Cutting the Cowboys presnap penalties an easy way to fix a big problem

The Cowboys have a penalty problem.

With 108 flags thrown against them, they only trail Seattle among the NFL’s 32 teams. Of the 90 penalties officially charged to them (removing declined and offsetting ones), they are just one penalty away from the top spot. Their 764 yards against places them in the top-three most yards penalized.

It’s a leader list no one wants to be on, and a sign Dallas is often making things more difficult on both sides of the ball than they need to be.

Yet not all penalties are created equal. Some penalties are more damaging than others and some are unavoidable, perhaps even occassionally preferred. In the case of mismatches, sometimes a player needs to commit a penalty to minimize the damage.

For instance, a defensive holding call in the secondary might result in five-yards and an automatic first down, but if a defensive back is about to get torched by someone like Tyreek Hill or D.K. Metcalf, the penalty is probably worth it. A holding call by an OT may cost the offense 10 yards, but if an explosive pass rusher like Micah Parsons or Nick Bosa are on a collision course with the QB, a hold is probably worth it.

As long as there are elite players in the NFL and cunning coaches scheming to find mismatches, there are going to be unavoidable penalties.

Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

While some are unavoidable, and at times, even wise, there are also penalties which are completely preventable and almost exclusively unwise; These are pre-snap penalties.

With 34 violations in 2023, the Cowboys have the fourth most pre-snap penalties in the league. Flags which range from false starts to offsides populate these offenses. Even though these are typically for minimal yardage, they can be backbreaking. They swing the odds of eventually converting the series and are usually nothing more than foolish lapses in concentration. With discipline, they can be corrected overnight.

Teams like the Rams (15) and Lions (16) have the lowest pre-snap penalties counts in the league. These teams are proof aggressive philosophies don’t have to come with penalties and there’s no reason for Dallas to have more than twice the Rams and Lions totals this season.

(Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)

Say the Cowboys can invoke some discipline and get their pre-snap penalty rate down to the levels of the Rams and Lions, will it make that big of a difference in the grand scheme of things? After…