Dallas Cowboys’ Travis Frederick doesn’t think he committed that tripping penalty
Dallas Cowboys center Travis Frederick said he is not allowed to talk about officiating, which is not entirely true.
He can say whatever he wants. He will just be fined if he’s critical of the refs.
Frederick was deliberately kind, and vague, about his tripping penalty at a critical point in the Cowboys’ 13-9 loss to the New England Patriots on Sunday.
I asked Frederick if he believes he committed the penalty.
“I don’t believe so, but that’s not my call to make,” he said.
That’s as close to the line as he would walk.
Replays showed he is right; he committed no penalty.
The Cowboys had seemingly just converted a third and 1 from their own 35-yard line for a first down with two minutes remaining in the game. They were trying to drive for the game-winning touchdown.
But on running back Ezekiel Elliott’s catch, Frederick was called for the rare tripping call. A 10-yard penalty was assessed, and it put the Cowboys 11 yards away from a first down.
He tried to alert the referee for a chat and specifically to ask him a question.
“You are looking for an explanation, so that does not happen again,” Frederick said. “If that’s a call that’s going to be called, I want to know what they are looking for, so I can learn from that and make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
The Cowboys ran two more plays, and both of Dak Prescott’s passes fell incomplete.
In terms of officiating, the stat sheet said the game was a wash. The Cowboys were penalized seven times for 50 yards; the Patriots were penalized six times for 56 yards.
It was the tripping calls that are a trip. It’s a rare penalty, and the Cowboys were called for it twice.
On a second-and-13 play from their own 29-yard line in the first quarter, Cowboys left tackle Tyron Smith was called for tripping.
Replays showed Smith didn’t commit that particular penalty. Two plays later, the Patriots blocked a punt and turned that field position into a touchdown pass.
When asked about the two tripping penalties, Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett could only say, “I’ve never seen that before.”
This story was originally published November 24, 2019 at 10:19 PM.
