It has been well-documented that the NFL is slowly losing popularity and television ratings over the past few years. And this has been due to a lot of factors from anthem protests to questionable off the field activities. This year, though, there is one piece of fabric that is slowing the game down and driving fans insane during NFL games. This piece of fabric, of course, is the penalty flag.

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During Week 1 alone, the NFL set a new record for the most accepted penalties in an opening weekend of football. According to SB Nation, there were 255 accepted penalties during Week 1 games, 226 of which came before the Monday night games. The previous record was 222, which had been set in 2014. As of Sunday night, nflpenalties.com, an NFL penalty tracking site, listed that there were 1,270 total penalties called thus far in the season. At the current pace, there will be roughly 4,300 flags thrown this year, which is about 150 more than last season’s total.  

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To establish a general trend, 24/7 Sports concluded midway through the 2016 NFL Regular Season that penalties were up 20.5 percent from 2009’s total. Statistics on penalties do not tell the full story though. What matters is how this trend has come about and contributed to fan dissatisfaction.

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The biggest spike, in terms of penalty categories, has been in personal foul calls, more specifically the roughing the passer penalty. During the offseason, the NFL established a new, much more strict, roughing the passer rule. This was to be expected though, as the NFL has continually taken measures to further ensure the safety of their players. This rule, whether it has been interpreted incorrectly or is worded too strictly, has been a topic of controversy to say the least.

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One of the new provisions of the rule, according to the NFL Operations website, states that “A rushing defender is prohibited from committing such intimidating and punishing acts as ‘stuffing’ a passer into the ground or unnecessarily wrestling or driving him down after the passer has thrown the ball.” A great majority of roughing the passer calls this year have resulted from the enforcement of this provision, as well as contact below a passer’s knees or with a passer’s helmet. According to multiple sources, the NFL more than doubled its total of roughing the passer penalties through the first three weeks of this season.

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As such, offenders of the provision, most notably Clay Matthews, have been disciplined by the NFL, usually in the form of fines. The provision has additionally caused unintended injury to defenders, as Miami Dolphin William Hayes tore his ACL a couple weeks ago while trying to avoid putting his body weight on Raiders’ quarterback Derek Carr.  

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Another new rule the NFL implemented is what has become known as the “Helmet Rule.” The rule, again according to the NFL Operations website, explicitly states that “It is a foul if a player lowers his head to initiate and make contact with his helmet against an opponent.”

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The primary problem with this provision lies in its ambiguity, as so many scenarios can occur with a defender accidentally using his helmet to make a tackle. However, the NFL has cleared things up in this regard, as they issued a public clarification of the rule late in the preseason, stating that officials should not penalize incidental contact with the helmet, according to Kevin Seifert of ESPN. Even still, the rule is still young and is left to the judgement of the officials on the field.  

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As mentioned, penalty flags slow the game down, especially when the officials have to stop play, gather and discuss what to call. Fans are forced to wait even longer to view the action of the game they want to see. And on top of endless commercial breaks and long pauses in between plays, the rise in penalties has made the NFL viewing experience somewhat absurd.

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Despite this though, the NFL is currently in the middle of a ratings boost. According to AdAge, NFL viewership is up two percent in US households and one percent overall. In the grand scheme of things, these numbers mean a lot to the NFL. However, the recent spike in penalties is potentially slowing ratings growth, as most of the growth was attributed to “...Trump-silencing TV deliveries.”

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Regardless, the sheer amount of penalties in today’s game is unprecedented, and it is ruining the quality of the product itself. This, in turn, has forced the NFL to take a reactive strategy to rule modifying and fix what a large portion of their fans perceive as detrimental to the game’s integrity.