Cowboys Dante Fowler: 1st Benched, Now Fined By NFL for Roughness Penalty

Dante Fowler committed a foul that McCarthy considered so heinous that the vet defensive end was benched.

Now it just seems like the NFL is rubbing it in.

The Dallas Cowboys began this preseason in the same manner in which they exited last postseason: With a flag-marred loss.

Coach Mike McCarthy is insisting one has nothing to do with the other - "You write what you want,'' he stubbornly told us after Saturday's 17-7 defeat here in Denver - and in at least one sense, he is right.

Dante Fowler committed a foul that McCarthy considered so heinous that the vet defensive end was benched. And Fowler, the 28-year-old former Pro Bowler, wasn't on this team last year.

So yeah. There is no connection in this particular example.

"That's a discipline penalty," McCarthy us after the game. "Frankly, that's why Dante was done for the night after that. We can't have that."

The violation? The newly acquired edge-rusher got flagged for a personal foul when he tried to push an opposing player off a pile. The goof helped Denver score a touchdown in the second quarter.

And now, as Fowler and the Cowboys prep to play in preseason Game 2 at the Chargers, the pass-rusher gets some bad news: The NFL has just fined him $10,609 for "unnecessary roughness'' on the play.

Team-wise, after committing an NFL-high 141 penalties in 2021 (including 14 in their playoff loss to the Niners), the Cowboys did more of the same at Denver, as Dallas got called for 17 infractions.

And while McCarthy vowed all offseason to do something about the problem, the problem hasn't gone away. McCarthy acknowledged that 17 penalties "clearly are way too much" ... but what is the coaching staff supposed to do? Bench every guy who commits a foul? Bench 17 guys?

Maybe you bench one guy - and make it a vet - to send a message to the other 17, 53, 90 guys.

McCarthy is trying to not overreact.

"This is preseason. I don't think this has anything to do with last year," he said. "But I didn't like the number of penalties. I made it clear. I talked about it at halftime and I talked about it briefly in there (the locker room). We'll take a long look at it."

New Cowboys DE Dante Fowler (56) with the QB hit on fourth down pic.twitter.com/A6iCQGAw5V

— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) August 14, 2022

In fairness to Fowler, he otherwise had a solid game, registering a big hit on the QB on a Broncos' fourth-down try and helping Dallas' run game look stout. And of course, as evidenced by the fact that the former No. 3 overall pick was even in this game after coming over as a free agent from the Atlanta Falcons, Fowler is in a fight for playing time here.

In that sense, the penalty was costly to the individual ... just as mountains of penalties, last year and this year, are costly to the team.

And now it costs the player $10,609.

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