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Sloppy Eagles Finished the Season with Some of the Worst Penalty Numbers in 25 Years
Published:
As we deliver the postmortem on this Eagles season, we peruse the data and come to the realization that the penalty situation was hideous.
According to the Sportradar data, the Birds had the NFL’s worst penalty differential, finishing -26 in the regular season for a total of -276 yards:
They committed 117 of their own penalties while opponents committed just 91, so not only did the Birds get flagged a ton, but the teams they played were apparently the most disciplined teams out there.
All of the Birds’ penalties amounted to 1,073 yards lost. The offense lost 518 yards while the defense lost 555 and special teams separately was flagged for 166. The offense committed 57 total penalties, the defense committed 40, and the ST unit committed 20. Those numbers include the four pass interference calls the backups were whistled for in the season finale against Washington, when guys like Jakorian Bennett and Kelee Ringo were getting toasted left and right by Terry McLaurin and Treylon Burks.
For what it’s worth, the pattern continued in the playoffs, with the Birds finishing -6 against the Niners, amounting to a -33 yardage differential. They were sloppy from start to finish.
The Football Database says the Eagles committed:
- 8 delays of game
- 24 false starts
- 17 offensive holding
- 8 defensive holding
- 18 DPI
- 4 roughing the passer
- 5 unnecessary roughness
Not surprisingly, the Cowboys and 49ers led the league in unnecessary roughness flags.
If you look at the Radar data going back 25 seasons, to the year 2000, only the 2010 Eagles had a worse penalty and yardage differential than the 2025 team. That was an Andy Reid squad that went 10-6 with Michael Vick and Kevin Kolb and had a -42 penalty differential and -377 yardage differential.
The 2024 Eagles, who won it all, had a -19 differential and -99 yardage differential, but they only committed 103 penalties themselves, meaning the skew was more about the opponent never getting flagged.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com