The Dallas Cowboys draw, on average, 10 penalties per game. At a lower rate, it’s possible that they would have won more than one game out of five.
And so they have imported officials for practice this week, with the goal of ironing out the penalty problem.
So what happens if a flag is thrown in practice?
“We make the team run the play again,” Phillips said, per Nick Eatman of the team’s official website. “No matter what happened on the play, we run the play again. It’s a time thing. You’re going to be out there so long, but if you get a penalty, you’re going to be out there longer. I think [the players] relate to that.”
Phillips also said the officials were asked to focus on certain areas during practice, but Phillips didn’t specify those areas.
The officials will be present at practice on the two main practice days -- usually Wednesday and Thursday -- for the rest of the year.