But there is no bias or conspiracy right? SMH. Packers are first in NFL, Lions last in penalty beneficiary yards https://lionswire.usatoday.com/2019/10/15/packers-are-first-in-nfl-lions-last-in-penalty-beneficiary-yards/ If it seems like the Green Bay Packers are always on the right end of officiating controversies and get all the calls, well, the statistics back up that perception. No NFL team benefits more than Green Bay from penalties for and against.
The Packers have been awarded 501 yards from opposing penalties in the first six weeks of the 2019 season. That’s the most in the league by 45 yards. Green Bay is the only team to average netting more than 10 yards per opposing penalty; the Packers’ opponents have been guilty of 49 accepted infractions.
At the other end of the hose, err, spectrum sits the Detroit Lions. The Lions are 32nd of 32 in penalty beneficiary yards at just 234. While Detroit has played just five games and most teams are at six, the Lions average beneficiary yards per game (46.8) ranks dead last and the 234 total yards are 45 fewer than the Bills have benefitted from in their five games.
To show how radical the Packers benefit, the Indianapolis Colts have the best penalty beneficiary plus/minus figure at plus-229 (amount of penalty yards charged to them vs. amount charged to opponents). But they have committed 19 fewer penalties than their foes through six games to make that number so lopsided. The Packers plus-166 differential comes on just six more penalties against the opponents than Green Bay commits itself. That’s nearly 28 yards!
The figures also don’t count the blatant missed infractions like the obvious pass interference call that should have been awarded on Matthew Stafford’s throw to Marvin Jones late in the Monday night loss.
*All penalty stats and yardage figures here are from https://www.nflpenalties.com/index.php?view=total&year=2019
