In updating this week's "penalty watch", linebacker Brandon Spikes' place atop the leaderboard draws notice.
Spikes was penalized for encroachment and defensive holding in the Thanksgiving win over the Jets, giving him a team-high eight penalties on the season. That's three more than the next players on the team.
The full breakdown of the season (includes declined penalties):
Penalty count
Brandon Spikes -- 8
Alfonzo Dennard -- 5
Jerod Mayo -- 5
Vince Wilfork -- 5
Rob Gronkowski -- 4
Devin McCourty -- 4
Nate Solder -- 4
Kyle Arrington -- 3
Tom Brady -- 3
Ras-I Dowling -- 3
Patrick Chung -- 2
Jermaine Cunningham -- 2
Julian Edelman -- 2
Daniel Fells -- 2
Aaron Hernandez -- 2
Chandler Jones -- 2
Niko Koutouvides -- 2
Sterling Moore -- 2
Stevan Ridley -- 2
Donald Thomas -- 2
Sebastian Vollmer -- 2
Danny Aiken -- 1
Jake Bequette -- 1
Marquice Cole -- 1
Nate Ebner-- 1
Steve Gregory -- 1
Dont'a Hightower -- 1
Logan Mankins -- 1
Rob Ninkovich -- 1
Matthew Slater -- 1
Aqib Talib -- 1
Ryan Wendell-- 1
Tavon Wilson -- 1
TEAM -- 2
Most called penalties
Defensive holding -- 13
Encroachment -- 9
Defensive pass interference -- 8
False start -- 8
Offensive holding -- 7
Illegal contact -- 4
Offensive pass interference -- 4
Unnecessary roughness -- 4
Intentional grounding -- 3
Roughing the passer -- 3
Offside -- 2
Special teams holding -- 2
Special teams illegal block above waist -- 2
Chop block -- 1
Face Mask -- 1
Illegal formation -- 1
Illegal motion -- 1
Illegal shift -- 1
Offside (special teams) -- 1
Personal foul -- 1
Special teams false start -- 1
Special teams illegal formation -- 1
Special teams offsides -- 1
Drawn holding penalties
Jermaine Cunningham -- 4
Chandler Jones -- 3
Vince Wilfork -- 3
Brandon Lloyd -- 2
Wes Welker -- 2
Devin McCourty (1 defense, 1 special teams) -- 2
Kyle Arrington (special teams/KO coverage)-- 1
Rob Gronkowski -- 1
Kyle Love -- 1
Rob Ninkovich -- 1
Trevor Scott (special teams/KO coverage) -- 1
Brandon Spikes -- 1
(two drawn holdings on special teams vs. Rams unclear)