If you're a big fan of NFL officiating, this game was for you. Also, if you're a big fan of NFL officiating... you're kind of a weirdo. Sorry.
In Thanksgiving day's matchup between the Las Vegas Raiders and Dallas Cowboys, there was a whole lot of giving from the zebras, but the majority of fans watching the game were not thankful for what the referees were doing.
All in all, there were 28 total penalties — 14 on each team — for a whopping total of 276 combined penalty yards. That's 40 yards more than the previous high from this season, when there were 236 total penalty yards between the Colts and Titans in Week 8. It very nearly leads all games from the past decade, ranking just behind the 292-yard penalty-palooza from Week 9 of the 2018 season.
Here's the list of the games with over 250 penalty yards since 2010, excluding the Raiders-Cowboys game we just saw because Stathead's database hasn't updated yet.
| Pena | Pena | Pena | Pena | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Tm | Year | Opp | Week | Pen | Yds | CombPen | CombPenYds |
| 1 | BUF | 2018 | CHI | 9 | 10 | 163 | 24 | 292 |
| 2 | CHI | 2018 | BUF | 9 | 14 | 129 | 24 | 292 |
| 3 | OAK | 2016 | TAM | 8 | 23 | 200 | 29 | 264 |
| 4 | TAM | 2016 | OAK | 8 | 6 | 64 | 29 | 264 |
| 5 | BUF | 2015 | NWE | 2 | 14 | 140 | 25 | 259 |
| 6 | NWE | 2015 | BUF | 2 | 11 | 119 | 25 | 259 |
| 7 | GNB | 2018 | NYJ | 16 | 10 | 86 | 26 | 258 |
| 8 | NYJ | 2018 | GNB | 16 | 16 | 172 | 26 | 258 |
| 9 | BUF | 2013 | NYJ | 3 | 7 | 87 | 27 | 255 |
| 10 | NYJ | 2013 | BUF | 3 | 20 | 168 | 27 | 255 |
Some of the penalties were bigger than others. The mishmash of flags that came at the very end of the contest just prolonged the inevitable, with Daniel Carlson booting the game-winning field goal to do the Cowboys in after a hard-fought game. But far more significant flags, like a pass interference that sealed Dallas's doom and was the fourth called on Anthony Brown, had a much larger impact.
Brown and the Cowboys are probably thankful for a lot of things at this point in their careers, but the officials certainly don't make the list. Perhaps a meal at the Parsons residence will make everything better.
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