker 1: it's a difficult foul to call to begin with, and
Speaker 1: then to get over a hundred officials on the same page,
Speaker 1: that's the biggest challenge. And all they want is clear direction.
Speaker 1: You tell us what you want, show us examples of
Speaker 1: what is a foul and what isn't a foul, and
Speaker 1: then we'll go out and do it. And if they
Speaker 1: get that, they can do a good job. If they're
Speaker 1: getting mixed messages, if they're not getting that clear direction,
Speaker 1: that's when it leads to inconsistent. And that's a perfect
Speaker 1: seguated by next question, Dean, because I was curious knowing
Speaker 1: that illegal contact is a point of emphasis, and yet
Speaker 1: at the same time, defensive pass interference is from what
Speaker 1: I understand, going to allow for a little more hand
Speaker 1: checking and contact. Where is the line? I mean, look,
Speaker 1: I've said it before. I'd never want to be an
Speaker 1: NFL official. Where is the line? Because it's a hard job.
Speaker 1: Where is the line of demarcation for the officials if
Speaker 1: you know between the illegal contact emphasis and defensive pass
Speaker 1: interference Because you just referenced it, there's a very fine
Speaker 1: line where one ends and the other begins. Where you're
Speaker 1: looking at the quarterback and where the ball is. So
Speaker 1: how what have they been schooled on to establish a
Speaker 1: line of demarcation for them so they can accurately emphasize
Speaker 1: one and maybe de emphasize the other at the same time.
Speaker 1: It's not a problem I want to have. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: a good question and it is a challenge. I think
Speaker 1: the biggest thing that they have to understand, and just
Speaker 1: by rule, illegal contact is a is a foul that
Speaker 1: occurs before the pass, right, So the quarterback has to
Speaker 1: have the ball in the pocket. So you can't have
Speaker 1: illegal contact if the balls in the air. So that's
Speaker 1: the line of demarcation and pass and afferiance defensive pass
Speaker 1: then afferance starts with the ball in the air right,
Speaker 1: not prior to that. So that's that line and that's
Speaker 1: where they see the contact. Then they have to know, Okay,
Speaker 1: where is the ball it is it hasn't been released,
Speaker 1: is it in the air? Is it in the air
Speaker 1: somewhere else. So it is a challenge, but the point
Speaker 1: of demarcation is the pass. You know, this is the
Speaker 1: quarterback still have the ball or is the ball gone?
Speaker 1: And then it transitions once the pass is released and
Speaker 1: transitions from illegal contact rules to defensive pass in afference rules.
Speaker 1: And one of the difficult parts about being an NFL
Speaker 1: officials that the game does evolve constantly. There are points
Speaker 1: of emphasis, different rule changes every year. What is the
Speaker 1: most difficult thing that officials are telling you now about
Speaker 1: their job? You know, I would say, I think the
Speaker 1: one call that they've struggled with and and and you know,
Speaker 1: not surprisingly is the use of helmet foul. This was
Speaker 1: implemented a couple of years ago, and this was players
Speaker 1: um lowering their heads and initiating contact with their helmet.
Speaker 1: It happens so frequently during the game there there there
Speaker 1: is helmet to helmet contact. There's contact with the helmets.
Speaker 1: It's just natural when you have when you have you know,
Speaker 1: players that are moving at high speeds. You talk about
Speaker 1: leverage and trying to get low. You know, when you're
Speaker 1: making a tackle, treads as a ball carrier, I'm trying
Speaker 1: to get low, protect the football, protect myself and gain
Speaker 1: additional yardage, and there's collisions and the officials in real time.
Speaker 1: We get the benefit of slow motion replay, and sometimes
Speaker 1: it's pretty clear on slow motion replay what happened, but
Speaker 1: they don't get that benefit. They got to see their
Speaker 1: in real time from their perspective once and they got
Speaker 1: to make a call. And when you have these types
Speaker 1: of high speed collisions, it's tough to say, Okay, who
Speaker 1: initiated the contact? Was it the defender? Was that the
Speaker 1: ball carrier? Was the defender trying to protect themselves, absorb
Speaker 1: or brace for contact, just trying to bring the shoulder
Speaker 1: and trying to make a tackle, and the head team
Speaker 1: with it. So I think that's one of the more
Speaker 1: difficult calls. It's obviously important because it's player safety, but
Speaker 1: I think the league recognizes that. I think they, you know,
Speaker 1: at least in my opinion, need to continue to look
Speaker 1: at you know, film review during the week and finding
Speaker 1: players when they do see it, because it's very tough
Speaker 1: call for the officials to make in real time and
Speaker 1: be consistent. Last one for me, Dan, We've we've heard
Speaker 1: through the grapevine there's going to be a hefty fine
Speaker 1: for coaches or players who curse out officials during games,
Speaker 1: along with a fifteen yard penalty. I don't know if
Speaker 1: I'm I had just been living under a rocket and
Speaker 1: not heard of this. Is this new or has this
Speaker 1: already been in place for a few years. No, I
Speaker 1: mean this has always been the case. And I don't
Speaker 1: want to bring up a source subject, but but Steve
Speaker 1: was a part of it was a part of one
Speaker 1: that I remember that that I'm going to come out
Speaker 1: and just say he shouldn't have been thrown out of
Speaker 1: the game. But anyway, yeah, I'll say that you're an
Speaker 1: honored guest. But that's not that's not new in sportsmanship,
Speaker 1: and certainly the interaction between players and officials, it's a
Speaker 1: it's an interesting dynamic because, um, we want that communication.
Speaker 1: I know when I was at the NFL, you don't
Speaker 1: want to not answer a question or communicate with the players. Um,
Speaker 1: And there's certainly emotion involved, but there's a line, and
Speaker 1: there's a line from player to player. There's a line
Speaker 1: from from a you know, player to official and coach
Speaker 1: to official, and for officials to conduct themselves in a
Speaker 1: professional manner in how they deal with coaches and players
Speaker 1: and and so that's not new. Um there, you know,
Speaker 1: it's officials understand the game as emotional. Coaches and players
Speaker 1: are going to get emotional, and we want them to
Speaker 1: use common sense because you know, just getting fired up
Speaker 1: or using a you know, a colorful language is not
Speaker 1: enough to flag. But there's there's a line of respect
Speaker 1: that you have to stay. You know, you have to
Speaker 1: stay behind that line. And I think officials do a
Speaker 1: good job. But that's not new. Yeah, okay, fair enough,
Speaker 1: Jane Dean, thanks man, it's great seeing you have a
Speaker 1: great season. You two guys. Thanks for having me. We
Speaker 1: dive now into these three things. First thing, offensive linemen
Speaker 1: are called for more penalties than any other position group.
Speaker 1: Steve will the emphasis on a legal contact this year,
Speaker 1: you think move defensive backs into the top spot for penalties,
Speaker 1: knowing defensive pass interference at the same time is also
Speaker 1: going to be relaxed. I don't know. I don't think so.
Speaker 1: I think think about it. Offensive linemen are in the
Speaker 1: midst of the point of attack every play, run or pass,
Speaker 1: and defensive backs are limited to only the throwing downs
Speaker 1: where they're kind of on the on the spot. There
Speaker 1: certainly they could be called for, you know, off sides
Speaker 1: and croachman and all that, but I would say no,
Speaker 1: I think the offensive line is still going to be
Speaker 1: the number one scrutiny. They got two officials that are
Speaker 1: standing there looking at those five guys in a small area.
Speaker 1: They don't miss much and when it means something, and
Speaker 1: you're you're also gonna you know, yeah, you're gonna get
Speaker 1: you get guys off the edge and the past rush.
Speaker 1: So I don't think so. I think that gap is
Speaker 1: probably too far to be spanned by this one route.
Speaker 1: I thought this was an interesting question to ask because
Speaker 1: more often than not, you've got five linemen on the
Speaker 1: field every play. But you also nowadays have five dbs
Speaker 1: on the field, so you get the same number your
Speaker 1: people out there. But I tend to agree with you
Speaker 1: because I think it's easier to call the stuff that
Speaker 1: happens in a confined area like the tackle box that move.
Speaker 1: You could argue too, that the stuff that happens at
Speaker 1: the line is the slowest moving stuff in a football game.
Speaker 1: You get those skill guys outside and in space, stuff
Speaker 1: happens fast, and you've got to shift your field division.
Speaker 1: As we spoke, with Dean about you know, those poor
Speaker 1: officials have to look at Okay, I gotta legal contact
Speaker 1: this quarterback still have the ball. I mean you gotta
Speaker 1: whip your head around your you know, your head's on
Speaker 1: a swivel. It's like you're watching a ping podcast. Call
Speaker 1: on that. Yeah, there's a lot in this question if
Speaker 1: you start thinking about it, because certainly they've got two
Speaker 1: officials standing behind the quarterback looking at different angles. Once
Speaker 1: looking at the left side, the other guy's looking at
Speaker 1: the right side as they're coming towards him. Um, it
Speaker 1: does happen right in front of him. And it's also
Speaker 1: run or passed that the offensive line will fire out
Speaker 1: and do that. And and you know the old saying
Speaker 1: goes you could call holding on every play if you
Speaker 1: wanted to and justify it down inside. But I think
Speaker 1: also in the in the secondary, I mean, you've got
Speaker 1: it's you're exposed, you're by yourself, and you know, you
Speaker 1: get that desperate feeling that you got to win this
Speaker 1: rep or you're gonna lose the game. So there is
Speaker 1: a higher level of desperation out in the secondary because
Speaker 1: the big play is always on the line with with
Speaker 1: wide receivers, so you've got that level of anxiety for
Speaker 1: the DBS that overrides their discipline sometimes. So there's a
Speaker 1: lot in that question, and it's a it's a really
Speaker 1: good way to look at it, because you're right, there
Speaker 1: is the same number of guys on the field, five
Speaker 1: dbs and five offensive line most of the time. Most
Speaker 1: of the time. But I still think the offensive line
Speaker 1: is scrutinized. I think it starts there. You know, the
Speaker 1: thing works, and when you're watching film or anything else,
Speaker 1: you start from the center of the format, the formation,
Speaker 1: and go out from there when you kind of study it.
Speaker 1: So those guys are always going to be in our microscope.
Speaker 1: Second thing, if you had to guess, where would you
Speaker 1: say the delay of game penalty ranked in total number
Speaker 1: of penalties called last year on the popularity scale for penalties,
Speaker 1: Where the delay of game rank? Do you think you
Speaker 1: already know? Offensive holding number one? Probably? I'd say probably
Speaker 1: between I don't know how many palties they've got different, man,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say between the ranked top ten, but lower
Speaker 1: like five through ten somewhere in there. Actually ranked fourth
Speaker 1: last year, Okay, fourth in the league, behind only offensive holding,
Speaker 1: false starts DPI. Here it was tied with unnecessary roughness.
Speaker 1: Isn't that fascinating? Fourth most popular call is delay a game.
Speaker 1: That's just like, hey, man, get your crap in order.
Speaker 1: What are you do it? Right? It's an unforced error, really,
Speaker 1: quarter it is, and that's a quarterback because they used
Speaker 1: the entire play clock, and that's part of it. But
Speaker 1: it's a lack of efficiency as I see it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's just being lazy not getting it off. I mean,
Speaker 1: and think about this too, because think about all the
Speaker 1: ones that didn't get called because somebody decided I'm gonna
Speaker 1: burn a time out instead of taking a delay of game. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's right. I mean, it's such an avoidable penalty that
Speaker 1: multitude of ways. It's amazing at ranked fourth plus two
Speaker 1: delay of game, It's hard to blame it on anybody.
Speaker 1: It's like systemic. You didn't get the you didn't get
Speaker 1: the play and fast enough. You didn't call it fast enough,
Speaker 1: break the huddle fast enough. You got somebody made a
Speaker 1: mental mistake, got lined up wrong, you gotta wait for
Speaker 1: him to go over. Then you got the quarterback trying
Speaker 1: to maximize get a look at the defense is laid
Speaker 1: in the play clock as you can, and he didn't
Speaker 1: have time to do that. But he still has to
Speaker 1: get through and he has to and then you have
Speaker 1: to check the play, check out of the play because
Speaker 1: of what he does see. So it's there's a lot
Speaker 1: in a delay a game penalty and nice not unless
Speaker 1: it's just you know, I was surprised to see it
Speaker 1: ranked fourth. Like I guess, I don't mentally think of
Speaker 1: it being called all that often. You always see quarterbacks
Speaker 1: like Aaron Rodgers sitting there, it's zero and then they
Speaker 1: snap it. Why didn't you call it? And they don't
Speaker 1: They give him that half a beat? Right? Yeah? Yeah,
Speaker 1: So that's pretty That is amazing time. I was surprised
Speaker 1: it was ranked four. That's too. It was higher than
Speaker 1: I thought it was too. Third thing, Josh Allen was
Speaker 1: flagged for two penalties last year. It was for the
Speaker 1: same thing. Do you know what it was for? What
Speaker 1: would you think it would be? And that's not delay
Speaker 1: a game, It is not delay of game. Yeah, I'll
Speaker 1: give that one to you. Intentional grounding, good call, intentional grounding.
Speaker 1: It was good job. Steve once against Kansas City, once
Speaker 1: against Kansas City in the regular season, and once against
Speaker 1: Miami intentional grounding he got called for Natka. Our closing
Speaker 1: figures deal with penalties as well. In twenty twenty one,
Speaker 1: there were just four teams in the league that had
Speaker 1: more penalties on defense than offense, the Bucks, the Chargers,
Speaker 1: the Jets, and the Seahawks. And while the Jets, Seahawks,
Speaker 1: and Chargers had only just a handful more penalties on
Speaker 1: defense than offense, the Bucks had an eye popping twenty
Speaker 1: one more penalties on defense than offense. And to think
Speaker 1: that's not even counting the defensive holding and defensive pass
Speaker 1: interference that Calton Davis didn't get for bugging Stefon Diggs
Speaker 1: in week fourteen. They stabbed us in the back, dared
Speaker 1: to dream. That'll do it for this episode. Subscribe on
Speaker 1: whatever podcast platform user watch us on the Bills YouTube channel,
Speaker 1: and always remember when you need to know about the Bills,
Speaker 1: you need to check Bills by the Numbers For Steve Tasker.
Speaker 1: I'm Chris Brown. Thanks for checking in. We'll see you
Speaker 1: next week. Everybody,