Cowboys Country

Cowboys Plays vs. Penalties: Dallas Interception at Chargers; Why Flags Not Coach Mike McCarthy’s Fault

Does the Cowboys coach catch too much heat for Dallas’ penalty problem? McCarthy’s history tells a story.

SI Editorial

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Dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy isn’t from here.

He’s a Yankee.

He’s a Packer.

He’s from Pittsburgh.

In private and light-hearted moments, we’ve brought up this phenomenon - and he is aware of it: He’s not a fan favorite here.

Hey, the Cowboys’ largely Southern-fried audience fell in love with Texas legend Tom Landry to a degree that made it challenging for any successor to be embraced.

Heck, Cowboys Nation spent a year being skeptical of Jimmy Johnson - and he’s from Port Arthur!

So in McCarthy’s two-plus seasons in Dallas, along comes a disapproval-fueled narrative: the Cowboys are led by an undisciplined coach who teaches sloppy football.

Interestingly, though, the accusation - based on a wide window of history - is simply without merit. 

For much of the time he was head coach in Green Bay, the Packers were the third-least penalized team in the NFL. And what really matters? Somebody make a play, as Israel Mukuamu did to start the Cowboys-at Chargers preseason game on Saturday, with a first-drive pick,

Now, how do we explain Dallas leading the league in penalties last season, then drawing 14 flags in its Wild Card playoff loss, and then earning another 17 in the preseason opener?

It is mcCarthy’s position that one season’s issue has nothing to do with the next season’s issue. We strongly disagree with that. But we reflect on another old Dallas coach, Bill Parcells, who used to say that penalties are the fault of the players, not the coaches.

How is it then that Bill Belichick’s Patriots are annually among the least-flagged NFL teams? That one we can answer with ease.

1) Everything about Belichick in New England is an outlier. He frankly doesn’t count.

2) In 2014, a rarity: Belichick’s team finished bottom-six in penalties, So it happens to the best of ‘em.

In the end, McCarthy might get fired if he both leads in NFL is penalties and fails to lead the NFC East in wins. So know that the argument that his teams have always been heavily penalized is the wrong answer … while at the same time understanding that while Cowboys penalties might not be McCarthy’s “fault” … they remain his “responsibility.”

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