How much could DeMarcus Lawrence pay for his rant against officials?

Dallas Cowboys defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence could be staring at a hefty fine for his rant against officials after Sunday’s game.

Lawrence used some colorful language to express his displeasure with the lack of holding penalties called against opposing offensive linemen and tight ends in recent weeks.

“The refs are out there for nothing so we just came out and did our job,” said Lawrence, who ranks second in the league with 13  1/2 sacks. “I didn’t see a holding call in the last five games and it’s ridiculous that the refs are out here just looking at me getting tackled by offensive linemen. It’s like, ‘C’mon, if you’re going to be out here, do your job.’

“I have a family to come home to. If you’re trying protect quarterbacks, you’ve got to protect me too. If you’re going to do it, you have to do it on both sides. If you’re going to call some BS on my O-line, you got to call on their O-line too.”

Those comments likely won’t sit well with the league and Lawrence is subject to a fine. The question is how much.

The league has no sliding scale such as the collectively bargained fine schedule for on-field violations such as taunting or hits to the head. A verbal or non-physical offense against an official during a game carries a fine of $24,309.

A year ago, the NFL fined Redskins cornerback Josh Norman $25,000 for criticizing officials in a postgame interview. In a letter to Norman informing him of his fine, the league stated that Commissioner Roger Goodell determined he engaged in conduct “detrimental to the integrity of, or public confidence in, the game of professional football.”

So Lawrence could be subject to a fine in that $25,000 range, although the league sometimes gives players more leeway in their postgame remarks because of the emotions involved immediately after.

Either way, Lawrence appears to have no regrets for his strong words.

On his Twitter account, @TankLawrence, he wrote: “Film don’t lie!!!!!#SorryNotSorry.”

The previous post on his Twitter account was a similar rant by Steelers safety Mike Mitchell.

Even though Lawrence is in the midst of a career year, he has been slowed of late. He has just three sacks in the last six games after starting the season with 10  1/2 in the first seven. The Cowboys didn’t sack Giants quarterback Eli Manning on Sunday, and haven’t had sacks in three of their last four games.

The Star-Telegram reached out to the NFL for a response to Lawrence’s comments that has yet to be returned.

Coach Jason Garrett attempted to downplay Lawrence’s rant, saying he hadn’t seen it during his Monday news conference.

Garrett danced around a question whether Lawrence had a fair point about the lack of holding penalties. The Cowboys’ D-line has drawn just two holding penalties in the past 10 games. In that same stretch, Cowboys offensive linemen and tight ends have been called for 18 holds.

The Giants were called for one holding penalty on Sunday, and the Redskins were also flagged once in the previous game. But the Cowboys had a stretch of eight games where no holding penalties were called on opposing linemen or tight ends.

“It’s not something that I really want to talk about, other than to say we always have good dialogue with the league on things that we have issues about,” Garrett said. “They do a great job allowing us to communicate with them. On this issue and other issues, we try to communicate with them and maybe get to the bottom of it. But it’s our job to coach and play, it’s their job to officiate.”

This story was originally published December 11, 2017 at 8:57 PM with the headline "How much could DeMarcus Lawrence pay for his rant against officials?."