NFL Network analysts aren’t ‘panicked’ about Cowboys’ preseason penalties

Sadly, the Dallas Cowboys and penalties have become synonymous in the last year. They were the most penalized team in the entire league last year with 127 in the regular season. As if that weren’t enough, they brought the lack of discipline to the playoffs, collecting a total of 14 flags, which tied for the highest number of penalties during a playoff game in NFL history.

With a serious focus on cleaning up the yellow laundry this year, Mike McCarthy assured Cowboys Nation that penalties would be a serious offseason focus. Ironically, the front office drafted one of the most penalized players in all of college football with their first-round pick of Tyler Smith, but there was still hope.

That hope was squashed when the Cowboys went out and collected 17 penalties in their first preseason game. That doesn’t even include times when there were multiple flags on one play or times when the Broncos declined a penalty. From pre-snap penalties to special teams to everywhere in between, it was a mess.

Some argued that it’s just the preseason and no one should be focusing too closely on these games. Others, like ESPN’s Mike Tannenbaum, said McCarthy is writing his own death sentence with the continued lack of discipline.

The team at NFL Network’s “NFL Total Access” doesn’t agree with Tannenbaum. In a recent segment titled the “Preseason Panic Room,” the crew discussed whether people should be “hitting the panic button” on the Cowboys’ penalty situation. The topic was debated by M.J. Acosta, LaDainian Tomlinson, Scott Pioli, and Mike Garafolo.

Surprisingly, everyone but Acosta didn’t seem to feel the need to panic.

NFL Network analysts don’t feel fans need to panic about the Cowboys’ penalty issues… yet

After game two of the preseason, the Cowboys have a total of 25 penalties. Having only 8 flags in game two is certainly an improvement. We can hope this is just early jitters, but there’s no way to know.

Tomlinson said we shouldn’t be judging the season based on “practice” and noted that the team decreased the flags by over half in second game.

“I just gotta believe Mike McCarthy is harping on this to his guys every day. So they gotta be thinking about it and correct it,” Tomlinson said.

Pioli pointed out that 47 of the 127 penalties from last year were pre-snap penalties. That ranked Dallas in the bottom five of the entire league with horrifically bad teams like the Lions, Panthers, and Jaguars. However, to the former GM, pre-snap penalties are more fixable and teachable than others.

Garofolo said he isn’t panicking because of who made the penalties. According to his math, only three players with penalties so far are people he projects to be starters for Dallas.

“I can’t hit the panic button when the guys making these mistakes are at 54 and lower on the roster right now,” the NFL insider said.

How do you feel about the penalty situation? Will things be better when the regular season starts?