After watching the Dallas Cowboys versus Las Vegas Raiders game this Thanksgiving, which resulted in the Raiders narrowly defeating the Cowboys in a game plagued by players on both teams committing penalty after penalty (a few of which later deemed fineable penalties by the National Football League), we wanted to examine if we could determine any patterns in fineable penalties to help NFL teams and to intrigue NFL aficionados. After finding our data sources and cleaning said data, we examined several different factors—including a player's age and position, potential trends amongst teams by their conference and division, and prospective patterns amongst repeated offenders by fines and days suspended. To this end, we attempted to answer three questions through our data inspection: (1) Does a player's age and/or position impact their likelihood to commit penalties?, (2) Do certain conferences/divisions tend to commit more penalties than others?, and (3) Does the NFL do a good job upholding their policy of dissuading "repeated offenders?". Upon finding answers to these questions in our data, we created 7 visualizations that expose trends in NFL's penalties.
This histogram shows the frequency of the players' respective age when fined. As seen in this right-skewed histogram, younger players tend to commit more penalties resulting in fines than older players. The age range that tends to commit the most fineable penalties is 23.5-23.9.
This bar chart shows the total penalties resulting in fines committed by each position, in addition to highlighting the number of fineable offenses each player of each position has committed. As seen in the bar chart, players who play safety tend to commit the most penalties, whereas punters and kickers commit the least penalties. Moreover, this chart reveals that defensive players commit several more penalties than offensive players. On the defensive side of the ball, safeties tend to commit the most penalties, while linebackers commit the fewest; and, on the offensive side of the ball, wide receivers tend to commit the most penalties, whereas offensive linemen, excluding guards, (players who play center, left tackle, and right tackle) commit the least penalties.
This pie chart shows the proportion of total penalties called against NFL teams from 2000-2016 sorted by division. As seen in the pie chart, the NFC North commits the most penalties, while the AFC West commits the least penalties. In the NFC, the North division commits the most penalties, followed by the East, West, and then South. On the other hand, in the AFC, the North division also commits the most penalties, followed by a tie between the East and South and then the West. Moreover, in every division excluding the South, the NFC teams tend to commit more penalties than their AFC counterparts.
This box plot shows the average total fines resulting from penalties in the NFL from 2000-2016 by division. As seen in the box plot, on average, the NFC North teams are fined the least, with an average of $1.36 million; whereas, NFC South teams are fined the most, with an average of $4.09 million. In the NFC, the South division teams are fined the most on average, followed by the West, East, and North divisions. Moreover in this conference, there is the largest variance amongst teams of the East division. On the other hand, in the AFC, the North division teams are fined the most on average, followed by the South, East, and West divisions. Moreover in this conference, there is the largest variance amongst teams of the West division.
This sunburst plot shows the amount of penalties resulting in suspensions by teams and divisions. As seen in the plot, players of the Carolina Panthers have committed the most penalties resulting in suspensions, whereas players of the Buffalo Bills have committed the least penalties resulting in suspensions. Moreover, in terms of divisions, in the NFC, players of the South division have committed the most penalties resulting in suspensions, followed by the East, North, and then West; whereas, in the AFC, players of the North division have committed the most penalties resulting in suspensions, followed by the South, East, and West. Furthermore, in terms of conferences, players of NFC teams have committed more penalties than their AFC counterparts.
This scatterplot shows the relationship between number of penalties resulting in fines and the fined amount of each player. Surprisingly, as the number of fines increases, the fined amount tends to decrease.
This scatterplot shows the relationship between the number of penalties resulting in fines and the days suspended of each player. Surprisingly, as the number of fines increases, the days of suspension tend to decrease.
