On my recent appearance on Beating the Book, we were discussing Aaron Rodgers and why he wasn’t playing as well. Host Gill Alexander thew out the idea that Rodgers’ performance might not seem as bad if we included drawn pass interference penalties.
I dug into the 2016 play by play data through week 10 to find out. Rodgers has drawn 7 pass interference penalties, just above the team average of 6.
Drawing pass interference penalties doesn’t seem like a skill, as Drew Brees has 3 while Blake Bortles and Ryan Fitzpatrick have 12 and 11 respectively.
Rodgers does seem to draw pass interference penalties deep down the field. Here are the yardage gains on these penalties: 44, 18, 30, 40, 13, 28, 66. If you include these plays, it would help a pass offense that has averaged 5.8 yards per attempt, 26th in the NFL.
Here are the full results for defensive pass interference penalties for all teams during the first 10 weeks of the 2016 season.
- Arizona, 7.
- Atlanta, 6.
- Baltimore, 6.
- Buffalo, 4.
- Carolina, 6.
- Chicago, 4.
- Cincinnati, 9.
- Cleveland, 6.
- Dallas, 2.
- Denver, 9.
- Detroit, 9.
- Green Bay, 7.
- Houston, 6.
- Indianapolis, 5.
- Jacksonville, 12.
- Kansas City, 1.
- Los Angeles, 5.
- Miami, 2.
- Minnesota, 4.
- New England, 5.
- New Orleans, 3.
- New York Giants, 7.
- New York Jets, 11.
- Oakland, 12.
- Philadelphia, 3.
- Pittsburgh, 5.
- San Diego, 8.
- San Francisco, 3.
- Seattle, 6.
- Tampa Bay, 7.
- Tennessee, 9.
- Washington, 6.
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