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Dallas Cowboys: The NFL confirms, the refs be tripping!

By Reid Hanson

ORCHARD PARK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 24: Referee Jerome Boger #23 walks to the field before an NFL game between the Buffalo Bills and the Denver Broncos at New Era Field on November 24, 2019 in Orchard Park, New York. (Photo by Bryan M. Bennett/Getty Images)
ORCHARD PARK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 24: Referee Jerome Boger #23 walks to the field before an NFL game between the Buffalo Bills and the Denver Broncos at New Era Field on November 24, 2019 in Orchard Park, New York. (Photo by Bryan M. Bennett/Getty Images) /
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It may qualify as ‘too little, too late’ but the NFL has admitted error in the two extremely rare and all-too-suspicious tripping calls levied against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday

The Dallas Cowboys fell to the New England Patriots on Sunday in fairly typical fashion. The coaching was horrendous, player mistakes were too frequent, and the officials went out of their way to be bad.

Jerry Jones immediately confirmed the coaching ineptitude right out of the gate, and players rightfully took accountability for their own shortfalls. The only thing left was resolution concerning the game officials. Well, the NFL did just that late Monday, admitting error on the two drive-killing tripping calls.

The impactful errors

The two tripping calls levied against the Dallas Cowboys weren’t just incorrect, but they were highly impactful. In a low scoring game like Sunday’s, every yard mattered because yards, first downs, and points were too dang hard to come by.

The first bad call happened in the first quarter. The penalty backed the Dallas Cowboys into an impossible 2nd-and-23 hole. Throwing into the wind against a defense like New England’s is a recipe for disaster. It basically forced Dallas to conceded the drive (they were smart enough not to force the ball downfield) and eventually led to the blocked punt, and subsequent Patriot TD.

The second call against Dallas was on a 3rd-and-1 and negated a first down run by Ezekiel Elliott. That bad call ushered in one of the biggest EPA swings of the day. That cannot be understated.

Suspicious nature of the calls

Normally we are resigned to take the good with the bad regarding penalties and how incorrect calls equal out across the league at the end of the day. But Sunday in New England, the calls were different.

“Tripping” isn’t a commonly made call. Rarely do teams get one of those, let alone two in a single game.

https://twitter.com/Scooter4God/status/1198768084976373760

It’s quite clear the game officials were looking for tripping that afternoon. Whether it was a directive of the league, a suggestion from the opponent, or a request from a bookie, we really don’t know. But we do know the penalties were rarely called. And we know they were incorrect. And we know they were contextually disastrous to the drives.

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Isolated incidents?

Bad calls have been a plague this season. Up until now, one could make the argument they’ve helped the Dallas Cowboys as much as hurt them. But tracking the trends, penalties are up considerably this season, as are their admitted mistakes. This is a growing problem and unless you’re blowing out a team, everyone is susceptible to them.

A team like Dallas has plenty of other issues on their own to work out, they certainly don’t need help from the NFL in tanking their season.

Next. The Cowboys got played on special teams. dark

A question to ponder now is, if the NFL can review these and determine their legitimacy the day after, why can’t we do the same the moment they’re called? If pass interference is suddenly reviewable (and it probably shouldn’t be) why isn’t something like tripping?

  • Published on 11/26/2019 at 12:01 PM
  • Last updated at 11/26/2019 at 08:18 AM
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