The Raiders made big strides in 2015 under first-year head coach Jack Del Rio and are expected to compete for a playoff spot in 2016.
But one thing that might help their cause would be to cut down on penalties.
Though Oakland improved from 3-13 in 2014 to 7-9 in 2015, the Raiders ranked as the third-most penalized team in the NFL. At times, it was a vexing problem even in victories.
After a win over the Chargers in October, Del Rio cited his team’s 14 penalties for 136 yards. He said the Raiders needed to “clean up” their execution and play.
“There’s an opportunity to learn, certainly, from what we saw yesterday,” Del Rio told reporters. “I think we can be better there.”
As Tim Yotter of Scout.com noted this week, the Raiders had 139 penalties in 2015 for 1,102 yards, behind only the Buffalo Bills (143/1,249 yards) and Tampa Bay Bucs (143/1,195).
Like the Bills and Bucs, the Raiders missed the playoffs in 2015.
Sports
Certainly, it seems there is an opportunity to improve with better execution, considering the most frequent penalty committed by the Raiders was for false starts (30). Austin Howard, Donald Penn and J’Marcus Webb were flagged most often. Webb is gone now, and Howard will compete with Menelik Watson for the job at right tackle.
The team’s most penalized player was cornerback D.J. Hayden, with 13, and he will be in a battle to keep his roster spot.
Kelechi Osemele, who will take over for Webb at right guard, had just five accepted penalties in 2015 with the Ravens, with only two false starts. Sean Smith, who will start at one cornerback spot after coming from the Chiefs, had just two accepted penalties in 2015.
