The officials threw 263 flags in week 1 and 237 of them stood: 14.8 accepted flags a game. Two of those flags were worth more than the other 235 put together, and both were the same call.
The two that decided things
A 46-yard defensive pass interference on Houston in the second quarter against Buffalo, 4:12 on the clock, moved the game 13.0 points of win probability toward the Bills on one throw. A 37-yard pass interference on Atlanta in the second quarter at Pittsburgh, 14:24, moved that game 12.3 points toward the Steelers. Buffalo won by five. Pittsburgh won by seven.
The week’s longest flag was actually a 48-yard pass interference on Arizona in the third quarter at the Chargers, and a 38-yarder on the Giants against Dallas was third; the Atlanta call was fourth. Pass interference was thrown 17 times in week 1, seventh on the list by count, and it produced 377 yards, more than any call except offensive holding, which needed 46 flags to get to 457. That is the whole argument for pricing a flag by where it lands instead of counting it. Seventeen calls, 22 yards each, and the two biggest swung games that finished within a score.
The mix
False start led the week with 47, offensive holding was one behind at 46, and together they were 39 percent of every accepted flag. Delay of game was third at 22. Then the pass interference calls, then defensive holding (13), defensive offside (11), unnecessary roughness on the defense (9), and neutral zone infraction (8). Roughing the passer was called five times all week.
Reading that list: two of the top three flags are pre-snap, on the offense, and cost five yards. The league’s flag count is mostly noise about cadence. The expensive flags are the ones in the back half of the list.
Where the flags went, all 32 teams
Net yards is yards drawn (flags on the opponent) minus yards on the team. It is the plainest version of the question every fan asks Monday.
| Team | Week 1 | Flags on them | Yards | Flags drawn | Yards | Net yards | Referee |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MIN | vs GB | 3 | 15 | 12 | 98 | +83 | Shawn Hochuli |
| IND | vs BAL | 4 | 29 | 10 | 86 | +57 | Scott Novak |
| JAX | vs CLE | 4 | 25 | 11 | 75 | +50 | Craig Wrolstad |
| NE | at SEA | 7 | 50 | 10 | 98 | +48 | Adrian Hill |
| LAC | vs ARI | 7 | 64 | 8 | 111 | +47 | Ron Torbert |
| PIT | vs ATL | 7 | 52 | 9 | 96 | +44 | Brad Rogers |
| LV | vs MIA | 6 | 29 | 8 | 61 | +32 | Clete Blakeman |
| CHI | at CAR | 12 | 57 | 11 | 84 | +27 | Brad Allen |
| DAL | at NYG | 9 | 90 | 10 | 114 | +24 | Carl Cheffers |
| TEN | vs NYJ | 4 | 25 | 8 | 48 | +23 | Land Clark |
| SF | at LAR | 2 | 21 | 4 | 43 | +22 | Alex Kemp |
| BUF | at HOU | 10 | 85 | 7 | 106 | +21 | Alex Moore |
| NO | at DET | 6 | 53 | 8 | 61 | +8 | Alan Eck |
| TB | at CIN | 8 | 39 | 7 | 47 | +8 | John Hussey |
| DEN | at KC | 7 | 52 | 7 | 60 | +8 | Clay Martin |
| PHI | vs WAS | 5 | 40 | 6 | 45 | +5 | Shawn Smith |
| WAS | at PHI | 6 | 45 | 5 | 40 | -5 | Shawn Smith |
| DET | vs NO | 8 | 61 | 6 | 53 | -8 | Alan Eck |
| CIN | vs TB | 7 | 47 | 8 | 39 | -8 | John Hussey |
| KC | vs DEN | 7 | 60 | 7 | 52 | -8 | Clay Martin |
| HOU | vs BUF | 7 | 106 | 10 | 85 | -21 | Alex Moore |
| LAR | vs SF | 4 | 43 | 2 | 21 | -22 | Alex Kemp |
| NYJ | at TEN | 8 | 48 | 4 | 25 | -23 | Land Clark |
| NYG | vs DAL | 10 | 114 | 9 | 90 | -24 | Carl Cheffers |
| CAR | vs CHI | 11 | 84 | 12 | 57 | -27 | Brad Allen |
| MIA | at LV | 8 | 61 | 6 | 29 | -32 | Clete Blakeman |
| ATL | at PIT | 9 | 96 | 7 | 52 | -44 | Brad Rogers |
| ARI | at LAC | 8 | 111 | 7 | 64 | -47 | Ron Torbert |
| SEA | vs NE | 10 | 98 | 7 | 50 | -48 | Adrian Hill |
| CLE | at JAX | 11 | 75 | 4 | 25 | -50 | Craig Wrolstad |
| BAL | at IND | 10 | 86 | 4 | 29 | -57 | Scott Novak |
| GB | at MIN | 12 | 98 | 3 | 15 | -83 | Shawn Hochuli |
Three things in the table. Green Bay was flagged twelve times for 98 yards in Minnesota while the Vikings were flagged three times for 15, the most lopsided ledger of the week by a wide margin, and Green Bay lost by 17. The ledger is not the scoreboard, though: Baltimore gave away 57 net yards in Indianapolis and won by 18, Seattle gave away 48 against New England and won by three, and only Cleveland, 50 net yards against it in Jacksonville, lost with the flags. And the two teams flagged least, San Francisco (twice) and Minnesota (three times), won by 20 and 17, which proves nothing on its own and will be worth checking again in December.
The Giants and the Cardinals sit at the top of the yards column, 114 and 111 against them, and both did it in games they were also drawing flags in; New York’s 114 came with 90 drawn from Dallas, a 19-flag game that was the second-busiest of the week.
The crews
Brad Allen’s crew threw 23 accepted flags in Chicago at Carolina and had none declined, the most of any game by four. Carl Cheffers’s crew was next at 19. At the other end, Alex Kemp’s crew threw six all night in San Francisco at the Rams, and Shawn Smith’s crew eleven in Washington at Philadelphia. The spread from six to 23 is the ordinary range of an NFL Sunday, and it is why the crew belongs in the pre-game read: Allen has the Giants at the Rams on Monday, and both of those offenses should expect a long night of laundry.
One week is one week. The season ledger by crew starts now and it is the argument this site will be having every Wednesday by November.
In the app
Every one of these games has a Recap tab in the ChallengeFlag app: the plays that decided it, the penalty ledger with each flag priced in win probability, and how the pre-game call held up. Tap any final on the schedule. ChallengeFlag: NFL Companion is free on iPhone and Android. Get the app