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FRISCO, Texas — During a team meeting Monday at The Star, Dallas Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer showed his players all 14 penalties from Sunday’s 27-23 win over the Indianapolis Colts. The flags cost Dallas 153 yards.
Nine of the 14 penalties came against the offense, and they wiped out 103 yards of Dallas gains. After the game Sunday, Schottenheimer said he wanted to see the film before speaking on the calls because the officiating crew had not called many penalties coming in.
The Cowboys have been in the middle of the league in penalties at about seven a game, Schottenheimer said. Sunday doubled that number.
“Well, we actually watched all 14 of them in the team meeting, and we pointed out sloppy, not good enough. I think there was two pre-snap, which is a positive,” Schottenheimer said. “We’ve been averaging about seven penalties a game, so we’re twice the average.”
“Not good enough at all, but we showed all the different penalties from the PIs to the holdings, and start with the holdings. At the end of the day, holding’s about keeping your leverage, and so when you set an angle to make a block, you got to keep your leverage,” Schottenheimer continued. “If you begin to lose your leverage, the way you keep your leverage is by moving your feet. And if a guy goes to pull away, you have to let go, you have to release. And so, sloppy hands on our part, sloppy fundamentals, and the individual this week will be really important to getting that stuff cleaned up.”
Brian Schottenheimer Calls Indianapolis Colts Game An Outlier For Penalties
Three penalties on one first-quarter drive negated first downs. On a second-quarter possession, Dallas drew three more, including offensive pass interference on CeeDee Lamb that wiped out an 18-yard catch. Lamb was flagged three times in the game.
The defense added a 40-yard pass interference penalty on cornerback DaRon Bland and an unnecessary roughness call on linebacker Dee Winters on the same fourth-quarter drive. Inactive linebacker DeMarvion Overshown drew a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct flag for running onto the field in street clothes.
Sloppy hands and sloppy fundamentals were behind the holding calls, Schottenheimer said. Dallas led 17-7 at halftime and 20-10 in the third quarter before Indianapolis took a 23-20 lead with 1:37 left.
“When it’s unacceptable. Averaging seven in this league, it’s about middle of the pack. I think where we’ve been okay is pre-snap. But yesterday was the outlier. It wasn’t good enough, and that’s why that game came down to the way it came down,” Schottenheimer said.
“That game should have been where we win by a couple touchdowns maybe, but we let them hang around,” Schottenheimer continued. “We put ourselves behind the sticks on offense a bunch, and explain to the guys if we don’t clean that up, it’s gonna hurt our ability to do what we want to do.”
Schottenheimer Agrees Cowboys Were Undisciplined Against Colts
Schottenheimer used the word sloppy several times Monday. When the word undisciplined came up, he accepted it.
“I would say that word is accurate. It was undisciplined. Needs to be better,” Schottenheimer said.
The lack of discipline falls on coaches and players alike, Schottenheimer said. Earlier Monday, Cowboys chief operating officer Stephen Jones backed the officials’ calls, and Dak Prescott called the penalties purely unacceptable after the game.
“All of us,” Schottenheimer said.
Dallas owns the penalties and showed them to the players, Schottenheimer said. The Cowboys still finished with 508 total yards to Indianapolis’ 271 and won the time of possession battle by more than 11 minutes.
“I’m proud of our guys, but I understand the discipline was not good enough yesterday. The penalties. I go back to the penalties. At the end of the day, we did some great things, but the penalties were not good enough,” Schottenheimer said.
“And we own that, and we showed that. And it’s something that has been addressed and will continue to be addressed,” Schottenheimer continued. “But I checked the stats. We definitely won.”
The Cowboys, now 4-5, host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, Nov. 15, at AT&T Stadium. Kickoff is set for 3:25 p.m. CT on FOX.
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