Cowboys DE DeMarcus Lawrence: Referees aren’t doing their jobs

Dallas Cowboys defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence is fed up and he’s not going to take it anymore. At least not quietly.

The NFL’s sack leader ripped the officiating crew after the Cowboys’ 30-10 win over the New York Giants Sunday afternoon for not calling any holding calls. Actually, the Giants were called for holding once. But that’s not good enough for Lawrence.

“The refs are out there for nothing so we just came out and did our job,” said Lawrence, who has  13 1/2 sacks. “I didn’t seeing 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.”

Lawrence said there’s an unfair double-standard with the league’s alteration of rules to help protect quarterbacks while defensive linemen continue to be abused. Sunday’s game was called by Walt Anderson’s crew.

“I have a family to come home to. If you’re trying protect quarterbacks, you’ve got to protect me too,” he said. “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.”

There have been two holding calls on the line of scrimmage against Cowboys’ opponents in the past 10 games, including one Sunday and on Nov. 30 against the Redskins. In the same stretch, the Cowboys’ offensive line and tight ends have been called for holding 18 times, including Jason Witten once on Sunday.

“When’s the last time you heard: ‘Holding, offense,” he asked. “[Expletive] the refs, and that’s all I’m going to say.”

This story was originally published December 10, 2017 at 4:37 PM with the headline "Cowboys DE DeMarcus Lawrence: Referees aren’t doing their jobs."