Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll has noticed a trend in flags when his team plays, one that seems to favor their opponents.
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It’s pretty rare that a team can go one for five in the red zone, amass 105 yards in 14 penalties and still win by double digits against an over .500 opponent on the road. That is indeed what happened on Thanksgiving when the Seahawks beat division rivals, the San Francisco 49ers in Levi Stadium by a score of 16-3.
In contrast to the Seahawks, the 49ers only had 20 yards assessed in three penalties. A potential personal foul penalty was erased when the referees tagged an unnamed Seahawks player for an offsetting personal foul penalty. In the Seahawks last five games, they have been called for 40 penalties totalling 344 yards. In comparison, the opponents had a total of 155 yards in 18 penalties.
Complaining about penalties rarely goes over well in the NFL, but Pete Carroll, as well as other Seahawks coaches and players, think they’re seeing an unfair trend in penalties being assessed to the defending Super Bowl champions. Carroll had the following to say after the game via ESPN.
"“The pattern between our penalties and their penalties again,” Carroll said. “You’ve got to be first in something, I guess, so that’s what it is. The only thing is I wished they called some penalties on the other guys.”"
According to Carroll, it’s less about penalties being called on his team, but more about penalties not being called on their opponents. The NFL did admit that pass interference should have been called in the game against the Kansas City Chiefs where a Chiefs defensive back pushed Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin. The correct call in that case could have changed the game.
Working against the Seahawks, however, is the fact that they have been one of the most penalized teams in the past two seasons due to their aggressive play. It could simply be the referees paying closer attention to their play versus their opponents.
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