DMN Blog: Penalty problems

If there's one thing that the Cowboys could do something about that really -- really -- killed them yesterday it was the yellow flags flying from the hands of officials.

Twelve of them yesterday, plenty of them backbreakers. Here's the breakdown:

Offsides: 4
False start: 2
Offensive holding: 2
Offensive pass interference: 1
Defensive pass interference: 1
Illegal shift: 1
Roughing the passer: 1

OK, so let's classify them like this -- the offside, false start and illegal shift penalties are pretty black-and-white (though there is some "who jumped?" judgment involved). The holding, pass interference and roughing calls are more based on an official's judgment. So of the 12 penalties, five were of the judgment call vareity and some Cowboys would argue those aren't really totally in their control. Either way, they know it needs to be cleaned up.

"You beat yourself in so many ways. That’s the problem," Romo said. "Against a team like that, you can’t give them that kind of advantage and when you do that, you’re fighting an even more uphill battle. We’ve been able to get away with that because we’re a pretty good football team. Against a team like that, I don’t think we can. I think game could’ve been a little different."

Posted by Albert Breer at 3:45 PM (E-mail this entry) | Comments (9)