5: Penalties back in order
Compared to the regular season, the average number of penalties was cut in half over the four first-round games as compared to the regular season. During the 17-week schedule, NFL games averaged 14 penalties a game. The first round of the playoffs saw the average penalties called drop to 7.7 per game in what appeared to be a let-them-play attitude.
The league warned teams that postseason games would be called just like regular-season games, indicating that the divisional games likely would go right back to 14 penalties per contest.
A few coaches told me they were aware of the relaxed attitude toward throwing the flag in wild-card games, but were reluctant to tell their players it was a postseason trend. Good idea, because two divisional games hit 14 penalties right on the head and the four games averaged 12.2 penalties per game.
No game was more strange than the AFC game at Denver, with five neutral-zone infractions by five different Chargers. Teams averaged 10 of those calls over a 16-game regular-season schedule, and the Chargers were only called for it 10 times all season. Rest assured that the Patriots will look very closely at those five calls to see if Peyton Manning's hard count or sudden movements were drawing the players over the line of scrimmage. The Patriots were only called for defensive off-sides three times during the regular season.
