The penalties are just too much right now.

[Messiah]

I am tired so I won't go in a long rant right now but holy shit, the penalties so far this preseason have been beyond ridiculous and looks to be continuing going into Week 2. 22 penalties called on the Saints. That is an NFL record.

I really, really hope their "re-emphasis on defensive holding" is just going to be in the preseason and won't slide into the regular season because as of now it is just bad. But I guess this is what happens when Peyton Manning gets shat on in the postseason.

[CMPUNKFAN]

Illegal hands to the face, defense, 5 yard penalty, repeat down.

[War Daddy]

I loved how Graham kept dunking on the goal posts regardless of the penalties

[Everlong]

I wouldn't be overly concerned about it yet, because the preseason is just as much a trial period for the refs as it is for the players. Everybody's getting back into the swing of things. I'm sure they'll be able to find a balance before the season starts, even though I'm really leery about this new emphasis on defensive holding.

[Everlong]

Although now that I've seen this...

[SKS]

Watching the preseason games so far have been brutal. Seems that a flag is thrown every other play regardless of what happens. I don't see the point of throwing all the flags if you're not going to do it in the regular season. They should be working on getting the calls right rather than enforcing some kind of quota.

[Everlong]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/20 ... -continue/

The NFL is saying that the strict calls for illegal contact will continue into the regular season. Dayum.

[The Legend]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/08/18/nfl-says-strict-illegal-contact-calls-will-continue/

The NFL is saying that the strict calls for illegal contact will continue into the regular season. Dayum.

Makes sense. The Browns just spent the off-season trying to build a dominant defense built on physical press coverage, now they can't use it and they have no wide receivers to capitalize on the new direction of the rules.