The Rams’ recent penalty surge is real, and it has cost them. But the bigger picture says this is not just a Los Angeles problem.
Over the last two games, Sean McVay’s team has been flagged 21 times for 191 yards, the most over a two-game stretch in McVay’s 10 seasons as head coach. That run includes 13 penalties for 91 yards in the Week 3 loss to the Broncos, which marked the most accepted penalties against the Rams in a game since Week 4 of 2020, and eight more flags for 100 yards against the Eagles last week.
That kind of sloppiness has stood out because discipline has usually been a McVay staple. McVay said this week that the biggest issue for him is the stuff the Rams can control.
“The things that really chapped me that I think are a reflection of an undisciplined team are the pre-snap, the procedural things,” said McVay this week. “Those are the things that we can control with focus and concentration. They'll happen from time to time, but we have to minimize those situationally whether that's jumping offsides offensively, things like that, even making decisions where there's no discrepancy on.”
The penalties have directly wiped out scoring chances. Against Denver, the Rams had to settle for field goals after an offensive pass interference penalty on Davante Adams and a hold on Steve Avila.
Against Philadelphia, they again came away with field goals after a holding penalty on Davis Allen. Warren Sharp of Sharp Football Analytics noted that red-zone holding is up 38 percent, second only to 2019.
There was also a seven-yard Williams run erased after the Rams took over at the Eagles’ 38-yard line because of what was ruled an illegal blindside block.
BLINDSIDE BLOCK…on Puka Nacua?!What happened to the beautiful game of football… pic.twitter.com/RjcsS1MepO
Still, this isn’t happening in a vacuum. Sharp says this season has featured the most red zone penalties per game by offenses in NFL history.
More than 56.55 percent of red-zone flags are going against offenses, up from 48 percent. There have also been more penalties on third and fourth downs in the second half than at any other point in NFL history.
The broader NFL picture matters, especially with officiating under heavy scrutiny. This week, the league suspended two officials for their on-field behavior. The 2026 season has seen the most flags in over a decade.
Even with all of that, the Rams’ numbers still point to a team that has slipped from its usual standard. They’re tied for the 10th-most penalties per game with five other teams, and there are eight teams clustered between 7.5 and 8.0 penalties per game.
Los Angeles has lost 0.15 EPA per play because of penalties, which ranks 11th-worst in the NFL. Their net penalty count sits at -11, the fourth-worst mark in the league.
That’s why the takeaway is not either-or. The league is throwing more flags, and the Rams have also been on the wrong end of some tough calls, including the defensive pass interference penalty on Josh Wallace at the end of the Broncos game. But Los Angeles has also created too many of its own problems, and McVay knows it.
The Rams have generally been one of the NFL’s more disciplined teams under McVay, which makes this stretch so noticeable. Some of the damage comes from the league-wide trend.
Some of it comes from the Rams themselves. And if they want to play to their ceiling as a Super Bowl contender, the self-inflicted mistakes have to stop taking points off the board.
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