Red Flag Recap: 2023 NFL Coaches Challenge Statistics

Sports fans love to look at statistics to help make sense of what they saw on the field, and NFL fans can take that one step further. Data regarding how well coaches fared when challenging calls can also be analyzed, and is another fun way to determine how strategy affects the outcome of games. We’ll point out some trends that popped out in this area during the 2023 NFL season.

Remarkably, Brandon Staley of the Los Angeles Chargers led the league in challenge attempts and successful challenges this year. He threw the red flag 11 times in 2023, which was three more than any other coach. Staley got the call overturned five times. It’s interesting to see him at the top of the NFL in these categories, considering he didn’t even coach the full season.

There were five NFL coaches who did not record a successful challenge this season. Robert Saleh of the New York Jets, John Harbaugh of the Baltimore Ravens, Josh McDaniels of the Las Vegas Raiders, Dan Campbell of the Detroit Lions, and Dennis Allen of the New Orleans Saints didn’t experience the satisfaction of an overturned call in 2023.

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There were two NFL coaches this season who only challenged one call this year, but successfully overturned it. Mike McCarthy of the Dallas Cowboys and Jonathan Gannon of the Arizona Cardinals appeared to have the desire to challenge only when the outcome seemed obvious. In fact, Gannon didn’t challenge a call until the final week of the regular season.

On average this regular season, each NFL coach challenged calls on the field four times. That comes out to a rough average of once every four games, which doesn’t feel like that much. NFL fans were worried that replay would bring too many stoppages to contests, but the challenge system doesn’t appear to have slowed the game down all that much.

It’s interesting to review challenge logs for coaches who have been in the league a long time. The sample size makes data for these individuals a little bit more telling. For example, Bill Belichick has challenged a call 131 times in his career. The play was overturned in 53 of those instances. Andy Reid has been successful on exactly half of his challenge attempts, 71 out of 142 in his career.

The dynamics that go into challenging a call are pretty fascinating. Players, assistants and team replay officials are all in a head coach’s ear, begging them to review the call on the field. Head coaches have seconds to decide whether they should throw the flag, based on feedback from others they must implicitly trust.

In addition to the deluge of information they need to process in the moments after a controversial call, coaches must also know whether they even have the ability to challenge a play. This is no small burden, considering that the NFL can continue to tweak and adjust what is reviewable and what isn’t from year to year.

Some coaches are pretty flexible when it comes to the scenarios which they feel comfortable challenging calls, while others are much more judicious. An officiating slip up in the first quarter might go unchallenged by some, but a pivotal close call in the fourth quarter may be challenged every single time.