The Cowboys are the second-most penalized team in the NFL this season. On near countless occasions ill-timed penalties on defense have extended opponent drives. Pre-snap penalties have needlessly set the chains back on offense and given up easy yards on defense. Overall lack of focus has made easy situations much more difficult and everybody knows, Dallas doesn’t need to make things any more difficult for themselves than they already are.
In many ways, the Cowboys are victims of their own foolishness. Penalties are often matters of discipline. Whether that blame falls on the players who commit them or the coaches who do/don’t hold them accountable, depends on who you speak to. Former Cowboys coach Bill Parcells didn’t think it was on him to reduce penalties:
“I don’t coach penalties,” Parcells said in 2004. “You’ve got to blame the players for the penalties.”
Given Mike McCarthy’s track record with penalties in the NFL, Parcells might be right. As Saad Yousuf pointed out in The Athletic, McCarthy’s Packers were 20th in the NFL in penalties during his tenure. Since coming to the Cowboys in 2020, his team is the second-most penalized team. Perhaps penalties aren’t a coach’s stat and really are based on the players.
Yet at some point someone has to drive home the message. Players need to understand the impact of their infractions and feel pressure to improve. If that pressure isn’t coming from their peers, then it has to come from the coaching staff.
The Cowboys currently lead the NFL in defensive offside, illegal motion, leverage, clipping and roughing the kicker penalties. While the pre-snap penalties are egregious and wholly inexcusable, it’s the drive extending penalties on defense that seem to hurt most – penalties that occur when the Cowboys are in an advantageous position, be it on third down, fourth down, or just have the offense backed up. They take a situation which would otherwise offer a change of possession and replace it with a fresh set of downs for the opponent.
Situational awareness seems to be missing from this team.
It may be too late in the season to fix certain technique issues and those lazy pre-snap concentration issues but what about situational awareness? When Rick Carlisle was coaching the Dallas Mavericks, he realized very quickly they’d never be the defensive juggernaut he wanted them to be. He decided to focus on situational defense for his offensive minded team. By identifying key moments and possessions of the game, he would pick his moments to light a fire and spark special attention to detail for his ball club. They didn’t need to be a good defensive team all the time, just at the right time.
Penalties have plagued the Cowboys all season long and with just two weeks left in the regular season, that isn’t likely to change. But is a little situational awareness too much to ask? Easier demands may provide more realistic results.
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