Quote: 

Fifteen minutes. Twenty flags. That was the second quarter of the Tennessee-New Orleans game Friday night. The flag-happy crews in the first two weeks of the preseason leave fans everywhere wondering: Is this what 2014 football is really going to look like? If so, is there a Rugby Channel on TV this fall?

There were 32 accepted penalties for 295 yards at the Superdome on Friday. The football was most unwatchable during a three-minute span of the second quarter, when the teams ran 10 plays that counted and there were 11 penalties called. (Two plays were erased by penalty, meaning that 12 plays were actually run, but only 10 counted.).

The rundown:

 


Time Remaining

Play or Penalty

6:06

NO punter Morstead punts 43 yards to Tenn 17.

Penalty: Tenn, holding, 8 yards.

5:58

Tenn run, gain of 3.

Penalty: NO, Illegal use of hands, 10 yards.

5:37

Tenn run, gain of 13. Fumble recovered by NO.

Penalty: Tenn, holding, declined.

Penalty: Tenn, unnecessary roughness, 15 yards.

5:29

NO pass complete, gain of 6.

4:50

Penalty: NO, false start, 5 yards.

4:35

NO incomplete pass.

4:31

NO 19-yard touchdown pass to Jimmy Graham

Penalty: NO, unsportsmanlike conduct, 15 yards

NO extra point, good.

4:31

NO kickoff.

Penalty: Tenn, illegal block, 10 yards

4:15

Tenn QB sacked, loss of 11.

3:37

Penalty: NO, defensive holding, 10 yards.

3:26

Tenn pass, gain of 26.

Penalty: NO, illegal use of hands, declined.

Penalty: NO, illegal use of hands, declined.

3:06

Penalty: Tenn, face mask, 15 yards.

 

Net yards gained in 3 minutes: 56.

 

Yards penalized in 3 minutes: 88.