Falcons CB Talks Mike Smith Penalty Prevention
February 3rd, 2016
“Hey, Lovie, back in the day, we averaged just four penalties a game in Atlanta.”
Last year, Tampa Bay flirted with the NFL record for most penalties in a season. In 2014, they were flagged a ton, too.
New Bucs defensive coordinator Mike Smith? As Falcons head coach, his teams set records for least amount of penalties.
That’s no coincidence.
Joe has written about this a few different ways. But at the Pro Bowl in Hawaii last week, Joe sought reaction from Smith’s former Falcons players on what Smith did to cut penalties.
Cornerback Desmond Trufant said Smith was emphatic about penalty prevention — constantly.
“Definitely, that’s something we talked about every day. You know, each week, he always put up the officials, exactly what they call and what they don’t call. It’s just so the players would be mindful of it. So that’s definitely big,” Trufant said.
Upon hearing this from Trufant, Joe reached out to a current Buccaneers defensive player. Joe asked whether Lovie Smith regularly revealed to players what specific referees like to call — and not call. The player told Joe, “No, not until very late in the 2015 season.”
Joe was later told by a source that Greg Schiano’s coaching staff did, in fact, routinely talk to players about tendencies of officials.
Hmmmm. This gets even more interesting when you consider that Mike Smith spent a chunk of last year performing consulting work with the head of NFL officiating. It’s probably safe to say Smith has more insight into penalties than ever. Also remember that Smith likes to shame players publicly with locker room lists of their penalties.
Joe’s going to take a wild guess that the Bucs will cut their penalties by at least 20 percent this season.
February 3rd, 2016 at 9:18 am
Only 20 percent? Pretty low bar there.
February 3rd, 2016 at 9:50 am
doing something about a problem, instead of just assuring people it will go away in time? how novel!
February 3rd, 2016 at 9:58 am
I would like to see 20% of that creepy photo 20% less often. RIP Yogi.
February 3rd, 2016 at 10:08 am
I agree too that the frequency of flags thrown against the Bucs will diminish in the 2016 season. A no brainer.
February 3rd, 2016 at 10:21 am
20% is pretty good considering Smith only has input on less than half of the time the players are on the field. Specials and Offense have to do their part too. As more and more information comes to light about the Lovie era it points out just how clueless and inept he really was. We are on the right track.
February 3rd, 2016 at 10:31 am
penalties in the NFL, in general, are out of control…every frickin game is polluted with flags…makes for some unwatchable games…dig out an old tape of say 70’s or 80’s and they let them play…like to see the stats on increased penalties…guaranteed you it’s grown considerably…
February 3rd, 2016 at 10:41 am
All I’m asking is cut down on stupid and lazy. I will accept penalties trying to make a play or preventing a play. They ones that drive me crazy are personal fouls, procedural or penalties because you get beat due to laziness.
February 3rd, 2016 at 10:47 am
Sorry joe but i would say that Mike smith being a penalty nazi is a coincidence. He wasn’t hired by koetter to cut down penalties. It’s certainly a positive that mike brings with him, but koetter would have hired mike regardless if his penalties were middle of the road or worse. Pure coincidence.
February 3rd, 2016 at 10:52 am
I tried googling to get the total number of penalties by year to see if the number was climbing but couldn’t find that stat yet.
However I did find a site that showed the five year period ending in 2013.
What was interesting is that some penalites increased significantly while others dropped. Some…Offensive holding remained pretty much the same over that period.
False start penalties dropped significantly. Coaches must have finally gotten through to their players and let’s face it false start penalties are not on the ref but the stupid player who jumps.
In the area of those that increased significantly I doubt you’ll be surprised.
In that five year period defensive pass interference, defensive holding and unnecessary roughness increased signifcantly. The interference and d holding was a result of the league trying to open up the passing game IMO. And remember this was from 2009-2013…probably increased more the past two years.
Unnessary roughness penalties…the bain of all fans…will probably continue to increase due to the concussion issues.
Face mask and roughing the passer stayed pretty much the same.
Taunting penalties increased substantially…league image and trying to keep anything else from starting on the field. The league hates fighting.
The best I could make of this was that penalties as a whole did not increase dramatically but that certain areas really increased.
Areas that constrict the pass game…d holding..d P.I. definitely increased.
And areas that protect players health…especially unnecessary roughness also increased substantially.
I’d like to see analysis of the league and the Bucs to see how many “judgment”” penalities are thrown.
It’s hard to eliminate some of those…but the offsides…false starts..illegal shifts…12 men on the field penalities are just unexcusable..along with taunting and other brain dead penalties. Dead ball penalities are the worst!!!
February 3rd, 2016 at 12:04 pm
It’s called coaching Joe. Players should know what’s expected of them before they take the field, not after a press conference.
No issues with the list on the wall either.
February 3rd, 2016 at 3:29 pm
Smith’s the DC now not the HC. The penalties were far more numerous on the offense. Maybe it will spill over into the offensive huddle as well.
February 3rd, 2016 at 10:47 pm
Truly is a creepy pic. I can’t even believe to think about what they are talking about. Painted a strange pic in my mind about Mike Smith, but after seeing his first real press conference as the Bucs DC I believe this guy is a good hire.