The following is an excerpt from Warren Sharp's 2025 Football Preview book. In addition to Warren's deep, detailed write-up on all 32 NFL teams, each chapter features page after page of full-color charts, stats, and heatmaps as well as penalty analysis from Joe Gibbs. Click here for a full FREE chapter from the 2025 Football Preview.
Penalties are an under-discussed aspect of NFL success and failure. Average teams can become playoff contenders with good discipline, and good teams can become great simply by winning the penalty battle.
Let's look at how the New England Patriots performed from a penalty perspective in 2024 and where they can improve in 2025.
How Did Penalties Impact the New England Patriots?
The Good
- The Patriots defense was a below average penalized unit, ranking 20th in defensive penalties per game.
- Second half penalties accounted for 42% of the team's penalties, below the NFL average of 53% penalties committed in the second half of games.
The Bad
- The Patriots offense accounted for 59% of the team's overall penalties, far too high a percentage for an offensively challenged team with a rookie quarterback.
- The Patriots were a top 10 penalized team for offensive holding. The combination of offensive holding and false starts accounted for 43% of the team's penalties versus the NFL average of 38.7% in this category.
- The offense ranked 15th in per-game average at generating beneficial automatic first downs via penalty. However, on all important third downs, they ranked a dismal 25th in beneficial penalties.
- Third down penalties accounted for 30% of Patriots infractions, significantly higher than the NFL average of 21.5%.
Grade: C
New England gets a major upgrade at head coach, and that has the potential to propel this franchise back to relevance after back to back 4 win seasons.
Mike Vrabel built his reputation by having his Tennessee Titans outperform their overall talent level, with a major emphasis on dominant offensive and defensive lines.
The Patriots have fortified their offensive line and surrounded Drake Maye with additional talent at the skill positions.
A team's fortunes can change quickly in the NFL, andVrabel’s arrival, combined with a last place schedule, is the recipe for success in 2025.
While that may not result in a playoff berth this season, New England will overachieve versus expectations and be in contention into December, laying the foundation for bigger things in the future.
This analysis continues in the 2025 Football Preview
Order Warren Sharp's 2025 Football Preview to get penalty analysis for all 32 NFL teams.
Warren Sharp’s 550+ page full-color PDF, the 2025 Football Preview, is unlike anything you have previously read. Stunning visualizations, including new heat maps, are built with the reader in mind. Innovative, next-level thought process abounds in every team chapter and article.
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Warren Sharp's book shares insights into the players, coaches, teams, and philosophies with one goal: to prepare you for the 2025 NFL season with the smartest information delivered in the fastest, most direct way possible for optimal reviewing and retention.
- Team Chapters previews are in-depth, data driven & full of actionable info
- Fantasy Football player profiles, predictions, and ranks
- Vegas Odds forecast team wins, division rankings, lines for all 2025 games
- Coaching strategic advice for teams, play calling analysis & team tendencies
- Front Office Analysis positional spending, roster construction & cap analysis
- Reasons to bet over/under win totals & analysis of futures betting market
- Rookie draft class deep dive into impact for every team
- Rankings for every positional unit on every team with analysis
