Unsportsmanlike conduct penalties have become a priority for the NFL this summer, and we saw a couple examples of how referees won’t tolerate them in Thursday night’s season-opening game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys. All-Pro Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter, arguably the best player on the field, was tossed out before the first snap after spitting on Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott.

It was an incident both team captain Jalen Hurts and head coach Nick Sirianni addressed with Carter after the game, and he may face a suspension from the league office. But it wasn’t just this one bad decision. Eagles linebacker Nolan Smith was fouled for taunting later in the second quarter, turning what had been a tackle for no gain into a 15-yard pickup. Dallas took the lead with a field goal a few minutes later. Smith was fouled for roughing the passer on the Cowboys’ final drive of the second half, helping them to set up another field goal. All told, the Eagles combined for nine fouls and 110 penalty yards with an ejection, narrowly escaping with a 24-20 win that felt a lot closer than it was.

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All of those self-inflicted wounds weren’t lost on first-year New Orleans Saints head coach Kellen Moore, who won the Super Bowl last year with the Eagles. He was watching the game on TV like everyone else, and all of those personal fouls stacking up for Philly gave him pause. Moore told Saints beat reporters that he touched on several situational points of emphasis during Friday morning’s team meeting, and “that was certainly one of the things we had to address. Whatever our opinions are (are) irrelevant at this point. There’s a couple penalties and situations even from last night that obviously can be really good teaching moments for us.”

Hopefully it won’t be a problem with veteran referee Scott Novak and his crew on assignment this Sunday. Moore and his coaching staff have plenty to worry about with installing new playbooks and working with new players. The more they can do to eliminate penalties and avoid hurting themselves, the better off they’ll be. It’s a big challenge for any new coaching staff. But with the Saints facing so much scrutiny, it would be awful encouraging to see them play clean football and pull off an upset in Week 1.

This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: Saints HC Kellen Moore on ‘teaching moments’ from penalty-prone Eagles