The Dallas Cowboys committed two delay of game penalties during Sunday night’s loss to the Jets. Head coach Jason Garrett says the team’s headsets went out on both occasions, leading to the flags.
“That’s the nature of the National Football League,” Garrett said of the headset malfunctions. “Sometimes that happens. It seems to happen a lot on the road. You’ve just got to fight your way through that. Tony has a good understanding, being able to get some plays called if it’s not coming in clean.
“But that happened a few times in the game. We had to adjust, and a couple of times it did make us look a little sloppy getting out of the huddle because he wasn’t getting the call like he typically does.”
The penalties both came right around midfield, just as the Cowboys were in Jets territory. One was in the first quarter while the other was in the fourth quarter (right before the blocked punt). Both occurred on third down.
You may recall that this issue gained a lot of attention in 2007 when the Patriots were exposed during “Spygate.” Several different people said the Pats screwed with opposing teams‘ signals in Foxboro. A month later, the Packers and Eagles were accused of pulling the same stunts. Then last season Raheem Morris said the same thing happened during a key moment in Atlanta.
So what’s the point of all this? A few things. One, it’s pretty obvious that teams will pull off shady maneuvers to give themselves an edge. Two, there’s a good reason some visiting teams may appear clueless on the field at times. Three, is this even an issue if all teams are doing it? Maybe it’s not, but it’s important to recognize that this is one more obstacle teams face when they’re on the road.
