The Raiders were flagged for 163 penalties and penalized a total of 1,358 yards last season, far and away the most of any team in the league. New head coach Dennis Allen says that has to change.
Allen said on ESPN’s NFL 32 on Thursday that he views cutting down on penalties as a high priority, and as the key to getting the Raiders back to the playoffs.
“Our philosophy is that we want to be a tough, smart, disciplined football team.,” he said. “Everybody talks about the penalties here and that’s all part of discipline. We’re going to preach that message day in and day out. If we can uphold that and become a disciplined football team we’re going to have a chance to have success.”
The Raiders have been among the NFL’s most penalized teams so consistently and for so long that it’s a little hard to imagine anything else from the Silver and Black. But Allen was brought in to change things, and that’s what he says he’s going to do.