Cardinals Lead NFL in This Category

The Arizona Cardinals play a clean brand of football.

Oct 6, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; Arizona Cardinals defensive tackle Naquan Jones (96) celebrates with defensive tackle Khyiris Tonga (95) after recording a sack against the San Francisco 49ers during the third quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

The Arizona Cardinals are just 2-3 through five weeks of football, though they've been competitive in all but one matchup - which came in a humbling Week 4 loss to the Washington Commanders.

You can say a lot about the Cardinals through five weeks of football: Whether it be their sporadic play on offense or the lack elite talent on defense, Arizona's offered the full roller coaster ride to begin the season.

What you can't say about the Cardinals, however, is they don't play a clean brand of football.

From PHNX's Bo Brack:

"The Arizona Cardinals are the least penalized team in the NFL. The Cards have been flagged just 19 times this season. AZ finished with the 12th most penalties last season. The Cards were in the top 5 from 2019-2022 including the most twice."

The Arizona Cardinals are the least penalized team in the NFL. The Cards have been flagged just 19 times this season.

AZ finished with the 12th most penalties last season. The Cards were in the top 5 from 2019-2022 including the most twice.

— Bo Brack (@BoBrack) October 7, 2024

After Week 4, Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon was asked if he was pleased with the low amount of penalties:

“I am, but you can always clean them up and that’s kind of week to week. Am I ‘rah-rah’ because we’re low? That’s good because we’re not beating ourselves, but am I going to be down in the dumps if it’s high one game? Yeah, a little bit. They’re teaching moments for us, but every crew calls it different," said Gannon.

"Every game materializes different. I know this, if you play with the proper technique and make the correct decisions over and over and over and over, over the long haul of a season you should be pretty good with that. I feel like our guys understand that and do a good job of it because we put a lot on their plate with decision making to not foul, but there’s a lot of plays that are ‘bang-bang’ and if they call it, they call it.

"Yeah. I’m pleased right now. It can always be better, and we have to continue to coach it.”

According to TeamRankings, the Cardinals are the only team in the league to average less than four penalties per game with an average of 3.8. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Cincinnati Bengals and Buffalo Bills are tied for second at 4.8 penalties per outing.

The next three weeks of football, the Cardinals play more considerably "sloppy" teams against the Green Bay Packers (27th), Los Angeles Chargers (18th) and Miami Dolphins (28th) in terms of penalties.

Make sure to bookmark Cardinals On SI for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more.

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