Dallas Cowboys will need to focus on themselves, not officials, in playoffs | Opinion
If attitude reflects leadership, then the problem with the Dallas Cowboys starts at the top.
Listening to the newly-crowned NFC East champions continually cry about the officials and penalties it seems as if the team is looking for an excuse to hang on their foreboding failure.
It has been a nonstop wail since Sunday’s 25-22 loss to Arizona Cardinals in a game in which the Cowboys were healthy and the opposition was missing several key starters due to injuries and COVID-19.
Coach Mike McCarthy set the tone for the narrative when he told the Cowboys after the game that they have to learn to beat the opposing team — as well as the officials.
A Cowboys team that has yet to learn how to play their best football in the biggest games and biggest moments was all too eager to latch on to that point of view.
“We’ll play against 11 and the others if we have to,” said quarterback Dak Prescott, in a not-so-veiled reference to the referees. “I’ve become accustomed to it, honestly.”
The Cowboys were penalized 10 times for 88 yards in the game, and officials declined to review a possible Arizona fumble late in the fourth quarter.
“I don’t know if we ever get things to necessarily go our way, but we can’t sit there and gripe about it,” Prescott said. “You’ve just got to play the hand that you’re dealt and try to overcome those things and don’t put yourselves in those situations.”
Yes, let’s talk a bit about that last part.
Sunday’s flag fest was not the first for the Cowboys this season. They lead the NFL in penalties with 122 and have racked up 1,059 penalty yards, which is only seven behind the Las Vegas Raiders. The Cowboys also have a league-high 26 offensive holding flags after picking up four more against the Cardinals.
So what about personal accountability?
The team’s once-dominant offensive linemen have committed a combined 52 penalties. That’s not a league problem. That’s a line problem.
Do the Cowboys really think that the NFL is going out its way to sabotage its richest and most popular team by constantly throwing flags at them?
But that’s exactly what the Cowboys and some fans would have you believe.
The real answer is that the Cowboys need to coach better and play better.
Don’t jump offside on a key third down. Turn your head around when you are defending a receiver on a deep route. And don’t false start or have your best offensive lineman commit holding penalties on crucial downs.
Seven of the first eight penalties called against the Cowboys last Sunday came on third-down plays.
“You can’t get a rhythm,” receiver CeeDee Lamb said. “You can’t move the ball. Every big play was called back because of some kind of call. The refs, I feel like, dictated that game. It’s no secret. We couldn’t get a rhythm. The refs wouldn’t let us get a rhythm.”
What the Cowboys didn’t say was that an obvious false start on center Tyler Biadasz cost them a touchdown opportunity in the red zone in the first quarter and it was followed by a missed 43-yard field goal by kicker Greg Zuerlein, who has missed six field goals and five extra points this season.
No matter how you twist it, Zuerlein is definitely not an “officials” problem.
What the Cowboys didn’t say was that one of Arizona’s touchdowns was aided by a perfectly executed fake punt deep in their own territory. If the Cowboys had not been asleep on special teams, it could have been a short field and game-changing moment.
What the Cowboys failed to mention was the neutral zone infraction on defensive end Randy Gregory in third quarter after the Cardinals were stopped on third down. It looked as though they were going to be forced to kick a field goal, but the second opportunity turned into a 19-yard touchdown pass.
There was also a dropped interception in the end zone by safety Jayron Kearse that would have kept the Cardinals from getting a field goal in a third quarter, a fumble by quarterback Dak Prescott in the fourth quarter that led to a another field goal.
And in regards to that Prescott fumble that the officials refused to look at on replay, don’t get out-coached and leave yourselves naked without a timeout, preventing you from challenging it yourself.
The Cardinals made the Cowboys burn a timeout in the third quarter when they feigned going for it on fourth down by keeping their offense on the field because the Cowboys had already run their defensive field goal unit out there.
It was move that came back to bite the Cowboys when they needed a timeout the most.
Every team deals with penalties, unfortunate calls and bounces.
Championship teams find a way to adapt and overcome.
If the Cowboys are going to make this a super season with a long run in the playoffs they will have to make it happen by placing a renewed focus on fundamentals and a consistent level of attention to detail that they have yet to show.
The time for fixing these issues is now. The playoffs are almost here, and accountability is what matters because they don’t hang excuses from the rafters at AT&T Stadium.
