The Look-Around for NFL defensive players has become common this year.

They look around to make sure they aren’t being flagged for roughing the quarterback … or they aren’t being penalized for pass interference … or they didn’t hit an opponent too hard to be called for unnecessary roughness.

Officiating was again front-of-mind during the Week 7 games and that is always sub-optimal.

In Week 7, the 14 games combined to average 12.6 penalties for 101.3 yards.

Too many penalties for too many yards, iffy drive-changing defensive pass interference flags and questionable fouls for roughing the quarterback.

The game may not be bogged down time-wise, but there are too many unwatchable moments and games that lose all rhythm.

“At some point, I said, ‘If you guys are doing your best to tune the TV audience out, you’re on a roll,” Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton said after his team was called for 11 penalties for 114 yards in a 30-16 win over the Arizona Cardinals.

Does the NFL have an officiating problem?

No. The seven on-field officials have a difficult job keeping track of 22 players on a playing surface measuring 57,600 square feet.

Does the NFL have an isolated issue (defensive pass interference and roughing the passer) that must be addressed pronto?

Yes. According to NFLpenalties.com, defensive pass interference is up from 1.01 per game last year to 1.17 this year and roughing the passer is up from 0.33 last year to 0.47 this year.

How to fix it?

It’s complicated, but we’ll give it a shot after providing context.

Comparing 2026 to 1996, 2006

Are more penalties being called, Part 1?

I looked back at the Week 7 games in 1996 and 2006 compared to Week 7 this year.

In 1996, the 13-game schedule averaged 11.6 penalties for 90.5 yards. Only two games had fewer than 10 penalties, but only three games had more than 100 yards in penalties.

In 2006, the 13-game schedule averaged 11.1 penalties for 85.7 yards. Only two games had fewer than 10 penalties, but only four games had more than 100 yards in penalties.

Within last week’s aforementioned averages of 12.6 penalties for 101.3 yards were four absolute gong shows: New England-Chicago (19 penalties-140 yards), Denver-Arizona (20-168) and Green Bay-Detroit (13-131).

New England-Chicago was a primetime game and Green Bay-Detroit the primary game in the 4:25 p.m. window. More eyeballs combined with social media equals more scrutiny. And when the greatest football player ever and the greatest football winner ever, Tom Brady, poked the Packers-Lions game officials, we all listen. The league office should, too.

Are more penalties being called, Part 2?

Through seven weeks, the league average is 49.2 penalties per team.

From 2022-25 in Weeks 1-7, the league average was 40.4, 41.4, 43.6 and 48.1 penalties per team.

The uptick from just four years ago is alarming.

Let’s play Commissioner For A Day. Three possible solutions.

Allow coaches to challenge one penalty call (or non-call) per game. Just one. If you win the challenge, you don’t get a second challenge.

Utilize expediated replay review to include pass interference and roughing the passer penalties.

And do allow coaches to challenge a penalty in the final two minutes of each half.

In 2019, coaches could challenge defensive pass interference (called and not called). Only 13 of the 80 plays that were challenged by coaches were overturned and the option went away.

Challenging penalty calls definitely merits a discussion for the NFL’s Competition Committee, which includes Jacksonville Jaguars executive vice president of football operations Tony Boselli.

Coen: Can’t be consumed by officiating

The Jaguars’ 47 penalties through Week 7 (six games) are 19th in the NFL; they had 13 penalties apiece in wins over the Cincinnati Bengals and Philadelphia Eagles. The Jaguars’ issues have been more on offense, including 13 for holding, seven for false start, four for delay of game and two for illegal shift.

On defense, the Jaguars’ most common penalty is pass interference (five). They have one unnecessary roughness (safety Antonio Johnson was deemed to be punching for the football with too much vigor against New England) and roughing the quarterback penalty apiece (defensive tackle Arik Armstead’s bogus flag against Cincinnati).

I asked Jaguars coach Liam Coen how he makes sure the players aren’t consumed by the officiating to the point it becomes a distraction and it impacts the mode-of-play.

“You just can’t go there,” he said. “It’s hard not to. It’s human instinct and nature to, but it really doesn’t do anybody any good to go down that path. Trust me, I’ve been there.”

Most penalty calls are legitimate. A cornerback gets beat on a double move, hooks the receiver and is flagged. Those should be called. The same with lowering the helmet and face-mask and all the pre-snap infractions.

“Leave no doubt is what it really comes down to,” Coen said. “You hear me say it ad nauseum, but regardless of the results, we’ve got to continue to detail the fundamentals and techniques that we coach and teach.

“We’ve got to continue to detail those even when fatigue sets in, whether it’s mental or physical. (That’s when) we have to be at our best in terms of detail, being fundamentally sharp and disciplined in order to leave no doubt that we control our destiny.”

Jaguars cornerback Jourdan Lewis has been called for 26 penalties in 133 regular-season games and he has yo-yo’ed with his penalty frequency. He had none in 2018 (187 snaps) and one apiece in 2019 (589), 2021 (802) and 2022 (316). But he was called for 11 penalties in 28 games in 2024-25 (1,484).

Is the game being called differently?

After saying, “not really,” Lewis added: “It has gotten more difficult to just go out there and attack. We have to be strategic. We have to be on our P’s and Q’s. I think that’s what kept me in the league for a long time, just understanding how to adapt to different styles of how the game is being played and called.

“Regardless of how it’s being officiated or things are being called, we have to go out there and give it our all and play our best.”

That is only the recourse for defensive players like Lewis until a guardrail like a penalty challenge system is introduced or officials start calling the game with more leniency.