Jacksonville Jaguars Looking to Reduce Penalties

The Jacksonville Jaguars are looking for consistent play, finding ways to reduce penalties will only help the team.

The Jags currently rank 27 in the league with an average of 7.8 penalties per game. This is actually an improvement from last season when the team ranked 31. However there is still room to grow in this category.

These penalties have impacted the team in several ways. On offense the casual holding or false start penalty has begun to impact drives. The Jags offense looks to get ahead of the chains with strong rushes on first and second down. Add in the odd penalty and this places the Jags in the predictable situation of passing the football. As a result an inability to score or take advantage of field position continues to limit the offense.

Reducing offensive penalties will help keep the Jags ahead in down in distance. Stopping these mistakes untimely gives the offense more chances to outscore the opponent.

On defense penalties are making an impact as well. Remember that unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Paul Posluszny that placed the New York Jets in field goal range? This even put the Jets in a position to win the game. Finding ways to reduce penalties such as offsides or defensive holding will only make it harder on opponents to gain free yardage.

The good news is the Jags are taking steps in the right direction. After averaging ten penalties for the first three games the last two the Jags have taken that number down to six against the Jets and four against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Continuing to limit this number against the Los Angles Rams will only help increase the Jags chances of a win.

Penalties unfortunately have made an impact on the season thus far. However the Jags are improving. As the season continues finding a way to reduce penalties will only help the Jags on their path toward victory.