Notes: Detroit Lions among most penalized teams in NFL

On an extremely basic level, a team’s level of execution can be measured by its ability to avoid penalties. If you’re executing well, you won’t have resort to bending the rules—whether it means grabbing a defensive end who raced by you or slapping the arms of a receiver before the ball comes.

The Detroit Lions haven’t executed well this season. That much is clear both from their overall record and head coach Matt Patricia’s comments in nearly every post-game press conference.

But to drive the point home further, the Lions are also one of the most penalized teams in the entire NFL. Per ESPN’s Field Yates, the Lions are currently tied for seventh in penalties:

According to NFLPenalties.com, the Lions are most commonly called for offensive holding penalties, with 23 of their 100 flags called on that infraction (fourth most in the NFL). And just in case you were wondering, the Green Bay Packers are tied for the ninth-fewest penalties in the league and tied for 10th in fewest offensive holding penalties.

• Our friends at the mothership SB Nation came up with a disturbingly entertaining idea. Use the short-lived video game NFL Head Coach to try and do something the 2008 Detroit Lions could never do: Win a football game. But here’s the catch, they only called one offensive play all season. Here are the results:

• A dose of on-field audio from Week 14 courtesy of the Detroit Lions’ Sights and Sounds from Lions vs. Vikings:

• The salary cap estimates for the 2020 season are out. With a cap expected to be between $196.8 million and $201.2 million, the Lions are estimated to have around $44 million, per MLive.

• Your weekly warning of the Lions’ officiating crew:

• Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians is a big fan of Lions linebacker Jarrad Davis.