Dallas Cowboys Offensive Line: 3rd most penalized in the NFL?

The Dallas Cowboys offensive line has been struggling with penalties this season and despite facing poor competition they’re the 3rd most penalized in the NFL

When people hear, “Dallas Cowboys” these days, they often think of their offensive line. After investing three first round picks, two Day 2 picks, and significant cap space to the unit, it’s understandable why the offensive line is considered the backbone of the team – it’s essentially the most pedigreed, deepest, and most talented units on the team.

So it might be surprising to learn the Dallas Cowboys offensive line is one of the most penalized in the NFL this season. Their eight holding calls are currently third worst in the NFL (tied with five teams) according to nflpenalties.com. An especially shocking number considering the quality of opponent they’ve faced this season.

As pointed out by Kevin Seifert at ESPN, holding calls have been up all over the league this season. Through the first two weeks, there was a 66% increase in holding calls compared to the first two weeks of last season. It was so distracting, Al Riveron, SVP of officiating, called a meeting this past weekend asking for some flag-throwing restraint on questionable front-side blocks. Generally speaking, this worked as holding calls dropped from 5.7 per game to 2.9 per game.

But the Dallas Cowboys stayed the course and still collected flags above league average. Tyron Smith, La’el Collins, and Connor Williams were all flagged playing against the hapless Miami Dolphins.

Again, it’s not just that the Dallas Cowboys are high on the list; it’s that they’re high playing against some pretty poor competition.

Something to monitor

There are plenty of reasons as to why Dallas is struggling with holding calls this season, but playing through injury may be the best reason. Zack Martin was out most of the preseason and came back less than 100 percent in Week 1. His two holding calls this year are abnormal to say the least (He had only three in his career).

If Martin didn’t collect those uncharacteristic flags, Dallas would only have six holding penalties this season, 14th in the NFL. Not what you’d expect from this unit but perfectly reasonable nonetheless.