Dallas Cowboys fans will not soon forget the controversial tripping penalty for which Travis Frederick was flagged late in Sunday’s 13-9 loss to the New England Patriots.
The Cowboys were down 13-9 and facing a 3rd-and-1 at their 35 with two minutes left. Dak Prescott completed a pass to Ezekiel Elliott that would have given Dallas a first down, but there was a flag on the play. Frederick was called for tripping.
This is the exact opposite of a tripping. He moved out of the way to avoid tripping the defender. This BS has to stop. Please NFL. Stop this. pic.twitter.com/J8Lt0RBKls
— Geoff Schwartz (@geoffschwartz) November 25, 2019
FOX analyst Troy Aikman immediately flipped out over the penalty call, while FOX officiating guru Mike Pereira defended it.
Those watching the game called it a phantom call.
Another phantom call. At least third I’ve seen today and I’ve missed a lot of the day. This was second one that just killed Cowboys. #refs
— Jay Posner (@sdutPosner) November 25, 2019
That tripping call belongs right up there with the phantom hands to the face call that went against the Lions in Green Bay on the list of horrible hallucinations by NFL officials this season.
— Michael David Smith (@MichaelDavSmith) November 25, 2019
That was actually the second tripping call that went against the Cowboys, and they were both pretty bad.
What “tripping” looks like when you play in New England pic.twitter.com/cKmvRpcRWz
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) November 24, 2019
Rather than have a drive continue, the Cowboys were faced with a 4th-and-11 after the penalty. A pass to Amari Cooper was overturned on review and called incomplete, which gave the ball back to the Patriots and effectively sealed the loss.
The NFL later admitted to the Cowboys they got the calls wrong.
