Patriots May Set Record for Fewest Penalties in a 16-Game Season

During New England's 24-21 come-from-behind win in Seattle this past Sunday, the Patriots were charged with only one penalty the entire game. If nothing else, they made the flag worth it, when tight end Ben Watson shoved the football under his jersey and gave a salute to his pregnant wife.

Bill Belichick, obviously, wasn't exactly thrilled with Watson's celebration because it resulted in a 15-yard penalty assessed on the ensuing kickoff. Of course, there's an entirely different debate in there as to whether or not using a football to make yourself look like your pregnant wife is worthy of a 15-yard penalty (or a fine!), but, we're not really addressing that here. And, for the record, my opinion is, no, this should not be worthy of a penalty or a fine.

Anyway, had Watson not performed his celebration, New England would have played a perfect game on Sunday, at least as far as yellow flags are concerned. And this isn't really something that's new to the Patriots this season.

According to Mike Reiss of the Boston Globe, the Patriots are on a record-setting pace as far as penalties are concerned. Reiss reports that the Patriots have had only 44 accepted penalties against them this season, and are likely to break the league's record for fewest accepted penalties in a season, which was set by the Seahawks a year ago with 59.

In six different games this year, the Patriots have had only two (or fewer) penalties against them, including the week 7 game with St. Louis where they were did not get flagged one time. How are they doing it? Obviously, the only way the Patriots know how -- cheating! Okay, no, not really (seriously, Patriots fans, I'm joking) but that's what Rams head coach Jim Haslett was thinking after watching New England play a perfect football game against his team back in October.

Reiss provides the most frequently called penalties against the Patriots (false start leads the way with nine) as well as the players most-often penalized (Mike Vrabel is in the pole position with four).

I do, however, love in the comments section one fans reasoning as to why New England has been flagged for only three pass interference penalties this season:

The reason they only have 3 pass interference penalties is because the DB's play 20 yards off the receivers. They aren't even in the picture usually when the receiver catches the ball.

I can't say for certain, but I'm pretty sure he's talking about Deltha O'Neal.