If we want serious playoff success, we can’t continue this

We cannot continue to be #1 in penalties . As of today, the Cowboys continue to lead the league in penalties averaging nearly 9 penalties a game. We are tied with Ariz with 69 accepted penalties but Ariz has done it in 10 games while the Cowboys have done it in 9. And it’s the pre-snap penalties that are the most egregious. We are second only to the hapless bears in pre-snap penalties. Over 1/3 of the called penalties are pre-snap. That’s not a ref conspiracy.

If we are serious about a deep playoff run, we can’t keep having these penalty problems, Why? In the last ten years, only one Super Bowl winner has finished even in the top 5 in penalties and that was Seattle in 2013. All nine other SB winners finished much lower in penalty numbers.

Here is how each SB winner the last decade finished in penalty rankings:

• 2013 Sea- finished 1st in penalty numbers
• 2014 NE- finished 6th in penalties.
• 2015 Den- finished 14th in penalties.
• 2016 NE- finished 31st in penalties.
• 2017- Filly- finished 13th in penalties.
• 2018- NE- finished 29th
• 2019- KC- finished 19th
• 2020- TB finished 27th
• 2021- LARams- finished 31st
• 2022- KC finished 28th.

Over the last decade of SB winners, the average penalty ranking for them was 19.9.

If the Cowboys are to be serious contenders in the playoffs, the penalty problems must be reduced.