The Cowboys set a record with 166 penalty yards Thursday in the overtime loss to the Raiders. The previous record was the 161 they had against Washington in 1970.
The 28 total penalties -- 14 on each team -- called by referee Shawn Hochuli’s crew were the most ever in a Cowboys game.
“Twenty-eight penalties,” Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said. “‘I don’t really know what the hell you want me to say. Write whatever you want. I’m all for it.”
The Cowboys had a touchdown taken off the board by a holding call on left tackle Tyron Smith. Cornerback Anthony Brown had four defensive pass interference penalties for 91 yards, prompting owner Jerry Jones to call it “throw up ball.” Linebacker Micah Parsons had a phantom roughing the passer penalty.
The Cowboys left dissatisfied with both their play and with the job officials did.
“I feel bad for my guys cause I know some of the penalties were 50/50; some would say really bad calls,” Parsons said. “It doesn’t matter. At the end of the day, football is an aggressive game and you’re gonna attack the ball, and you’re gonna play through the ball, and you’re gonna play the defender. End of the day, it’s gonna come to a point and time where when are you going to let us truly play?”
The Cowboys couldn’t get out of their own way against the Raiders. Losers of three of their last four now, they aren’t playing well enough to overcome 166 penalty yards.
“It’s obvious. They definitely affected the game,” quarterback Dak Prescott said. “But we’ve got to self-reflect and keep the officials out of the game. One way or another, we’ve got to be better. We’ve got to be disciplined. We’ve got to focus on controlling what we can control. Obviously, they’re going to happen. Feel like we’re targeted a little bit, but in the same instance, yeah, we’ve got to be better on our end to try to keep them out of the game.”