Atlanta Falcons a Surprise Leader in NFL Stat

Former general manager Terry Fontenot oversaw the Atlanta Falcons for the last five seasons. Five seasons in which the team was unable to post a winning record or make the playoffs.

This isn't to kick a man when he's down; it's just a good reference point for PFF's latest data on the most and least penalized teams over the last five years.

The Falcons have had an innate ability to make mistakes when they hurt the most. In 2023, Quarterback Desmond Ridder had 12 interceptions and fumbled 12 times in 15 games. It seemed that every single one of them came either in the red zone of the Falcons or their opponents.

Eli Wilkinson was scheduled to be a backup guard last year, but after injuries to Kaleb McGary and Storm Norton, he was forced to man the right tackle position. He was serviceable when he wasn't getting flagged for false starts. His nine false starts were tied for the most in the NFL and were the vast majority of his 12 total penalties.

Despite the fact that every penalty on the Falcons seemed to have outsized implications as drive killers or extenders, Atlanta was one of the least penalized teams in the NFL the last five seasons.

With 520 penalties, they were the runner-up to the Cincinnati Bengals as the least penalized team in the league. The Bengals had 516. The third-place Colts had 533. The Rams were fourth with 535, and there was a decent-sized gap to the New England Patriots with 569 in fifth.

The Cowboys led, or trailed, depending on your perspective, the NFL with 756, 79 more than the Tennessee Titans, who were second. There was only a 10-penalty gap between the Titans and No. 5 Chiefs (667), with the Texans and Bills sandwiched between them.

The Falcons led the NFL in lowest defensive penalty rate at 3.0%, followed by the Bengals (3.1%), Patriots (3.2%), Patriots (3.2%), Vikings (3.2%), and Rams (3.3%).

PFF rightly pointed out that having fewer penalties is an admirable goal, but it certainly isn't a tell-tale when it comes to winning percentage.

"The Falcons and Colts rank 20th or worse in winning percentage over the last five seasons, failing to make the playoffs at all in that span," Bradley Locker wrote on PFF. "However, the Rams and Bengals have been far more fruitful overall, and each also ranked in the top three for fewest penalties last season."

Nothing is more frustrating to fans than seeing an opponent's drive extended because of a defensive penalty on third or fourth down. But maybe we should rethink that metric.

The top 5 teams with the fewest penalties on third and fourth down are the Falcons with 178, followed by the Colts, Jaguars, Cardinals, and Rams, who all sit between 195 and 200.

Meanwhile, the teams with the most penalties on third and fourth down are the Cowboys, Eagles, Chiefs, Bills, and Giants. The Cowboys had 272, and the Giants rounded out the top five with 253.

Of the least penalized teams on defense, only the Rams finished above 20th when it comes to winning percentage. However, of the most penalized teams, only the Giants aren't in the top seven.

If there's a takeaway from the penalty data, it may be that risk is rewarded in the NFL. An aggressive team is going to generate more penalties. They'll also make more big plays on offense and defense, and on the whole, win more games.

Over the last five seasons, no one would classify the Falcons as aggressive on the whole. Defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich changed the mentality on defense last year and was rewarded with a team-record 57 sacks. Dismissed offensive coordinator Zac Robinson was the opposite, turning the Falcons into a dink-and-dunk, no-risk, no-reward offense.

NFL coaches have long said they don't mind physical penalties, but there's no excuse for pre-snap penalties (false starts, offside, illegal formations, delay of game, etc...).

The data backs them up on this long-held notion.