Home Analysis: Turnovers, penalties way down in NFL Week 1
Sports News

Analysis: Turnovers, penalties way down in NFL Week 1

Contributors
football
(© vectorfusionart – stock.adobe.com)

Turnovers: way down. Penalties: way down. It’s going to be hard for the NFL to sell us on the need for a preseason after Week 1.

No preseason games, and yet the first weekend of action was as clean as a whistle.

Not that you heard that many whistles.

There were 199 total flags thrown in Week 1 games, according to ESPN Stats & Information, the second-lowest total in Week 1 since 2001.

One number that stands out: just 18 flags for offensive holding across the 16 games, a paltry 1.1 per game, for those keeping score.

For comparison, the first two weeks of the 2019 season saw 5.7 holding calls per game.

Another comparison point: there were 23 total turnovers committed in the 16 Week 1 games, for an average of 1.4 per game.

NFL games averaged 2.8 turnovers per game in 2019.

Great news for those who hate preseason games.

Story by Chris Graham

Contributors

Contributors

Have a guest column, letter to the editor, story idea or a news tip? Email editor Chris Graham at [email protected]. Subscribe to AFP podcasts on Apple PodcastsSpotifyPandora and YouTube.