“So I don’t know I guess you’re splitting hairs with whether the ref tells him to scoot up or not. “On that one- the offside, I guess you could say- Jalen said the ref told him to get up and scoot up on the line,” quarterback Dak Prescott said from the podium.

Tolbert told a different story, though, to his teammates and coach. Tolbert didn't look over until 11 seconds left on play clock. The problem was not that he failed to check with the down judge. But it wasn’t nearly enough, earning a five-yard foul and setting the tone for the rest of the possession.Ĭowboys WR Jalen Tolbert was called for offside. He did check with down judge Sarah Thomas and took a half-step back just before the snap. Receivers at every level of the sport are taught to turn their head toward the sideline to literally get a thumbs-up approval from an official- either the line judge or the down judge, depending on which end of the line of scrimmage is closest- before the play begins.Īlthough the electronically-generated line that TV viewers see is unofficial, Tolbert was clearly lined up well across it.

An offensive player making sure he’s lined up behind the ball is as rudimentary as football gets, but a wideout even has a built-in safety net. The first came on a 2nd-and-3, when rookie wide receiver Jalen Tolbert drew an offensive offside flag, a penalty that’s been called just two other times in 2022 and only once in all of 2021. And afterward, many were quick to point to a handful of calls, especially in the overtime period, as critical turning points. “But you’ve got to overcome those things.” “Very, very, VERY frustrating,” McCarthy bellowed. McCarthy mentioned penalties at several points in his postgame press conference, even throwing back his head and raising his voice to a shout at one point in addressing the issue. Dallas, last season’s penalty leader, is in the top five for infractions once again in 2022 and even outranks eight teams who have played an entire extra contest. Only in Weeks 1 and 6 has the team drawn more more flags this year those games represent their other two losses. The Cowboys racked up nine accepted penalties, giving away 83 yards on the day. It’s the fact that the officials, once again, are part of the story, with Cowboys players and even McCarthy himself listing them among the reasons why Dallas came up short on Sunday. It was a gut-wrenching way to end what was supposed to have been a storybook return to Green Bay for Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy and an exorcising of the demons that Rodgers and Lambeau Field represent for America’s Team.īut there’s something else that makes the 31-28 loss even harder to stomach for Cowboys Nation.

The Cowboys blew a 14-point lead to let Aaron Rodgers and the Packers mount a comeback and eventually win their Week 10 game in overtime.

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