Poorly Timed Penalties
Penalties have continued to be an issue for the Cowboys this season, and came at some inopportune times for Dallas on Thursday against Detroit.
On Dallas’ second drive of the game, KaVontae Turpin was penalized for an illegal fair catch signal, his second such call in as many weeks, and a holding call stacked on top of that caused the Cowboys to start the drive at their own five. Dak Prescott was nearly brought down for a safety on third down, but was able to keep the ball out of the end zone while sacked by Jack Campbell, allowing Bryan Anger to come on and punt.
Another instance came while the Cowboys were moving down the field approaching the two-minute warning in the first half. George Pickens beat his defender deep, drawing pass interference that would’ve set Dallas up with goal-to-go. It was nullified by a Jake Ferguson hands to the face penalty, as both fouls offset.
Those were just a pair of examples, as Dallas finished the night with seven penalties for 76 total yards. One call that they didn’t believe went in their favor was a Jake Ferguson offensive pass interference penalty, which cost them potential points.
“I’m sorry, that was bad,” QB Dak Prescott said of the call postgame. “I got to look at the film, maybe I can see it from their vantage point. I know I talked to the ref after, he said [Ferguson] aggressively pulled through. I’ve never seen a call like that.”
©2025 James D. Smith/Dallas Cowboys/©2025 James D. Smith/Dallas Cowboys