Making sense of the Cowboys’ penalty problems popping up again

The Dallas Cowboys might have gotten the win this week, dealing with the Carolina Panthers with relative ease, however one of many extra regarding traits of the previous few years popped up once more: penalties. The Cowboys had been flagged 14 occasions and gave up 99 yards in penalties, although it didn’t actually influence the sport itself.

Nonetheless, penalties have been a typical gripe in Dallas. It’s usually been attributed to Mike McCarthy, largely as a result of the pinnacle coach spoke so usually about wanting to chop down on penalties throughout and shortly after the 2021 season. Nevertheless, as we broke down earlier this yr, penalties weren’t an issue for McCarthy in Inexperienced Bay, whereas they’ve usually been a recurring concern for the Cowboys during the last decade and a half no matter coach.

What’s fascinating is that the penalties had develop into much less of a difficulty than common for the Cowboys this season. Let’s check out their week-by-week breakdown of penalties for the yr:

Coming into this sport with the Panthers, the Cowboys had performed 5 straight video games the place they had been both penalized as a lot or lower than their opponent. Moreover, over their previous eight video games, the Cowboys had only one sport the place they had been penalized greater than the opponent.

When issues kicked off in opposition to Carolina, the Cowboys had been ninth in complete penalties referred to as in opposition to them. That won’t sound nice, however Dallas has been high 5 in penalties every of the final three seasons, so ninth is making actual progress. After the sport, although, the Cowboys moved again as much as fourth. That’s a giant climb, however 14 penalties in a single sport will try this.

What if I advised you that it isn’t a giant deal, although? Or, at the least, not as huge of a deal because it appears. Penalties are definitely unhealthy. They will kill promising offensive drives or wipe out huge defensive stops. The Cowboys noticed each occur this week, too. However with a lot of the dialog specializing in what number of penalties have been referred to as in opposition to them, the main target ought to as an alternative be on web penalties.

What does that imply? Simply because the chart above seems to be on the Cowboys’ penalties and their opponents’ penalties, web penalties tracks the distinction in penalties between groups. This provides vital context as to the general influence of the penalties being referred to as.

Take the sport in opposition to the Texans, for instance. Each groups had been flagged 9 occasions, and the Cowboys had been assessed 66 penalty yards to the Texans’ 99 penalty yards. Within the grand scheme of issues, penalties didn’t actually harm both workforce in that sport. Now, within the case of the Thanksgiving sport in opposition to the Giants, Dallas had roughly half the penalties and penalty yards as their opponent, making that one in every of a number of benefits that went the Cowboys’ method in that sport.

Clearly, web penalties don’t all the time equate to wins. The Cowboys had been the much less penalized workforce in opposition to the Saints, Ravens, and Lions and acquired blown out by all three of them. But when we’re speaking about actual influence of penalties, and any try to color one workforce or one other as notably undisciplined, now we have to consider the total image. Internet penalties helps to perform that.

So the place do the Cowboys stand in web penalties? Glorious query! With three weeks left to go within the season, Dallas has the fourth-best web penalty standing at +13. That signifies that, on the entire, opponents have been referred to as for 13 extra penalties than the Cowboys. The three groups forward of them are the Vikings, Steelers, and Rams, all led by head coaches who’re within the working for Coach of the 12 months honors.

Simply as vital, the Cowboys are fourth in web penalty yards at +137. They’re behind the Vikings, Steelers, and Payments right here. Penalty yardage numbers may be skewed due to the various kinds of penalties – a pair actually lengthy cross interference penalties can utterly corrupt this knowledge – however it’s nonetheless vital to concentrate to because it tracks the precise yardage influence.

A number of the worst groups within the league are close to the underside in a single or each of those classes, too. The Titans, Patriots, Jets, and Browns all discover themselves inside the backside 10 in each web penalties and web penalty yards. Paradoxically, the Ravens and Eagles are the 2 worst in each, although it hasn’t impacted their data.

For individuals who are questioning, the Cowboys have had a detrimental web penalty quantity every of the final three years, which isn’t shocking given how closely penalized they’ve been. However this yr has been a real reversal of fortunes, with simply 4 video games all yr seeing them draw extra flags than the opponent.

That doesn’t change the truth that the Cowboys performed a sloppy sport in opposition to the Panthers, the place they drew practically double the quantity of flags. A few of that could be attributed to the protection seeking to pad their stats, as Greg Olsen defined on the published, however it doesn’t make it any much less irritating to look at.

Nonetheless, once we view this season in its complete context, the Cowboys have made large strides with reference to penalties. In the event that they handle to complete this season with a constructive web penalty quantity, it’ll be a primary underneath McCarthy. It might even be the primary time the Cowboys have accomplished so for the reason that 2017 season. That accomplishment shouldn’t go unnoticed.