The Dallas Cowboys have real reasons to complain since referees rarely call penalties in their favor! Should they complain or not? Let’s take a look.
In the game against the Philadelphia Eagles, the Dallas Cowboys recorded the fewest beneficial penalties in the entire league! To make things even worse, the team also had the fewest yards in their favor. That sparked off debates whether the league is conspiring against the Dallas alongside with Roger Goodell. Even though this assumption is a long stretch, let’s see if the Cowboys have a legitimate reason to think so.
Let’s start with penalties. The Dallas Cowboys had 53 penalties called in favor of them ahead of their game on Sunday. Considering that Cowboys amassed 56 penalties in their favor, and there are only three teams with only one more penalty called in their favor (57), we believe that they do not have a legitimate reason to complain about that.
Moving on, the question of yardage. Before the Sunday game, they had a total of 386 beneficial yards. Today they have 416 yards. Going into Sunday match, they had a gap of almost 100 yards behind everyone else.
Therefore, maybe this is the field where the Cowboys could have the leverage to do something. On the other hand, now they are only 50 yards behind the next closest rival.
Looking back at the number of penalties, the Cowboys don’t have strong enough reasons to complain but, consider timing! Pay attention to the timing and the type! That’s where the Dallas franchise should look if they want to build a solid case.
Look at the number of times refs called for holding penalties opposing offensive lines. You can’t come up with the figure? Well, that number is zero. Zero calls in the last 29 quarters.
A total of 29 quarters have passed since the last time an offensive line held a Dallas defensive player. You most likely have good vision and general perception, so you saw that in those 29 quarters numerous times there were holding calls that weren’t “noticed” by the referees. And there were some really obvious, textbook holding calls. This is just the tip of the iceberg or the first reason why the Cowboys have a real case.
The lack of pass interference. The reason number two. In previous two games, Dez Bryant got destroyed while running a route. At least they could have called a defenseless player penalty once. And that’s the very least they could have done. But nothing was called. These were so obvious that you didn’t have to see a replay of the situation.
Last but not least, the platter of facemask penalties that went uncalled on Alfred Morris and Dak Prescott. I mean, come on, we all saw the shot to Dak’s head during the last game. And nothing was called. These calls were obvious, and the flag should have been thrown. Yet, that didn’t happen.
Taking account all of this, the Cowboys might have actual reasons to appeal to the league. These missed calls weren’t all at vital points in the game. But some happened at the crucial moment of the match such as third downs, in the red zone or during a long drive that killed a rhythm they had.
Referee mistakes happen, but come one, 29 quarters straight? That’s a bit too obvious. Can you remember the last time that happened to another team? We surely can’t.
However, the fight between Jerry Jones and Roger Goodell probably has nothing to do with this. We will go so far as to say that such a thought is foolish and silly. We know that there are many fans that believe in this but it just isn’t reasonable to think that Goodell would do such thing. But, if the Cowboys play another game or two without a holding call… We might even consider that option. In the end, we shouldn’t be surprised if that turns out to be the truth. A grand total of 29 quarters is a pretty long period of time.
