Cowboys HC Mike McCarthy tries to spin penalty situation in presser

Last year, the Dallas Cowboys were the most penalized team in the entire league with 127 total penalties for 1,103 yards in the regular season. Fans and analysts questioned the team’s discipline and overall leadership from Mike McCarthy.

Then, with eyes set on a deep playoff run, the team committed another14 penalties in the Wild Card loss to the San Francisco 49ers. Those 14 flags tied for the most number of penalties during a playoff game in NFL history.

After the loss, the direct quote from the Cowboys head coach was:

“Our No. 1 focus going forward is the penalties. There were far too many.”

McCarthy even invited an officiating crew to spend time with his team in Oxnard in order to help him, his staff, and his players learn more about flags and what referees are looking for — a solid step in reconciling what happened last year.

Yet, when it was time for the Cowboys to show off all they’d been working on since January 16, the story was exactly the same. In their first preseason game against Denver, Dallas had 17 penalties for 129 yards — five penalties more than the next closest team in Week 1 of the preseason. Plus, the 17 penalties only account for the ones that were accepted. There were more flags thrown that the Broncos declined and there were times when there were multiple penalties on a single play.

You can say the starters weren’t playing. You can say it’s early. You can say rookies need a chance to get their bearings. But when the motto from the coach is “fix the penalties” and you start 2022 with 17, it’s concerning. However, McCarthy tried to play it off in the press conference despite his visible frustration during the game.

Mike McCarthy claims 17 preseason game penalties don’t have “anything to do with last year”

Instead of owning the fact that the penalties were concerning, McCarthy blamed it on the preseason and went so far as to say the flags had nothing to do with last year. With a plethora of flags for things like holding, offside, taunting, and more, how can the lack of discipline from last year not be relevant to this preseason game?

The Cowboys head coach continued to say the media is going to write what they want as if his team’s 17 penalties weren’t a huge headline from the contest. Now, McCarthy’s response isn’t exactly surprising. A coach is trained to give cookie-cutter responses that keep the peace.

It feels like McCarthy truly felt the penalties were a result of young players adjusting to the NFL rather than disciplinary issues. On the other hand, he was quick to bench a veteran for a flag he deemed egregious.

Dante Fowler Jr. committed a personal foul penalty in the second quarter for pushing a player. The penalty led to a Broncos touchdown. That, to McCarthy, showed a lack of control. 

"“That’s a discipline penalty,” McCarthy told reporters after the game, per the team site. “Frankly, that’s why Dante was done for the night after that. We can’t have that.”"

The coach can blame it on young players. He can blame it on the preseason. But the reality is that every other NFL team sat their starters, too, and no one else came close to the number of penalties the Cowboys committed. If this was the No. 1 priority for the 2022 offseason, it doesn’t seem to be going well.

McCarthy’s seat is already hot, and it’s only going to get hotter if he continues to let his players play “flag football” instead of tough, controlled NFL football.