‘Purely Unacceptable’: Dak Prescott Calls Out Dallas Cowboys’ 14 Penalties In 27-23 Win Over Indianapolis Colts

INDIANAPOLIS — The Dallas Cowboys were flagged 14 times for 153 yards Sunday, and penalties wiped out 103 yards of offensive gains in a 27-23 win over the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium. Nine of the flags came against the offense. Indianapolis was penalized 9 times for 67 yards.

Every player has to be accountable for his own mistakes, Dak Prescott said, from the holding calls to the offensive pass interference penalties. Dallas still outgained the Colts 508 yards to 271.

“As I started by saying, you get in your own way, you make mistakes, and you make some of these games closer than they have to be. And whether it was last week, us not being able to overcome it, and this week we did,” Prescott said. “We can’t do that. Simple as that. We can’t do that. We can’t have this many penalties, especially on offense. I don’t know the number on defense, but I know on our side of the ball that’s purely unacceptable.”

“We’re better than that from pre-snap to combative to however you want to categorize the penalties. That was way too many of them, and we’re fortunate,” Prescott continued. “We’re going to be able to fix them with the win, but we’ve got to get better in that category.”

On the 15-play touchdown drive that put Dallas ahead 10-7 early in the second quarter, holding calls on guard Tyler Smith and tight end Brevyn Spann-Ford erased runs of 9 and 12 yards. An ineligible downfield penalty on left tackle Tyler Guyton wiped out a 14-yard catch by Ryan Flournoy on the same series.

CeeDee Lamb was called for a false start and two offensive pass interference penalties, and the interference calls took away third-down catches of 18 and 13 yards. Receiver Camden Brown was flagged for pass interference on a 25-yard catch by Tyler Goodson early in the fourth quarter.

On defense, a 40-yard pass interference penalty on cornerback DaRon Bland and an unnecessary roughness call on linebacker Dee Winters moved Indianapolis from its 25 to the Dallas 18 midway through the fourth quarter. Late in the third quarter, a Brandon Aubrey kickoff landed short of the landing zone and gave the Colts the ball at their 40, and Ashton Dulin scored on a 55-yard catch two plays later. Outside linebacker Marist Liufau was also called for holding on a kickoff return.

DeMarvion Overshown Draws Flag After Quinnen Williams’ Forced Fumble

On the next snap after Winters’ penalty, Quinnen Williams forced a fumble by Jonathan Taylor, and Shemar James returned it 11 yards to the Dallas 30. A 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty during the celebration pushed the Cowboys back to their 15.

DeMarvion Overshown, who was inactive with back and hamstring injuries, is upset at himself about it, Prescott said. Dallas picked up one first down from its 15 and punted on that possession.

“I was upset. I didn’t know exactly what it was for. I thought it was because we had the whole 40 guys come from the sideline,” Prescott explained. “I didn’t realize it was just Overshown, and so at the end of the day, it’s about being disciplined, though. Whether it’s Overshown, I know he’s upset at himself about it, or whether it’s us on offense and holding penalty, or holding calls, or CeeDee and the offensive pass interference, or the fumble. We’ve got to be accountable to every one of these mistakes individually.”

“I can’t sit up here and be accountable for those guys. Those guys got to be accountable for their mistakes, and we’ve got to get back into the building and approach it with that mindset of, I need to be better for the unit and for the team, and if we will, everything will be fine,” Prescott added. “You’re frustrated a lot of times when these penalties are happening. So for me, it’s about flushing them and just getting back to a good place, to a good mindset to execute the next play.”

Lamb said he has to take a real good look at himself after a fumble and his three flags. He finished with 10 catches for 195 yards and 1 touchdown.

“I say we stop ourselves and then contribute to us stopping. So I feel like I was contradicting myself, but it’s still valid,” Lamb said. “Like I feel like if we play games to where we’re not shooting ourselves in the foot, for example, me jumping offside, I’m at false start, like two, three PIs. Those are big, man. Those are big momentum, and every single time it’s happening on big plays. So you got to tighten those small things up, details, and just be great.”

Lamb did not get an explanation from the officials on the pass interference calls. He said there have been plenty of times he let a defensive back touch him first before creating separation.

“There’s been plenty instances where I let the DB touch me first, and then I create separation,” Lamb explained. “So like I’m just kind of confused, if I don’t create separation, I just let him hold me. Are they gonna call the hold?”

Brian Schottenheimer, Tyler Guyton Want To See The Calls On Film

Referee Clay Martin’s crew worked the game. Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said the crew had not called a lot of penalties before Sunday, and he wants to look at the film before speaking on it.

“It’s the NFL. … You never know how it’s going to turn out, there’s big plays and momentum plays. I think the one area I know for a fact that we need to clean up is the penalties,” Schottenheimer said. “I want to see them. I want to see them all. But it could have been maybe more than 500, and they were untimely penalties.”

Guyton called Sunday a step in the right direction for the offense, penalties and all. He said the offense still has to go look at the tape.

“I mean, obviously, I feel like it was a little excessive, personally. But I’m not a ref, and I have no place speaking on what they call,” Guyton said. “So it’s a little frustrating, but of course, they’re making a call, and we gotta live with it.”

Goodson said the penalties get Dallas off track and into long-distance situations, and that cleaning them up would make the offense a lot better. He ran 12 times for 77 yards after returning from a knee injury.

“Just keep fighting through adversity. Game is not gonna always go our way, and that’s just the game of football,” Goodson said. “And all we can do is control what we control.”

Dallas is 4-5 and hosts the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, Nov. 15, at AT&T Stadium. Kickoff is set for 3:25 p.m. CT on FOX.