Analysis
10/28/21
2 min read
Disappointing 49ers Sit in Last in Week 8 Discipline Index
The Indianapolis Colts’ reign over the 33rd Team’s Discipline Index has come to an end after only one week. Now, a familiar face is back on top: the Los Angeles Rams. After a gritty week against the Detroit Lions, in what some called Matthew Stafford’s revenge game, the Rams were able to stay disciplined en route to their sixth win of the season.
Here is how the top-10 of the Discipline Index looks for this week:
As a reminder, the 33rd Team’s Discipline Index combines the number of penalties, penalty yardage and turnovers on a per-game basis in order to show which teams are able to play the most mistake-free football in any given week.
Even though the Rams are back on top of the Discipline Index for this week, it is the defending Super Bowl Champions who are starting to play more disciplined as of late. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been towards the bottom of the Discipline Index since the conclusion of their Week 1 thriller against the Cowboys. This team was playing an uncharacteristic brand of football. However, a lot of this had to do with injuries on the defensive side of the ball, mainly in the secondary.
The Buccaneers are still not at full strength, but they are finally starting to get into a groove as far as discipline is concerned. This past week, Tampa Bay put on a clinic for how to be disciplined by forcing 5 turnovers and only having one penalty on the day for just 10 yards. These types of performances have been few and far between for Tampa Bay this season despite their strong start to the year.
This performance showed on the scoreboard completely as the end result was a 38-3 victory over the Bears. Tampa Bay will have a chance to continue to show this improvement in discipline against the New Orleans Saints, a team that gave the Bucs fits last season, in Week 8.
Meanwhile, two of the most disappointing teams in the NFL sit in the two bottom spots. The San Francisco 49ers (No. 32) and Kansas City Chiefs (No. 31) were both considered potential Super Bowl contenders prior to this year, and their struggles with penalties and turnovers have significantly contributed to uneven starts to the season.
Here is how the rest of the Discipline Index unfolded heading into Week 8:
