Steelers' Mike Tomlin noticing a decrease in penalties through NFL

A truism for the Pittsburgh Steelers the past two seasons was that if an offensive lineman was called for holding, chances are the guilty party was left tackle Alejandro Villanueva.

Villanueva was called for holding eight times over the 2018-19 seasons, which easily was the most of any lineman on the roster, according to The Football Database website. The other mainstays on the line during those seasons, center Maurkice Pouncey and guards David DeCastro and Ramon Foster, combined for eight holding penalties, led by Pouncey’s five.

This season, Villanueva hasn’t been flagged for holding once through the first three games. Thing is, neither has Pouncey, DeCastro, Matt Feiler, Chuks Okorafor or even Stefen Wisniewski or Zach Banner.

The next holding call going against a Steelers lineman will be the first, an indication not that Villanueva and company have cleaned up their technique as much as that NFL officials are looking the other way at such infractions.

The Steelers were flagged for holding just twice in the first three games, the penalties going against tight ends Eric Ebron and Vance McDonald in Week 2 against Denver. The Steelers are among 18 teams with two or fewer holding penalties called against them this season. Four teams haven’t been flagged for the 10-yard penalty once heading into Week 5.

After three weeks, officials had called 95 offensive holding penalties league-wide. Last year at the same juncture, the holding calls numbered 235.

The reduction hasn’t gone unnoticed by Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, a member of the NFL’s competition committee.

“I have noticed the number of holding calls is probably down relative to September in recent years,” Tomlin said Tuesday at his weekly press conference. “But I just have the perspective of experience. I haven’t looked at the numbers to confirm that.”

A quick examination will support Tomlin’s belief. Through the first four weeks, an average of 13.4 penalties was called per game, a reduction by five from the same time period in 2019. According to ESPN Stats and Information, that is NFL’s lowest average since 2001 when the system began tracking penalties.

With offensive linemen able to hold blocks longer, and perhaps with some extra clutching and grabbing, scoring not surprisingly has soared. Teams are combining for 51.3 points per game, the highest total after four weeks since the 1970 merger. That’s three points higher than the previous average set in 2018.

Making it more difficult for defenses is that, while offensive holding calls are down, pass interference penalties have increased. Through four weeks in 2019, officials called defensive pass interference 66 times. This year, that total is 93.

“You see the way it’s going,” Steelers cornerback Steve Nelson said. “It’s an offensive league. You can barely press guys if you play defensive back. It’s easy to get a lot of penalties. It’s pretty much 7-on-7 sometimes. Defense is a hard job so offenses definitely have an advantage.”

Walt Anderson, an NFL official for 24 years, was promoted this year to oversee the league’s officiating training and development. He told NFL.com that he wanted officials in 2020 to focus on “clear and obvious penalties.”

“You can’t miss clear and obvious, and it starts with that,” Anderson said two weeks ago. “Going forward, we don’t want all of a sudden to start calling the ticky tack stuff. We want things that are clear.”

Holding apparently doesn’t fall into that category, which tends to put pass rushers such as the Steelers’ Bud Dupree at a disadvantage. It’s harder to sack the quarterback if an offensive lineman knows he can get away with an extra tug or pull on the play.

“You have to bring it to the ref’s attention,” Dupree said. “As the season goes on — we’re three games in — it still seems like it’s preseason for the referees. They are warming up, seeing what calls they want to make and what they should make. As the season goes on, those calls should pick up.”