The 2022 NFL Preseason was not a great start for the Dallas Cowboys. They were beaten by the Denver Broncos last Saturday, a 17-7 defeat. The Cowboys were the league’s highest scoring team in the 2021 NFL season. This was a very uncharacteristic performance, especially offensively. Cowboys coach McCarthy wasn’t impressed by Dallas’s discipline on the field, which resulted in 17 penalties.
Mike McCarthy, the Cowboys’ head coach, isn’t ready to make a connection between their penalties in 2021 or the early start of 2022. The Cowboys did not rest most of their heavy rotation starters Saturday. But he admitted that 17 flags covering 129 yards Saturday were “way too much”.
These 17 penalties accounted for 129 yards for the Cowboys, making the Broncos’ 8 penalties for 64 yards seem small in comparison. Mike McCarthy would certainly make that a big talking point for this week, in hopes of more positive results in Week 2 against Los Angeles Chargers.
The Cowboys had an average of 0.06 penalties per play last season and 7.8 penalties per match. These are the highest penalties in the league. It seems that the Cowboys still have a lot to do in order to address this issue in the 2022 NFL season. McCarthy quickly dismissed the notion that there was a connection between the Cowboys’ penalty problems in 2021, and the preseason in 2022.
“This is preseason. I don’t think this has anything to do with last year. But I didn’t like the number of penalties. I made it clear. I talked about it at halftime and I talked about it briefly in there (the locker room). We’ll take a long look at it.”
While the Cowboys did not play their starters in the Broncos match, the first-stringers may see more action as Dallas prepares to start a new season. The Cowboys won the NFC East division title in 2021 with a record of 12-5, but they were unable to make it to the playoffs. The San Francisco 49ers sent them home in the NFC wild card round, early in the postseason.