Cleanup on aisle two: The Cowboys need to clean up the penalties

[Bobhaze]

The Cowboys have had penalty problems for a long time. As enjoyable as that win in Cleveland was Sunday, there is certainly lots of room for improvement, including cleaning up the penalty issues again this year. Hidden in the excitement of a great win against the brownies was the ugly stat of 11 penalties for 85 yards.

Last year in the 2023 season, the Cowboys finished the regular season with 115 enforced penalties, which was tied for second with the Browns (who also had a ton of penalties last Sunday) and behind only the jets who had the most penalties last year at 124. Including the bad playoff loss to GB last year, the Cowboys gave up 1,012 yards in penalty yardage last year! And in 2022, the Cowboys had 104 enforced penalties. It’s not a new problem.

In my book there are two types of penalty categories:

1. Mental penalties that are just stupid lack of focus or awareness penalties. These are all very avoidable penalties. They include:

• Pre-snap penalties like a false start or delay of game or even lining up off sides.
• Misunderstanding the rules or lack of awareness. Like an illegal formation penalty, too many men on the field, even the 12th man and the huddle rule which bit us a few years back.
• Some personal foul penalties are stupid mental mistakes like retaliation after a cheap shot the refs missed. Or a frustration penalty where a player throws an opponent down after the whistle. Just a mental lapse.

2. Physical penalties are the hardest to avoid because are done at full speed unlike pre-snap penalties.

• Offensive holding, defensive holding, illegal block in the back. These are harder to avoid although teams can work on hand placement, where the head is when blocking on STs, etc.
• Defensive Pass interference is usually a judgement call on a bang-band play and hard to work on in practice as far as avoidance.
• Roughing the QB in my opinion is the hardest to avoid. It is the most completely judgmental call.

So what can be done? I put a lot of this on the coaches as something to work on in practice. Pre-snap penalties are easily something that should be worked on a lot in practice. Having 11 penalties in a game is at some point going to cost you a game.

I mention this now because one thing Mike McCarthy could do improve this team a ton is reducing these penalties. It needs to start tightening up before it becomes a bigger and on-going problem this season.

 

[Blast From The Past]

A legacy problem I'm afraid with no apparent solution forthcoming. Just hope to minimize them at this point and hope for the best.

 

[Bobhaze]

A legacy problem I'm afraid with no apparent solution forthcoming. Just hope to minimize them at this point and hope for the best.

Well in my book, all the pre-snap penalties are fixable. Even the little bit I played football as a young man, we worked on avoiding pre-snap penalties. Coaches would set up situations to test your ability to not jump the snap, work on getting plays in on time, etc.

A lot of this is fixable.

 

[Rockport]

The Cowboys have had penalty problems for a long time. As enjoyable as that win in Cleveland was Sunday, there is certainly lots of room for improvement, including cleaning up the penalty issues again this year. Hidden in the excitement of a great win against the brownies was the ugly stat of 11 penalties for 85 yards.

Last year in the 2023 season, the Cowboys finished the regular season with 115 enforced penalties, which was tied for second with the Browns (who also had a ton of penalties last Sunday) and behind only the jets who had the most penalties last year at 124. Including the bad playoff loss to GB last year, the Cowboys gave up 1,012 yards in penalty yardage last year! And in 2022, the Cowboys had 104 enforced penalties. It’s not a new problem.

In my book there are two types of penalty categories:

1. Mental penalties that are just stupid lack of focus or awareness penalties. These are all very avoidable penalties. They include:

• Pre-snap penalties like a false start or delay of game or even lining up off sides.
• Misunderstanding the rules or lack of awareness. Like an illegal formation penalty, too many men on the field, even the 12th man and the huddle rule which bit us a few years back.
• Some personal foul penalties are stupid mental mistakes like retaliation after a cheap shot the refs missed. Or a frustration penalty where a player throws an opponent down after the whistle. Just a mental lapse.

2. Physical penalties are the hardest to avoid because are done at full speed unlike pre-snap penalties.

• Offensive holding, defensive holding, illegal block in the back. These are harder to avoid although teams can work on hand placement, where the head is when blocking on STs, etc.
• Defensive Pass interference is usually a judgement call on a bang-band play and hard to work on in practice as far as avoidance.
• Roughing the QB in my opinion is the hardest to avoid. It is the most completely judgmental call.

So what can be done? I put a lot of this on the coaches as something to work on in practice. Pre-snap penalties are easily something that should be worked on a lot in practice. Having 11 penalties in a game is at some point going to cost you a game.

I mention this now because one thing Mike McCarthy could do improve this team a ton is reducing these penalties. It needs to start tightening up before it becomes a bigger and on-going problem this season.

The mental penalties need to be addressed and addressed hard.

 

[fivetwos]

One of only two negatives I noticed Sunday. Still haven’t been able to rewatch, but it didn’t seem as if the penalties were as ill-timed as they often are.

 

[Rockport]

One of only two negatives I noticed Sunday. Still haven’t been able to rewatch, but it didn’t seem as if the penalties were as ill-timed as they often are.

Several of them were on special teams.

 

[KJJ]

Penalties have been a problem for several years and it doesn’t appear that’s going to change this year.

 

[Mac_MaloneV1]

Physical penalties are just whether the refs call it or not. Every team is basically the same in this regard

There's nothing to be done, from a coaching standpoint, about pre-snap penalties, that's just on the players to be focused.

 

[Bobhaze]

Physical penalties are just whether the refs call it or not. Every team is basically the same in this regard

There's nothing to be done, from a coaching standpoint, about pre-snap penalties, that's just on the players to be focused.

Well that’s not true that “every team is basically the same” regarding pre-snap penalties. I do agree with you it’s on both the players and coaches.

Sean McVay coached teams are famous for being disciplined on offense as evidenced by only having 25 pre-snap penalties in 2023. In contrast, the Browns and jets had 54 and 52 last year and the Cowboys had 45.

Anyone who has played football from pee-wee and above knows you can work on reducing penalties. You may never solve all of it. But doing nothing about ensures you will continue it.

 

[Mac_MaloneV1]

Well that’s not true that “every team is basically the same” regarding pre-snap penalties. I do agree with you it’s on both the players and coaches.

Sean McVay coached teams are famous for being disciplined on offense as evidenced by only having 25 pre-snap penalties in 2023. In contrast, the Browns and jets had 54 and 52 last year and the Cowboys had 45.

Anyone who has played football from pee-wee and above knows you can work on reducing penalties. You may never solve all of it. But doing nothing about ensures you will continue it.

No, they're the same in physical penalties.

There is nothing a coach can do about, say, false starts, at the NFL level. It's not as if players don't know not to go before the snap.

 

[tomokawan]

For the last 10 years we have been trying to fix it. Just have to minimize them. I blame the players more than the coaches.

 

[Blackspider214]

For the last 10 years we have been trying to fix it. Just have to minimize them. I blame the players more than the coaches.

We are high in penalties no matter who the coaches or players are. It's a culture issue. No one is held accountable at all. Former players have spoken about the culture/environment for Dallas vs the other teams they go to. Cowboys always lack discipline year to year.

 

[MarcusRock]

even the 12th man and the huddle rule which bit us a few years back.

I think you're referring to the Green Bay playoff game from 2016, yes? If so, that was an illegal substitution for a player running onto the field past the side numbers and not staying in for the play. The ref just announced the wrong penalty over the mic. 12 men in the huddle is a pre-snap penalty and would have been called before the play whereas the play took place there.

The thing about that penalty is you can call a timeout to reset to get out of it but neither the players or coaches caught it. So yes, it flows from the top down.

 

[CowboysLakerBamaFan]

These alignment penalties on the tackles that the refs are going nuts on this year is confusing me...and it's league wide.

They'll throw a flag on a tackle, and say he was "lined up in the backfield". The tackle looks around confused, and you know he has no idea what he did wrong. Then he lines up the exact same way again...and no flag.

I've seen replays of these flags, and compared them to non-flag plays, and the tackles look like they're lined up the exact same way. It's like the refs just randomly throw 2 or 3 a game against every team, just to get more face time.

At least it seems to even out, but it's really annoying and nobody seems to understand it.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

It is funny watching Dallas fans unable to appreciate a win or why it happened but instead looking for where the proverbial shoe is going to drop. Most Cowboys fans around here are straight shook.

 

[Iago33]

It is funny watching Dallas fans unable to appreciate a win or why it happened but instead looking for where the proverbial shoe is going to drop. Most Cowboys fans around here are straight shook.

I’m shook, I admit. I expect the pass to be dropped (Crayton), the catch to be called incomplete (Dez), the running back breaking free to fumble (Murray), the quarterback to be shell-shocked (Dak), the star pass rusher to be gassed (Micah), the kick holder to drop a slick ball (Romo), the defensive line to be pushed back (Quinn D), the penalty to be called—all at the worst possible time. I can’t enjoy a punt return for a touchdown because I’m expecting a penalty flag. Are we supposed to ignore 3 decades of history? What do you expect?

 

[gtb1943]

It is funny watching Dallas fans unable to appreciate a win or why it happened but instead looking for where the proverbial shoe is going to drop. Most Cowboys fans around here are straight shook.

if you want mindless homers then go elsewhere

 

[Coogiguy03]

Discipline and accountability must take place

 

[Reid1boys]

There you are old friend. When is you rpost coming on how great the defense was. How great our special teams was? And what a great job our front office did in signing the best kick returner in the league and the best kicker in the league for chump change?

 

[Blackrain]

Well in my book, all the pre-snap penalties are fixable. Even the little bit I played football as a young man, we worked on avoiding pre-snap penalties. Coaches would set up situations to test your ability to not jump the snap, work on getting plays in on time, etc.

A lot of this is fixable.

It's most definitely fixable if you have a coach that makes it a priority and holds people accountable.

Unfortunately ours is still struggling with time management and doesn't seem to make extinguishing this penalty epidemic a priority as it's been going on the whole time he has been our coach.

He needs to put his big boy pants on and start to get in people's face.
Strike some fear into these guys force them to start making good decisions