By popular demand, we’re again going to have a post after each game that breaks down some of the controversial decisions from the officiating crew in the game.
Penalty Count
Cowboys 11-91 (leading to two Jets first downs)
Jets 10-61 (leading to one Cowboys first down)
Note: This does not include penalties that are declined or off-set.
Plays where the call was obvious, uncontroversial or not visible on broadcast footage
Jets Penalties
- Neutral zone infraction on Quinnen Williams. Went half a beat early.
- False start by John Simpson.
- Holding on Simpson. Was overpowered and went to ground, dragging his man down with him.
- Illegal man downfield on Armand Membou. Was three yards downfield when the ball was thrown and should know better that he needs to hold his water on plays like that. Maybe a rookie mistake because the college rules are different.
- Malachi Moore illegal contact. Obvious call as he held onto the receiver within five yards and stayed on him as he went downfield.
- Will McDonald offside. Jumped and tried to not cross into the neutral zone or to get back before the snap, but he had a foot on the line of scrimmage as the ball was snapped.
- Mark Robinson holding on a kick return. Tackled an opposing player around the legs.
- Membou offensive holding. Probably a frustration foul. He seemingly had Dante Fowler controlled but threw him down to the ground rather than just moving his feet to stay in front of him.
- Membou offensive offside. Was too far forward on the 4th down quarterback sneak, which was stuffed anyway, so Dallas were able to decline it.
- Josh Myers snap infraction.
- Membou false start. This was his fourth penalty – all of them for different infractions.
Cowboys Penalties
- 12 men on defense. Jadeveon Clowney ran on but nobody ran off.
- Tyler Bass false start. On the two-point conversion from the one-yard line, after which the Cowboys opted to kick after all. This wasn’t obvious from the footage.
- Brandon Aubrey put a kickoff out of bounds to give the Jets the ball at the 40. Interestingly, it bounced first, inside the 20, so if it had been a luckier bounce that would have been a great kickoff.
- Neutral zone infraction on Clowney. Had a hand on the line of scrimmage at the snap.
- Jalen Cropper illegal shift. Wasn’t set for a full second before going in motion as Dak Prescott sent him too early.
- Unnecessary roughness on Nate Thomas. This happened off-screen and wasn’t replayed.
- Jalen Brooks holding on a punt. Grabbed Qwan’tez Stiggers as he went around a double-team.
Penalties warranting further discussion or explanation
Jets Penalties
- McDonald offside on a placekick attempt. Didn’t jump early so much have been lined up with a hand on the line of scrimmage. That’s seven pre-snap penalties in total for New York.
Cowboys Penalties
- Defensive offside on Sam Williams. Jumped early but arguably wasn’t in the neutral zone at the snap. The Jets opted to take the penalty and 2nd-and-goal at the three instead on 3rd-and-goal at the one, then immediately got stuffed for a big loss and had to settled for a field goal.
- Osa Odighizuwa roughing the passer. Fell into Justin Fields’ legs but wrapped up with his arm so he was seen as making an active hit and being in control.
- Trevon Diggs unsportsmanlike conduct for shoving Arian Smith. The “experts” felt that Smith instigated this and there should have been off-setting penalties. For once, they were probably right.
- Justin Houston roughing the passer. This was probably called because Fields’ head snapped back and it looked like while the contact point was the chest, the helmet made contact with his chin-strap/face mask. He also landed on Fields, but tried to keep his weight off. Ultimately this was extremely similar to the one called on Mike Clemons in week 1 and Houston may escape a fine as Clemons did.
Notable no-calls etc
Here were some of the other notable missed calls, replay situations and controversial moments:
- Dallas got away with the most blatant face mask penalty you’ll ever see on the first drive as Mazi Smith grabbed, twisted and held onto Isaiah Davis’ face mask.
- On the Jets’ first drive, Fields was out of bounds clearly at the five-yard line but they marked him at the six. He was stopped a yard short of the end zone on the next play.
- Fields would have been called for intentional grounding but he was correctly ruled down as his knee hit before the ball was released.
- Dallas just about got away with an illegal block in the back on Mykal Walker on a kick return. The official presumably felt this was in the side rather than the back but it was dubious.
- Breece Hall was correctly ruled down the other time he lost the ball, as his elbow hit before the ball came loose.
- Dallas got a generous spot on a couple of plays at the marker, including one by Ryan Flournoy which looked short.
- Could Sauce Gardner have had a chance to get an offensive pass interference call on the George Pickens touchdown if he didn’t bash the officiating during the week? Pickens definitely got his initial separation with a push off on Gardner, but Gardner tried to recover and get back into the play with hand-fighting and the officials likely viewed it as going both ways. Ironically if Gardner gave up on the play or flopped he probably gets that call, but obviously you can’t do that.
- Kaiir Elam got away with pass interference on an incompletion to Garrett Wilson over the middle. The officials had put their whistles away by then, with no penalties at all in the last 10:53.
Let us know what we missed – or misinterpreted – in the comments…