Penalties have been a big talking point for the Dallas Cowboys as of late.
The Dallas Cowboys may have gotten the win this week, handling the Carolina Panthers with relative ease, but one of the more concerning trends of the last few years popped up again: penalties. The Cowboys were flagged 14 times and gave up 99 yards in penalties, though it didn’t really impact the game itself.
Still, penalties have been a common gripe in Dallas. It’s often been attributed to Mike McCarthy, mostly because the head coach spoke so often about wanting to cut down on penalties during and shortly after the 2021 season. However, as we broke down earlier this year, penalties were not a problem for McCarthy in Green Bay, while they have generally been a recurring issue for the Cowboys over the last decade and a half regardless of coach.
What’s interesting is that the penalties had become less of an issue than usual for the Cowboys this season. Let’s take a look at their week-by-week breakdown of penalties for the year:
Coming into this game with the Panthers, the Cowboys had played five straight games where they were either penalized as much or less than their opponent. Additionally, over their past eight games, the Cowboys had just one game where they were penalized more than the opponent.
When things kicked off against Carolina, the Cowboys were ninth in total penalties called against them. That may not sound great, but Dallas has been top five in penalties each of the last three seasons, so ninth is making real progress. After the game, though, the Cowboys moved back up to fourth. That’s a big climb, but 14 penalties in one game will do that.
What if I told you that it isn’t a big deal, though? Or, at least, not as big of a deal as it seems. Penalties are certainly bad. They can kill promising offensive drives or wipe out big defensive stops. The Cowboys saw both happen this week, too. But with so much of the conversation focusing on how many penalties have been called against them, the focus should instead be on net penalties.
What does that mean? Just as the chart above looks at the Cowboys’ penalties and their opponents’ penalties, net penalties tracks the difference in penalties between teams. This adds important context as to the overall impact of the penalties being called.
Take the game against the Texans, for example. Both teams were flagged nine times, and the Cowboys were assessed 66 penalty yards to the Texans’ 99 penalty yards. In the grand scheme of things, penalties didn’t really hurt either team in that game. Now, in the case of the Thanksgiving game against the Giants, Dallas had roughly half the penalties and penalty yards as their opponent, making that one of several advantages that went the Cowboys’ way in that game.
Obviously, net penalties don’t always equate to wins. The Cowboys were the less penalized team against the Saints, Ravens, and Lions and got blown out by all three of them. But if we’re talking about real impact of penalties, and any attempt to paint one team or another as particularly undisciplined, we have to take into account the full picture. Net penalties helps to accomplish that.
So where do the Cowboys stand in net penalties? Excellent question! With three weeks left to go in the season, Dallas has the fourth-best net penalty standing at +13. That means that, on the whole, opponents have been called for 13 more penalties than the Cowboys. The three teams ahead of them are the Vikings, Steelers, and Rams, all led by head coaches who are in the running for Coach of the Year honors.
Just as important, the Cowboys are fourth in net penalty yards at +137. They’re behind the Vikings, Steelers, and Bills here. Penalty yardage numbers can be skewed because of the different types of penalties – a couple really long pass interference penalties can completely corrupt this data – but it’s still important to pay attention to since it tracks the actual yardage impact.
Some of the worst teams in the league are near the bottom in one or both of these categories, too. The Titans, Patriots, Jets, and Browns all find themselves within the bottom 10 in both net penalties and net penalty yards. Ironically, the Ravens and Eagles are the two worst in both, though it hasn’t impacted their records.
For those who are wondering, the Cowboys have had a negative net penalty number each of the last three years, which isn’t surprising given how heavily penalized they’ve been. But this year has been a genuine reversal of fortunes, with just four games all year seeing them draw more flags than the opponent.
That doesn’t change the fact that the Cowboys played a sloppy game against the Panthers, where they drew nearly double the amount of flags. Some of that may be attributed to the defense looking to pad their stats, as Greg Olsen explained on the broadcast, but it doesn’t make it any less frustrating to watch.
Still, when we view this season in its total context, the Cowboys have made huge strides with regards to penalties. If they manage to finish this season with a positive net penalty number, it’ll be a first under McCarthy. It would also be the first time the Cowboys have done so since the 2017 season. That accomplishment should not go unnoticed.
