NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Mike Vrabel is always aware of trends and developments and talking to his team about what’s going on.
A one-week sample size doesn’t ensure that holding is going to draw fewer flag this year, but out of a week’s worth of games the downturn was certainly dramatic.
NFL holding penalties fell to their lowest Week 1 total in 20+ years. Holding calls were down 78% from 2019 and 58% from the average of the last 5 season-opening weekends.
— Grant Paulsen (@granthpaulsen) September 15, 2020
Very smart of @NFL to cut down on those calls. Games look sloppier with more flags. Hope they keep it up.
Mike Vrabel said he thinks it’s more an anomaly at this point.
“We’ll see how it’s called, maybe everybody is just using a lot of good technique,” he said. “We just kind of have to focus on what they are calling and what they’ve kind of told us they are looking for in the past and kind of go from there.”
(Photo: George Walker, Tennessean via pool.)