Fast Facts: Seahawks haven’t cleaned up the penalties in 2018

In 2017 the Seattle Seahawks missed the playoffs for the first time since 2011, finishing the season having led the entire NFL in penalties committed. It was truly a group effort in this regard, with all three units performing poorly when it came to drawing flags.

The defense led the way, with 64 accepted penalties, which ranked 32nd in the entire NFL, but the offense and special teams units were not far behind coming in 29th and T28th, respectively. The offense committed 60 penalties which were accepted for a total of 534 penalty yards, while the special teams units had 24 penalties accepted for 202 yards.

So far in 2018 the Seahawks defense has addressed many of their penalty issues, and the unit has improved from last in the league to a tie with four other teams with 26 penalties so far this year. Here’s how the league standings look for defensive penalties.

Interestingly, former Seahawk Michael Bennett has drastically cleaned up his penalties in 2018. He has just four penalties so far this season, with only two of those penalties being for jumping the snaps (One neutral zone infraction and one offside penalty). Bennett drew a whopping 15 flags in 2017, and while he has seen his snap count drop significantly in Philadelphia, he is seeing flags thrown his way far less often. After averaging a flag once every 62 snaps played in Seattle in 2017, he is averaging a flag once every 104 snaps so far in 2018.

The Seahawks special teams have done the best of the team’s three units in terms of cleaning up penalties so far in 2018. After tying for 28th most penalties in the league in 2017, Brian Schneider’s special teams unit currently boasts the third fewest penalties of any special teams unit in the NFL.

Aiding the Hawks special teams in penalty reduction this season may be the replacement of assistant special teams coach Heath Farwell, who left to join the Carolina Panthers in the same capacity during the offseason. Farwell joined the staff in 2016, after spending 2015 on injured reserve, and in the two seasons Farwell was an assistant the Seahawks special teams ranked T23rd and T28th in most penalties.

Filling the void as special teams assistant has been Larry Izzo, a three time Pro Bowl special teamer for the Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots. Izzo helped Tom Coughlin turn around the New York Giants special teams in 2011, and so far seems to have contributed greatly to the Seahawks special teams seeing a drastic reduction in penalties.

As for the team’s third unit, the offense, overall 2018 has not been that much different from 2017 when it comes to penalties. In fact, it is arguable that 2018 has been worse. In 2017 the Seattle offense finished 29th in the NFL with 60 accepted penalties, however in 2018 they are so far in 31st place with 43 accepted penalties, with only the Kansas City Chiefs having more offensive penalties accepted so far this season. Here is how all 32 teams stack up.

Astute observers will also note that the Chiefs have a bye this weekend, meaning they have already played eleven games to the ten that the Seahawks have played. Thus, while Kansas City is averaging 4.18 accepted offensive penalties per game this season, the Seahawks actually clock in worse at 4.3 accepted per game. That puts the offense dead last in the NFL when looking at it on a penalty per game basis.

Thus, while the defense and special teams are doing a far better job of avoiding yellow flags in 2018, the offense continues to drag the team down overall. Here is how things stack up for overall penalties so far this season for every team across the league.

Obviously, there are still six weeks left in the season for things to change, but if things continue the way they have thus far in 2018, the Hawks appear on pace to once again finish near the top of the list for most penalized teams in the NFL.