On Thursday, Mike Sando put together a quick rundown of the most prolifically penalized players in the NFC West (thanks to manraj7 for pointing it out, minus the incorrect player referenced). The bad news for the 49ers is that Ahmad Brooks is tied for second with three penalties. The good for the 49ers is that he is the only 49ers player with more than one penalty.
I don't have specific numbers on players, but as a team the 49ers appear to have some modest penalty problems averaging seven penalties per game. The folks at teamrankings.com keep track of the penalty totals and have the 49ers tied for 19th in penalties per game. They are actually at the same average as last year, which was good for 28th in the league. The Bengals find themselves averaging five penalties per game, good a seventh place tie.
The 49ers opened the season with a penalty-filled performance against the Seattle Seahawks (9/102) but followed that up with a much more modest five penalties for 25 yards against the Cowboys. Not perfect, but definitely an improvement. The 49ers offense is not yet in a position where it can get backed up on penalties and consistently escape the damage. They have plenty to figure out to get the offense on track for four quarters of football and adding penalty problems into the mix would not help. Let's hope they can carry over the Cowboys performance, if not improve on it.