Chiefs' Andy Reid hopes more penalty flags don't turn fans away

How does Andy Reid feel about penalties? Like every other NFL coach, he does not like them at all. I's been interesting to watch the reactions of Reid, who called penalties a "significant issue" in the Chiefs 28-16 preseason loss to the Carolina Panthers, and other NFL coaches as more and more penalty flags are thrown this year.

"It's being called real tight," Reid said on a Monday conference call with reporters. "We knew that coming in. We have got to do a better job. With the ones, the majority of the penalties happened on the offensive side. Five of the seven were on the offensive side. The bottom line is they're going to call them and it sounds like they're going to continue to call them."

This weekend's preseason pace has an average of nine more flags thrown per game than last season. So it's no surprise that coaches like Reid don't like it, especially when you're coming off a night where 13 penalties cost you the game.

But that's not the most interesting part of Reid's reaction. This is:

"You just hope it doesn't turn away the spectators from the game, they get bored watching the officials throw the ball more than the quarterbacks. That can be a problem."

As a spectator, I agree. More flags probably won't affect the TV numbers but it does affect the quality of the game for the viewer, and the TV viewer is the best thing the NFL has going right now.