The Dallas Cowboys are not the most penalized team in the NFL, but for a six-quarter stretch from Week 6 into the first half of Week 7, it sure felt like they were. Dallas was hit with a whopping 11 flags against the Packers in their loss in Green Bay, for a total of 108 yards, and they were equal-opportunity mistakes–five offensive penalties, four defensive penalties and two on special teams. And the way things started in Philadelphia on Monday night against the Eagles, it looked like it would be more of the same in Week 7.
As coach Brian Schottenheimer noted, “I do think that, again at the end of the day, it was five penalties for us, none for them early in the game. But we have to be better.”
It’s actually worse than that, Schotty. The Eagles were offsides on the Cowboys’ initial field-goal attempt, but Dallas declined that. After that, Dallas was whacked with seven penalties in the first half, including two on star lineman Quinnen Williams for offsides, two by Justin Barron on special teams, a roughing the passer call on LT Overton and a pass interference on Caleb Downs.
Cowboys Had Significant Turnaround in Second Half
That’s the frustrating end. The bright side for the Cowboys: They took only one penalty in the second half, a delay of game to set up a punt. After 18 total penalties in a game-and-a-half, the Cowboys committed one in the second half.
Said Schottenheimer: “The pre-snap penalties, those have to stop. We can’t jump offsides. They did a good job with their cadence, but we’re better than that. That’s not being very disciplined. You saw, if you jump offsides, we take you out. … We have to be better.
“I was proud of ourselves, we had eight total penalties, one in the second half and that was on purpose. So we got better in the second half with that. But you can’t have the self-inflicted wounds pre-snap.”
With 53 penalties through the first seven games, the Cowboys are tied for eighth with the most calls against them this season.
Cowboys’ Brian Schottenheimer Calls Out Team for ‘Self-Inflicted Wounds’