Patriots Stat Check: Gilmore tops team in penalties, just off pace in total snaps played

On Sunday against the Panthers, the Patriots were hit with seven penalties for 55 yards, not including the calls that were declined or offset. Through four weeks, that’s 27 penalties (14th fewest) for 245 yards (13th most). Here’s a breakdown of the flags that have gone against the Patriots this season:

Most penalized players, listed by total flags and with total yardage lost:
CB Stephon Gilmore: 4 (Defensive Pass Interference, Unnecessary Roughness, 2 Illegal Use of Hands), 59 yards
Team: 3 (Delay of Game, Illegal Shift, Defensive 12 men on the field), 16 yards
CB Jonathan Jones: 2 (Defensive Offsides, Interference with Opportunity to Catch — special teams), 20 yards
OL David Andrews: 2 (2 Offensive Holding), 20 yards
ST/RB Brandon Bolden: 2 (Running Into the Kicker, Offsides — both special teams), 10 yards
DE Trey Flowers: 2 (2 Defensive Offsides), 10 yards
CB Malcolm Butler: 1 (Defensive Pass Interference), 20 yards
LB/ST Harvey Langi: 1 (Facemask — special teams), 15 yards
ST/S Brandon King: 1 (Unnecessary Roughness — special teams), 15 yards
OL Marcus Cannon: 1 (Offensive Holding), 10 yards
WR Danny Amendola: 1 (Offensive Pass Interference), 10 yards
TE Rob Gronkowski: 1 (Offensive Pass Interference), 10 yards
S Patrick Chung: 1 (Defensive Holding), 5 yards
WR Brandin Cooks: 1 (False Start), 5 yards
LB Kyle Van Noy: 1 (Illegal Contact), 5 yards
TE Dwayne Allen: 1 (12 Men On The Field), 5 yards
ST LB Cassius Marsh: 1 (Running Into the Kicker — special teams), 5 yards
QB Tom Brady: 1 (Illegal Forward Pass), 5 yards

Most penalized by position
Cornerback: 6 penalties for 84 yards
Special teams: 6 penalties for 60 yards
Offensive Line: 3 penalties for 30 yards
Team: 3 penalties for 16 yards
Tight end: 2 penalties for 15 yards
Wide receiver: 2 penalties for 15 yards
Defensive Line: 2 penalties for 10 yards
Quarterback: 1 penalty for 5 yards
Linebacker: 1 penalty for 5 yards
Safety: 1 penalty for 5 yards

Most frequently called penalties
Offensive Holding: 3
Defensive Offsides: 3
Running Into the Kicker: 2
Unnecessary Roughness: 2
Defensive Pass Interference: 2
Offensive Pass Interference: 2
Illegal Use of Hands: 2
Illegal Forward Pass: 1
Defensive 12 men on the field: 1
Facemask: 1
Offensive 12 men on the field: 1
Illegal Shift: 1
False Start: 1
Delay of Game: 1
Offsides: 1
Illegal Contact: 1
Interference with Opportunity to Catch: 1
Defensive Holding: 1

When it comes to snap leaders, those stay the same as last week. Remarkably, linebacker Kyle Van Noy is the lone defensive player to be on the field for every defensive snap over the first four games of the regular season. He’s at 100 percent over the first quarter. He’s trailed by safety Devin McCourty (266 snaps, or 99.6 parent), defensive end Trey Flowers (261 snaps, 97.8 percent) and cornerback Stephon Gilmore (255 snaps, 95.5 percent).

On the other side of the ball, quarterback Tom Brady, center David Andrews and guards Joe Thuney and Shaq Mason have all played every snap this season. Left tackle Nate Solder has missed just one snap this year (290 snaps, 99.7 percent), wide receiver Chris Hogan (264 snaps, 90.7 percent) and tight end Rob Gronkowski (257 snaps, 88 percent) round out the leaders.

One more interesting note: newcomer Cassius Marsh leads the team in special teams snaps (102 snaps, 77 percent), followed closely by Jordan Richards (94 snaps, 71 percent) and Marquis Flowers (90 snaps, 68 percent) and Johnson Bademosi (83 snaps (63 percent).

(Thanks to Pro Football Reference for providing verification on snap counts.)