Cowboys Controversial Calls Fix? Coach Mike McCarthy Has Radical Roughing Penalty Solution

Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy has chimed in on the NFL's perceived problem with big-yardage penalties.

Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy believes that the perfect solution to the NFL's perceived problem with excessive yellow flags is countering them with a barrage of red. 

Offensive heroics are more prevalent than ever in today's NFL, but perhaps the most notable ... and undoubtedly the most talked-about... producers of big yardage in recent contests have been induced by penalty flags, namely those for roughing the passer. 

Such a call partly influenced the Atlanta Falcons' Sunday loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, as Grady Jarrett was flagged 15 yards for a seemingly ordinary takedown of Tom Brady. Controversy reigned for just over 30 hours, but only because an arguably more egregious call ... Chris Jones' fumble-inducing takedown of Derek Carr that turned Troy Aikman into the fashion police ... marred the Monday night showdown between the Kansas City Chiefs and Las Vegas Raiders (though Jones' Chiefs brushed off the call to earn a 30-29 win). 

With the supposed preferential treatment of quarterbacks coinciding with a new focus on player safety in the wake of Tua Tagovailoa's devastating head injury, many have proposed solutions in the name of finding a perfect balance between physicality and welfare. A particularly popular solution has been to allow replay reviews on roughing the passer calls. 

McCarthy wants to take things a step ... heck, several steps ... further.

"Any foul 15 yards, or more, should be reviewable," McCarthy declared on Wednesday at The Star.

Alas for Dallas fans, McCarthy might be an expert in penalty flags: since he took over the Cowboys' top headset in 2020, the team has been flagged on 255 occasions, the third-worst rate in the league in that span (behind only Arizona and Las Vegas). Dallas has lost 4,186 yards on those calls, including yardage on declined charges.

But McCarthy's request is not unprecedented: the league briefly allowed reviews on pass interference penalties (which carries a spot of the foul charge if called on the defense) during the 2019 season after the controversial ending to the preceding NFC Championship Game. 

Time will tell exactly how the NFL plans to move forward. McCarthy's solution is at least a specific, if not radical, request that will likely find over amongst some of his contemporaries. The roughing the passer call, one of the NFL's major 15-yard infractions, was assessed on 154 occasions last season according to NFLPenalties.com, nearly doubling the count of 79 charged in 2010. 

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Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter

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