THE The Las Vegas Raiders There are undoubtedly concerns on both sides of the ball two games into the 2024 season, but shooting yourself in the foot with penalties isn’t one of them.
According to the Associated Press (via CBS Sports), the Raiders have committed just five penalties for 30 yards this season. Each of those penalties is the fewest in the NFL.
But this isn’t a new trend for the Raiders, who have been impressively disciplined in terms of penalties since head coach Antonio Pierce took over midway through last season.
In the 11 games Pierce has played as a head coach since 2023, Las Vegas has had 31 penalties accepted for 237 yards, both of which are the fewest in the league. The Raiders finished last season with the fewest penalties in the NFL with 75, and 49 of those came while Josh McDaniels was still the head coach.
In McDaniels’ only full season as Raiders head coach in 2022, Las Vegas had the third-most penalties in the NFL, according to NFLPenalties.com.
“I think you have to be selfless,” Pierce said when asked about the impressive statistics, according to Levi Damien from Raiders Wire“I’ll give credit to the coaches and the players. We do a lot of individual training, we spent 20 minutes at the beginning of practice on individuals, fundamentals and technique, and we just started getting involved.
“For me, the biggest thing is penalties before and after the snap. That’s what you want to avoid,” he added. “Sometimes in football, things happen, you get a little touchy, you catch a little bit, you hold on, that’s the nature of the beast. But I think it’s really down to our guys winning games. And being the least penalized team is one of those ways.”
The Raiders will look to stay disciplined when they host the Carolina Panthers at Allegiant Stadium in Week 3.
