Remember the days when 10 penalties for 100 yards were the norm for the Raiders? It was not unusual for the Raiders to lead the league in penalty yards by a wide margin.
But not this year. Not only have the Raiders done a better job of limiting penalties, but they are actually No. 1 in the league with the fewest penalties this season. According to Team Rankings, they are averaging just 4.6 penalties per game.
In a recent article by Paul Gutierrez of ESPN, he wrote about the lack of penalties for the Raiders this season and why that’s been such a big deal:
The Raiders, the erstwhile and undisciplined “bad boys” of the NFL who have led the league in penalties 13 times, hold the single-season record (163 penalties in 2011) and single-game record (23 penalties in a 2016 overtime win at Tampa Bay) and were flagged 113 times last season, are suddenly the league’s choir boys? Indeed. Their 64 penalties are three fewer than the Vikings and, for the first time since Dec. 4, 2005, the Raiders had a penalty-free game, in a Week 12 loss to the Chiefs.
Antonio Pierce has preached about the attention to detail and that seems to be paying off. They still need to cut back on the turnovers, but this is a much more disciplined team than in years past. And it’s a big reason why the Raiders have improved so much on the defensive side of the ball.
