The Dallas Cowboys have been fighting a penalty problem all season. But they had never been flagged quite like this.
Dallas committed 14 penalties for 153 yards — its most since 2021 — in Sunday’s 27-23 win over the Indianapolis Colts. The strangest one came in the fourth quarter when inactive linebacker DeMarvion Overshown ran onto the field in street clothes to celebrate a takeaway.
Four days later, quarterback Dak Prescott still wasn’t over it.
“I mean, I was pissed,” Prescott said on Thursday. “I spoke my mind, and I think I don’t think I’ve ever been short or shy in a moment when it’s you know truly, truly bothered me. And yeah, that was just a big play…the turnover happened and a flag comes out and yeah it’s just like we did some great stuff here like let’s not minimize it.”
But Prescott’s frustration didn’t stop there.
Dak Prescott Didn’t Hold Back on DeMarvion Overshown
With Dallas up 20-17, defensive tackle Quinnen Williams forced a Jonathan Taylor fumble. Shemar James recovered it with 9:55 left. That’s when Overshown, inactive with hamstring and back injuries, sprinted out to join the celebration.
Referee Clay Martin didn’t need a jersey number to identify him.
“After the play, unsportsmanlike conduct by Dallas,” Martin announced. “We have non-uniformed player in blue sweats and a stocking cap come onto the field to celebrate. That’s a 15-yard penalty.”
The flag pushed the Cowboys from their own 30 back to their 15, and they punted four plays later.
After the game, Prescott admitted he didn’t know right away who had drawn the penalty.
“I was upset,” he said. “I didn’t know exactly what it was for. Thought it was because we had the whole 40 guys come from the sideline. I didn’t realize it was just Overshown, and so at the end of the day, it’s about being disciplined, though.”
By Thursday, the team captain was even more blunt.
“I don’t think, me personally, if you need somebody to tell you what you should and shouldn’t do, I don’t know if this is the business for you,” Prescott added when asked if he felt he had to hold his teammates responsible.
He wouldn’t say whose job it is to be the disciplinarian, pointing out that “we’re grown men at the end of the day.”
DeMarvion Overshown Owns Up to Bizarre Penalty
Prescott isn’t the only one in the building who took issue with the play.
“It is (unacceptable). … It’s not a good look. It’s not a disciplined look,” executive vice president Stephen Jones said on 105.3 The Fan on Monday.
Head coach Brian Schottenheimer called it “totally unacceptable” and talked to Overshown one-on-one before he addressed the team.
On Thursday, Overshown said he didn’t know the rule. Teammate Dee Winters figured it out before he did.
“I was running on the field and (Dee Winters) was like, ‘D-Mo you can’t be out here,’” Overshown said. “At that point, I was like ‘I’m just gonna take this butt-chewing I’m about to get.’”
He also took the blame himself.
“You can laugh at it now because we won, but in the moment, fourth quarter, tied ballgame or close ballgame, you don’t want a 15-yard penalty from a guy, especially that’s not even playing,” Overshown told The Dallas Morning News’ Calvin Watkins. “So that’s a lesson learned.”
Staying on the field has been the bigger issue for the 2023 third-round pick. He has missed six of Dallas’ nine games this season, and he has played in just 22 of the Cowboys’ 60 regular-season games since he was drafted.
Dak Prescott Questions Cowboys Teammate’s NFL Future After Boneheaded Penalty