CFZ What the penalty numbers say about Big Mac and the Cowboys

[Bobhaze]

The DL especially aggravates me because throughout any broadcast those guys can be seen lined up offsides at least 5 times a game. Especially the inside men with two hands on the ground.

The Hankins offsides penalty last Sunday was so obvious I was saying out loud to the TV (“Lined up offsides!”)
And we’ve seen this way too many times. The Kearse offsides call a few weeks ago was so bad he almost lined up as a receiver. It’s incredibly stupid. Football 101 stuff you learn in middle school.

 

[Jipper]

Great question.
Here are the most penalized current Cowboys players so far this year:

• Tie for most penalties between Tyler Smith and Jayron Kearse, both with 7 each.
• Tyler’s penalties: 4 off holding, 2 false starts, and 1 unnecessary roughness.
• Kearse‘s penalties are 2 unnecessary roughness, 2 def holding, 1 offsides, 1 illegal contact and 1 taunting

Interesting that Tyler Smith and Jayron Kearse have 14 of the team’s 60 penalties; that’s nearly 1/4 of the team’s total penalties.

If interested in more player individual penalty numbers, here’s a great link:
https://www.nflpenalties.com/all-players.php?view=total&year=2023

just for fun...looked our boy conner williams....

2021 with dallas 14 for 145 (most penalties of any player)
2022 with miami 5 for 45
2023 with miami 5 for 48


I think we might be on to something!!!!

 

[Bobhaze]

just for fun...looked our boy conner williams....

2021 with dallas 14 for 145 (most penalties of any player)
2022 with miami 5 for 45
2023 with miami 5 for 48


I think we might be on to something!!!!

Nice work Jip!

 

[CWR]

When you take the raw emotion out of the disappointment of the eagles loss, there are some interesting penalty numbers and patterns to discuss. This post is not intended to discuss the refs but to look at what kind of penalty patterns the Cowboys seem to be exhibiting in the Mike McCarthy era.

First of all, after 8 games the Cowboys are tied with the chiefs, bears, bills, and packers for the most penalties in the NFL with 60. The Cowboys are on pace this year to have over 120 penalties, averaging almost 8 penalties per game. I was never a Jason Garrett fan…ever…but Interestingly, under Garrett, the Cowboys never approached anything close to 120 penalties in a season.

What frustrates me the most about the Cowboys and penalties is their rash of pre-snap penalties. Over 1/3 of our penalties are pre-snap. In fact, the Cowboys lead the league in pre-snap penalties.

Here are some facts about our penalty patterns:

• The Cowboys lead the league with a whopping 11 offsides penalties, 5 more than the next team.
• We‘ve had 10 false starts so far.
• In 2021, the Cowboys led the league in penalties and in the one playoff game we had that year against the niners, we had 14 penalties, and 6 were pre-snap penalties, including…wait for it…5 neutral zone infractions.
• In 2022, the Cowboys finished in the top 5 in penalties.
• In 2023, the Cowboys are again leading the league in penalties.
• Again, not a Garrett fan at all, but in his era, the Cowboys usually finished between 15th and 24th in penalties.

I like a lot about what Mike McCarthy has brought to the Cowboys. We have an 11 game home winning streak, better responses to playing through injuries, and have had back to back 12 win seasons. But Mac MUST start addressing these penalty patterns…especially pre-snap penalties like false starts and lining up offsides.

If 1/3 of our penalties are pre-snap, with more attention in practice to addressing those problems we should get some improvement. Attention to detail matters regarding penalties!
Here’s the link to the info I used for this:
https://www.footballdb.com/stats/penalties.html?yr=2023

Why was his tenure in GB not marked with penalties?

 

[Preoccupied]

During the off season didn't we hear how this was going to be addressed because they knew it was a problem?

FAIL.

Oh they addressed the problem alright with a "more of the same and then some approach"

 

[Bobhaze]

Why was his tenure in GB not marked with penalties?

One word: Culture.

This is just my opinion obviously but I don’t think the coaches here in Big D are given free rein to address players fully for mistakes.

Examples of what I mean:

• In the 2021 WC round game loss against the niners, DE Randy Gregory was flagged multiple times for lining up offsides. It was insane. It was a contract year for RG and JJ wanted to resign him. Luckily the broncos outbid us and ended up cutting RG after one year of his contract.
• In 2017 when Zeke clearly loafed after an interception in the Denver game, the coaches wanted to punish Zeke for a lack of effort for loafing. Jerry was shown on the TV show “All or Nothing” at a coaches meeting overruling the coaches because “Zeke has been through too much”. Should have just issued a passifier!
• In 2015 rogue DE Greg Hardy threw a temper tantrum on the sidelines and knocked a clipboard out of a coaches hands. Garrett wanted to discipline him butJerry publicly announced there would be no punishment and defended Hardy for his “passion”. Jerry undermined his HC and excused the player for his behavior.
• In 2014 wc round playoff game, Dez Bryant came onto the field to argue a PI call against the Cowboys that was later picked up. Dez should have been flagged for running on to the field. We caught a break there but it could have cost us the game. Jerry again defended Dez for his “passion”.

This list could go on. Again just my opinion but this team has lacked discipline for years and it shows in the penalty numbers.

 

[gtb1943]

Great question.
Here are the most penalized current Cowboys players so far this year:

• Tie for most penalties between Tyler Smith and Jayron Kearse, both with 7 each.
• Tyler’s penalties: 4 off holding, 2 false starts, and 1 unnecessary roughness.
• Kearse‘s penalties are 2 unnecessary roughness, 2 def holding, 1 offsides, 1 illegal contact and 1 taunting

Interesting that Tyler Smith and Jayron Kearse have 14 of the team’s 60 penalties; that’s nearly 1/4 of the team’s total penalties.

If interested in more player individual penalty numbers, here’s a great link:
https://www.nflpenalties.com/all-players.php?view=total&year=2023

That unnecessary roughness call on Tyler was truly BS

 

[Captain-Crash]

The Cowboys lead the league with a whopping 11 offsides penalties, 5 more than the next team.

Watch the last game, it looked like the defense was across the blue line on every play. shrugs

 

[gtb1943]

Lining up offsides is truly indefensible. That speaks to sloppiness and lack of discipline.

 

[Hennessy_King]

Bad coaching with zero accountability. This will always be the case with Jerry meddling in meetings

 

[CWR]

One word: Culture.

This is just my opinion obviously but I don’t think the coaches here in Big D are given free rein to address players fully for mistakes.

Examples of what I mean:

• In the 2021 WC round game loss against the niners, DE Randy Gregory was flagged multiple times for lining up offsides. It was insane. It was a contract year for RG and JJ wanted to resign him. Luckily the broncos outbid us and ended up cutting RG after one year of his contract.
• In 2017 when Zeke clearly loafed after an interception in the Denver game, the coaches wanted to punish Zeke for a lack of effort for loafing. Jerry was shown on the TV show “All or Nothing” at a coaches meeting overruling the coaches because “Zeke has been through too much”. Should have just issued a passifier!
• In 2015 rogue DE Greg Hardy threw a temper tantrum on the sidelines and knocked a clipboard out of a coaches hands. Garrett wanted to discipline him butJerry publicly announced there would be no punishment and defended Hardy for his “passion”. Jerry undermined his HC and excused the player for his behavior.
• In 2014 wc round playoff game, Dez Bryant came onto the field to argue a PI call against the Cowboys that was later picked up. Dez should have been flagged for running on to the field. We caught a break there but it could have cost us the game. Jerry again defended Dez for his “passion”.

This list could go on. Again just my opinion but this team has lacked discipline for years and it shows in the penalty numbers.

Very good points unfortunately the premise kind of, and I do mean kind of, conflicts with the idea MM can solve any of this.

He can preach attention to detail all he wants, but without repercussions some of these guys simply won't buy in 100%.

The neutral zone penalties kill me, because you can see it before it happens. As crap as the officiating was vs Philly Hankins could've been flagged half a dozen times. How stupid do you have to be to not slide your fat hand back and stay the hell out of the neutral zone?

 

[Captain-Crash]

Very good points unfortunately the premise kind of, and I do mean kind of, conflicts with the idea MM can solve any of this.

He can preach attention to detail all he wants, but without repercussions some of these guys simply won't buy in 100%.

The neutral zone penalties kill me, because you can see it before it happens. As crap as the officiating was vs Philly Hankins could've been flagged half a dozen times. How stupid do you have to be to not slide your fat hand back and stay the hell out of the neutral zone?

correct on the defensive line lining up offsides. I pointed that out to my wife the whole game. I guess the officials were being lenient.

So DQ isn't doing his job?

 

[JonesBoys]

Lining up in the neural zone to me should never happen and it happens a lot with this team. It's the lack of attention detail the last 3 years under McCarthy. He obviously either doesn't know to fix it or doesn't preach it. Either way it's the little details of the game that holds them back.

 

[CWR]

correct on the defensive line lining up offsides. I pointed that out to my wife the whole game. I guess the officials were being lenient.

So DQ isn't doing his job?

If I was an official I'd have told MM get your guys out of the neutral zone or you will be flagged. Instead they just chose one random play to call it. It was ridiculous and most of it was Hankins.

 

[links18]

"I don't coach penalties."--Bill Parcells.

 

[CowboyFrog]

just for fun...looked our boy conner williams....

2021 with dallas 14 for 145 (most penalties of any player)
2022 with miami 5 for 45
2023 with miami 5 for 48


I think we might be on to something!!!!

thats a telling stat for sure, obviously teams do know how to fix it...

 

[IceStar-D7]

What the numbers say and point to is discipline- or the lack of....

 

[Cincycowboy]

When you take the raw emotion out of the disappointment of the eagles loss, there are some interesting penalty numbers and patterns to discuss. This post is not intended to discuss the refs but to look at what kind of penalty patterns the Cowboys seem to be exhibiting in the Mike McCarthy era.

First of all, after 8 games the Cowboys are tied with the chiefs, bears, bills, and packers for the most penalties in the NFL with 60. The Cowboys are on pace this year to have over 120 penalties, averaging almost 8 penalties per game. I was never a Jason Garrett fan…ever…but Interestingly, under Garrett, the Cowboys never approached anything close to 120 penalties in a season.

What frustrates me the most about the Cowboys and penalties is their rash of pre-snap penalties. Over 1/3 of our penalties are pre-snap. In fact, the Cowboys lead the league in pre-snap penalties.

Here are some facts about our penalty patterns:

• The Cowboys lead the league with a whopping 11 offsides penalties, 5 more than the next team.
• We‘ve had 10 false starts so far.
• In 2021, the Cowboys led the league in penalties and in the one playoff game we had that year against the niners, we had 14 penalties, and 6 were pre-snap penalties, including…wait for it…5 neutral zone infractions.
• In 2022, the Cowboys finished in the top 5 in penalties.
• In 2023, the Cowboys are again leading the league in penalties.
• Again, not a Garrett fan at all, but in his era, the Cowboys usually finished between 15th and 24th in penalties.

I like a lot about what Mike McCarthy has brought to the Cowboys. We have an 11 game home winning streak, better responses to playing through injuries, and have had back to back 12 win seasons. But Mac MUST start addressing these penalty patterns…especially pre-snap penalties like false starts and lining up offsides.

If 1/3 of our penalties are pre-snap, with more attention in practice to addressing those problems we should get some improvement. Attention to detail matters regarding penalties!
Here’s the link to the info I used for this:
https://www.footballdb.com/stats/penalties.html?yr=2023

Players make mistakes, dumb players make dumb mistakes. Bill Parcells

 

[atlantacowboy]

Excellent post. Culture has a lot to do with winning, especially against the better teams.

IMO the Cowboys have enough talent to at least win a couple of playoff games in this season, maybe more. But they have shown for years they have a problem with a lack of focus, discipline and attention to detail and those are all critical in close games against equal or better opponents in the playoffs.

Holding on offense and defense, PI, and others like that are almost always judgement calls that could go either way. But the most inexcusable penalties are pre-snap lining up off-sides, delay of game, and false starts - all examples of a lack of focus and attention to detail. Like all NFL teams, some of the penalty calls we’ve had against us are questionable. But the pre-snap stuff is just stupid.

The culture of this franchise is burdened by a lack of accountability. Because when the people at the top of an organization are not held accountable for a lack of results, it means everyone else all the way down the chain is unaccountable. That is the heart of this team’s culture.

Oh there’s accountability. It just doesn’t extend to the front office which creates an organizational double standard the effects of which are seen in the soft underbelly of the team.

 

[shabazz]

When you take the raw emotion out of the disappointment of the eagles loss, there are some interesting penalty numbers and patterns to discuss. This post is not intended to discuss the refs but to look at what kind of penalty patterns the Cowboys seem to be exhibiting in the Mike McCarthy era.

First of all, after 8 games the Cowboys are tied with the chiefs, bears, bills, and packers for the most penalties in the NFL with 60. The Cowboys are on pace this year to have over 120 penalties, averaging almost 8 penalties per game. I was never a Jason Garrett fan…ever…but Interestingly, under Garrett, the Cowboys never approached anything close to 120 penalties in a season.

What frustrates me the most about the Cowboys and penalties is their rash of pre-snap penalties. Over 1/3 of our penalties are pre-snap. In fact, the Cowboys lead the league in pre-snap penalties.

Here are some facts about our penalty patterns:

• The Cowboys lead the league with a whopping 11 offsides penalties, 5 more than the next team.
• We‘ve had 10 false starts so far.
• In 2021, the Cowboys led the league in penalties and in the one playoff game we had that year against the niners, we had 14 penalties, and 6 were pre-snap penalties, including…wait for it…5 neutral zone infractions.
• In 2022, the Cowboys finished in the top 5 in penalties.
• In 2023, the Cowboys are again leading the league in penalties.
• Again, not a Garrett fan at all, but in his era, the Cowboys usually finished between 15th and 24th in penalties.

I like a lot about what Mike McCarthy has brought to the Cowboys. We have an 11 game home winning streak, better responses to playing through injuries, and have had back to back 12 win seasons. But Mac MUST start addressing these penalty patterns…especially pre-snap penalties like false starts and lining up offsides.

If 1/3 of our penalties are pre-snap, with more attention in practice to addressing those problems we should get some improvement. Attention to detail matters regarding penalties!
Here’s the link to the info I used for this:
https://www.footballdb.com/stats/penalties.html?yr=2023

In fact the Cowboys have been the 10th most penalized Team in the last 10 years. McCarthys first season was his best for penalties only ranking middle of the pack but his 2nd and 3rd have been atrocious finishing in the top 5 both times.

We can either blame coaching or the league

If a coach is responsible for team penalties than how is it possible for a team like the Raiders to lead the league in penalties since 2010 when they have had 6 different Head coaches?

Btw, the Cowboys are the 4th most penalized team since 2010 so it’s not just McCarthy centric

Bottom line is that there is a nameless , faceless factor that has led to this phenomenon……but if I had to guess it would be the owners of the Cowboys and Raiders and their disputes with the NFL front offices that are the nameless, faceless reason