The Cowboys are among the most penalized teams in the NFL, and this

The Cowboys enter Week 9 of the 2021 season as a strong contender for the Super Bowl. His 6-1 record and having the best offense in the league invites optimism. However, not everything is perfect. The cowboy team still has many aspects to improve. And the high number of penalties is one of them.

According NFL Penalties data, the Cowboys are the third team with the most penalties against so far this season with 58 overall. Only the Eagles (60) and Buccaneers (59) top them on this table.

But that is not all. The same statistics website indicates that the cowboy team ranks sixth in penalty yards with 487. This list is topped by the defending champions Buccaneers with 580 penalty yards. Behind them are the Titans (551), 49ers (540), Browns (518) and Texans (492).

Seeing the reigning champs and two playoff contenders like the Titans and Browns among those stats is not reassuring on the matter. A sample of this have been the last two games, against the Vikings and the Patriots. In both, the Cowboys committed penalties at critical moments that could easily cost him both games.

Let’s refresh the memory. In Week 6 against New England, a penalty from guard Connor Williams left Dallas at 3rd and 25 when they needed to score or tie the game in the fourth quarter. Fortunately, Dak Prescott managed to connect with CeeDee Lamb to gain 24 yards and put Dallas in position to tie the game and go into overtime.

Cowboys LG Connor Williams already been flagged twice for holding today. Then he gets flagged for his third holding with an unsportsmanlike conduct. Holding declined. Unsportsmanlike contact counts.

So third-and-25.

– Michael Gehlken (@GehlkenNFL) October 17, 2021

Then, in week 8 against the Vikings, the Cowboys were doing a good job slowing down the offense. However, on an opponent’s punt, Bradlee Anae committed a special teams infraction. This returned Minnesota to the field in an offensive series that, fortunately, only ended in a field goal. If not, it would have put Dallas in serious trouble.

Bradlee Anae offside penalty on 4th down vs Vikings pic.twitter.com/FHeNU5qpBC

– Raul (@raulaholic) November 2, 2021

But this was not the only thing that happened last Sunday. A penalty to Tarell Basham and two to Randy Gregory also helped the Vikings advance down the field during a critical point in the game.

Randy Gregory’s penalty is a DAMN JOKEpic.twitter.com/qgmRC9NYgr

– Tom Downey (@WhatGoingDowney) November 1, 2021

Of course, the Cowboys coaching staff knows this is a soon-to-be-corrected problem on both sides of the ball. So much so, that this was a topic of conversation with the players before practice on Wednesday. This was told by head coach Mike McCarthy, who had an almost 8-minute talk with the team that day about this situation.

“I think it is important to see each and every one”McCarthy said of the penalties. “We managed to have the style of play that we needed, and we want to continue with that. We want to play above that, but we must have more discipline at the end of the plays. That’s where some of our penalties happen, particularly if you see the last defensive impulse. “.

#Cowboys HC Mike McCarthy says they spent 6-8 minutes on penalties this morning. He says “we need to be more disciplined on the finish of plays”

– Jane Slater (@SlaterNFL) November 3, 2021

It’s true that the Cowboys are showing a more aggressive style of play this season. Defensive end Randy Gregory even declared that he plays better when angry. However, the cowboy team must find the balance between aggressiveness and discipline. Dallas can’t wait for penalties to cost him a game to remedy that situation.

Therefore, reaching that balance is key. And the players know it.

“You want to keep the aggressive playing style”linebacker Micah Parsons said in recent remarks. You want to play hard, and sometimes penalties come with it. Obviously, we must correct that and be more disciplined. You can’t commit those penalties against the Cardinals, the Bucs, and those high-level teams. We must correct that, but maintaining the style of play “.

It remains to be seen in future games if the Cowboys can find that balance between aggressiveness and discipline. These are failures that, in a postseason game, could cost a team dearly. So Dallas has to work on it for the rest of the regular season. Again: don’t wait to lose a game to this issue to start fixing it.