DALLAS (105.3 The Fan) - There was a lot of discussion from the Cowboys about officiating in the wake of Dallas’ 23-17 Wild Card defeat at the hands of the 49ers.
The Cowboys were the most penalized team in the NFL in 2021, drawing an average of eight penalties per game during the regular season. And on Sunday, they were flagged 14 times, while San Francisco was penalized nine times.
Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy was asked about the officiating during his end-of-season press conference Wednesday, particularly the comments quarterback Dak Prescott made in support of throwing trash at officials after the game (comments he later apologized for), and he said the officials aren't to blame for their losses and they need to limit their penalties next season.
"Officials don't lose games. I mean, that's clear. I think comments after games, you know, people are emotional. Particularly when it doesn't go the way you think it should go. Players are asked questions and encouraged to give honest answers. But once when they come back, we talked about it, I just did three days of exit interviews, talked to every member of our football team and they're very accountable," McCarthy said. "And our number one focus moving forward is the penalties. It's way too many … you look at the pre-snap (penalties), there's no excuse for it. That's been a focus all year. You know, the thing I struggle with as a head coach doing this now for a number of years is, I have comparables over a 15-year period and this team here is clearly one of the better teams I've coached as far as their mental preparation and their mental execution. … Our mental grades don't coincide with the penalties, because they usually go together. That's something we'll take a very hard look at."
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McCarthy was then asked about his players blaming the officials after games this season, notably after the losses to Arizona in Week 17 and the 49ers in the playoffs, and the dangers of having a team mindset that it's someone else's fault when they lose.
"That's a very fair point in question, but I don't agree with it. I mean, I don't think that's the mindset of our team. That's not how all the workings go internally. Every penalty that's ever been committed here, is put up (on the board), it's addressed in the Monday morning team meetings. So, it's corrected, it's emphasized."
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