As per usual, the Dallas Cowboys took the gridiron as a part of the NFL's Thanksgiving slate. They took on the Las Vegas Raiders at home in a must-win game after a tough loss on Sunday.
The injury-riddled Cowboys, however, could never dictate the pace of the game. They fall behind early in the matchup and had to play catch up all afternoon, eventually losing 36-33 in overtime.
Even so, people didn't talk about how the Cowboys lost again or how did Mike McCarthy's team play. Instead, all the talk was focused on the referees and the 28 penalties they called. Yeah, that's right. Twenty-eight.
Jerry Jones Rips Referees Over Endless Penalties
The Cowboys broke a franchise record with 166 penalty yards, and team owner Jerry Jones was livid at the way referees just kept throwing flags for defensive pass interference over and over:
“I call it ‘throw up ball,’” Jones said, ér Michael Gehlken. “…This will arguably be the most-watched game other than the Super Bowl. I hate that it got down to just throwing the ball up and getting the penalties to get you big plays.”
Dak Prescott Says Referees Affected The Game
Cowboys QB Dak Prescott said that those calls took a big toll in the game. However, he didn't want to blame referees for another loss and vowed to be better and stay in control of the things they can control:
“It’s obvious. They definitely affected the game,” Dak Prescott said, per NBC Sports. “But we’ve got to self-reflect and keep the officials out of the game. One way or another, we’ve got to be better. We’ve got to be disciplined. We’ve got to focus on controlling what we can control. Obviously, they’re going to happen. Feel like we’re targeted a little bit, but in the same instance, yeah, we’ve got to be better on our end to try to keep them out of the game.”
The Cowboys are still at the top of the NFC East and it's theirs to lose at this point in the season. Nonetheless, they need to get back on track after this tough stretch as the Eagles are looming around.
