Colts Are NFL's Least Penalized Team

We here at Stampede Blue have spent much of the last 24 hours praising Chuck Pagano for various things regarding Sunday's dominating victory over the 49ers.  But there's something else to give him credit for that hasn't been talked about much: very quietly but impressively, the Indianapolis Colts are by far the league's least penalized team.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>A sign of good coaching: The Colts have 6 penalties through 3 games.. 5 fewer than any other team.The Jets had 20 yesterday alone</p>&mdash; trey wingo (@wingoz) <a href="https://twitter.com/wingoz/statuses/382230457644883968">September 23, 2013</a></blockquote>

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While the number of penalties called on the Colts is now actaully at 7 after being called for one yesterday, they still lead the league and have been called for just 7 penalties in 3 games (an average of 2.3 penalties per game).  That's yet another thing to give Chuck Pagano credit for.  I mentioned after yesterday's win how the team was very disciplined and gave a lot of the credit for that to Pagano.  One of the key parts of measurable discipline (perhaps the key measurable aspect) is penalties.  So far, so good for Pagano's Colts.

His team has been whistled for just 7 penalties for 54 yards while the Colts opponents have been called for twice as many penalties, 14, for nearly twice as many yards 99 - and that's including a fluke, badly officiated game in which the Miami Dolphins were stunningly not whistled for any flags.  But the Colts can't control that.  What they can control, however, is how often they commit penalties, and so far it hasn't been often.

Another hat tip to Chuck Pagano - his team is the least penalized in the league.

LIST:

Here's a list of every penalty the Colts have been called for this year:

• Low block, Vontae Davis, 11 yard penalty, 1st Quarter vs. Oakland [penalty occurred on Greg Toler's return of a pick]
• Facemask, Anthony Castonzo, 15 yards, 3rd Quarter vs. Oakland
• Illegal Use of Hands, Erik Walden, 5 yards, 3rd Quarter vs. Oakland
• Illegal Touch Kick, Joe Lefeged, 0 yards, 2nd Quarter vs. Miami [penalty occurred after Lefeged was the first one to touch the punt after he went out of bounds.  As a result, the touchback counted.]
• Illegal Shift, Reggie Wayne, 5 yards, 3rd Quarter vs. Miami [negated touchdown]
• Defensive Holding, Greg Toler, Declined, 3rd Quarter vs. Miami [the play was a 34 yards completion to Mike Wallace]
• Illegal Use of Hands, Mike McGlynn, 10 yards, 2nd Quarter vs. San Francisco