Cleveland Browns' Penalty Issues Are Setting Whole Team Back

The Cleveland Browns are a top-three team in the NFL this season in one very inauspicious category—penalties.

Through seven games, the Browns have the third-most penalties in the league, with 60. These 60 penalties have cost the team 492 yards so far this year. Even more concerning is that 26 of these penalties have been of the pre-snap variety. And of the 60, 44 have been called on the Browns when the team is on the road. The Browns have incurred no fewer than nine penalties in any of their road games this season.

Obviously, these penalties add up and have a net negative effect on the Browns. It's not just the yardage lost, but where and when it's lost that has resulted in numerous stalled drives on offense, extended drives for opponents when the Browns are on defense and a loss of good field position when called against the special teams units.

Total Penalties	60
Penalty Yards	492
Offense	30
Defense	15
Special Teams	15
Pre-Snap	26
Home	16
Away	44

The offensive penalties, in particular, are the biggest problem. Of the team's 60 penalties, 30 have been against the offense, compared to 15 on defense and 15 on special teams. Most of these are false starts and other pre-snap penalties, while others are holds. In just one drive against the St. Louis Rams in Week 7, the Browns offensive line had four penalties called against them, costing the team 45 yards.

In fact, 26 of the Browns' total penalties have been either false starts or offensive holds—13 apiece. Nineteen penalties have come down against the offensive line itself, with guard Joel Bitonio the biggest culprit. He has seven penalties so far this year—three holds, three false starts and one clipping call. He alone has cost his team 60 yards, or just over 8.5 yards per game.

Meanwhile, offensive tackles Mitchell Schwartz and Joe Thomas each have four penalties apiece, and center Alex Mack three. It's a sign of a lack of discipline, to be sure, and perhaps also a side effect of the Browns and former offensive line coach Andy Moeller parting ways. But the problem is an insidious one, with many root causes and few clear solutions other than this line handling its business better.

Jason Miller/Getty Images

Pre-snap penalties on offense, particularly on the offensive line, aren't uncommon when a team plays on the road. There's crowd noise to contend with, for one. But it wasn't a problem in 2014, with the exact same line on the field (aside from when Mack suffered a season-ending leg injury). Last year, the Browns offense had only 47 penalties over the entire season.

While the line, again, was the biggest source of these penalties, the problem was not nearly as big as it is presently. And with the Browns needing to lean on their offense even more than they did a year ago, any loss of yardage—especially losses that don't even come during a play being run—put the Browns in hole after ever-deeper hole. 

When 3rd-and-1 becomes 3rd-and-6, the play-calling and game plan changes significantly. When a hold or false start takes the Browns out of field-goal range, that takes three potential points off the board. 

Opponent	Tot. Penalties	Off. Penalties	Def. Penalties	ST Penalties
@ NYJ	12	7	1	4
vs. TEN	4	2	1	1
vs. OAK	6	3	1	2
@ SD	12	4	6	2
@ BAL	9	3	3	3
vs. DEN	6	3	1	2
@ StL	11	8	2	1

On defense, the Browns have given up 121 yards to penalties. Four were for defensive holding, giving opponents automatic first downs. Luckily, the Browns don't have many defensive pass interference penalties, spot-fouls that often result in goal-to-go situations for the benefiting offense.

Meanwhile, the team's 15 special teams penalties have cost the Browns 142 yards of vital field position advantage, putting the penalty-prone offense in bad situations before they even take the field. It's not hard to see how all of these mistakes can add up.

The Browns, with a 2-5 record, are struggling as it is, and these penalties only serve to make situations worse for them than they need to be. This team, and the offensive line in particular, must play cleaner, more disciplined football, especially in the unfriendly confines of an opponent's home field. 

Penalties may not be directly resulting in losses for the Browns, but they certainly do not advance their chances for winning. The longer this keeps up, the greater Cleveland's struggles will get, and that's not what this team needs when trying to turn its season around.