The Buffalo Bills' defense celebrated for about two seconds before realizing the irrelevance of its reaction. Cornerback Nickell Robey had broken up a third-down pass, seemingly stopping the San Diego Chargers' offense at the Bills' 32-yard line. At best, the Chargers faced a long field goal on a windy day in Week 3. Instead, they were soon rolling after a gifted first down.

On the other side of the field, in an area quarterback Philip Rivers never looked because of a strong pass rush, Bills safety Duke Williams had been flagged for defensive holding. Williams briefly had placed his right hand on the back of Chargers tight end Antonio Gates' left shoulder and his left arm on the front. Gates' torso swiveled slightly toward Williams, enough to draw a penalty under the NFL's 2014 emphasis against impeding the movement of eligible receivers.

"That would not have been called a few years ago," CBS announcer and retired quarterback Steve Beuerlein intoned on the broadcast. "By the rules, that is a penalty, no doubt about it. But it's only being called nowadays."

And so it has gone for the first six weeks of the 2014 season. Officials are carrying out a mandate to emphasize three defensive penalties, infractions the NFL's competition committee believed were not being enforced: holding, illegal contact and illegal hands to the face. As the ESPN Stats & Information chart shows, there have been 619 defensive penalties overall this season, up 26.6 percent over 2013 and 41 more than the previous high for any six-week total during the past 10 years.

The penalty spike has coincided with a significant rise in passing efficiency, a trend we explored in last week's Hot Read on Rivers' MVP-caliber start to the season. At least one question remains unanswered, however: To what extent, if any, is there a connection between the surge in penalties and the elevated passing numbers?

I discussed the issue with Rivers during a visit to Chargers practice last month. He noted the Bills' holding call as an example of officiating in 2014, but questioned whether there have been enough such penalties -- minor contact far away from the ball -- to indicate a sea of change. The bigger impact, Rivers suggested, might come in the way defenses ultimately adjust.

"I don't know if you can tell yet," Rivers said. "I think of Buffalo, when we got one where there was a little tug on Gates and it was away from the play. They tugged and they got caught. I felt like, 'Wow, OK. You hadn't seen that as much.' I think it's too early though to know for sure.

"You do wonder if it's allowed for some things to come up cleaner, because defensive players are playing more cautious [so that officials] are not going to call it. It's hard to document. I haven't seen to where I've said, 'Hey, they're calling this thing different.' I haven't seen it yet."

That answer represents a middle ground the NFL hopes to occupy with this emphasis moving forward: Influencing defenders away from certain techniques without changing the fundamental flow or outcome of games. In Buffalo, for instance, the Chargers' second chance led to a short field goal to take a 10-0 lead in an eventual 22-10 victory.

During a recent interview with the Associated Press, NFL vice president of officiating Dean Blandino said the increase in penalties has not surprised him. "We're in a good place," Blandino said, and added: "I don't see a diminished product on the field."

That might be a difficult sell for fans who already are inclined to be skeptical of officiating or are simply annoyed by the extra stoppages in play. As an example, the Bills-Chargers game included 20 penalties (accepted and declined), but its 184-minute duration was about average for an NFL game during the past decade.

As we noted in the Rivers story last week, there are plenty of other explanations for the rise in passing efficiency this season. The most significant is a clear trend toward shorter passes within five yards of the line of scrimmage. They are easier to complete, less likely to be dropped and reduce the risk of sacks. Importantly, they occur within the range where one of the emphasized rules -- illegal contact -- still allows defenders to touch receivers.

In the end, it's fair to include this season's points of emphasis as part of a larger story with multiple tentacles. It is by far the most emotional of the contributing factors, but its existence is much easier to document than its impact.