NFL Officiating Bias

So as a long suffering Cowboys fan, but also a NFL fan who watches a lot of NFL games (some might say, too many games), the NFL Officiating bias against the Cowboys is incredible.  Now in general we all know the NFL officiating is horrible.  In the previous post I discussed the replacement refs versus the "regular" NFL refs.  And everyone can pick out one or two plays that went in the Cowboys favor, because that does happen, although rarely.  

But to understand the bias, you have to examine trends over long periods of time to gather the necessary data points.  As a fan who watches the Cowboys, the bias against Dallas is evident, but I know a lot of people like the talking heads at ESPN who never do any real work and hate the Cowboys (apparently a prerequisite for employment at Bristol) need to have the data spoon fed to them.  So I did a little research, and the numbers came out as I would've expected, except for one outlier, which even in itself became explainable.  

The data listed below are straight from NFL.com and have not been altered.  I went back 7 years and reviewed Penalties Data for "number of penalties called against Dallas" in the regular season and the Cowboys' respective rank in this category.  
However, as I have stated before, to me the "no calls" that do not get called against the opposing team when playing Dallas is just as relevant.  Just like the recent game against Pittsburgh ( Steelers were called for ZERO penalties.  Really?  Zero?, for 60 minutes +, and not one Steeler did anything?!  Don't want to get on that soap box again). 
So I also took the same period of time, last 7 years, and pulled the "average number of penalties called against a Cowboys opponent" and the respective rank.  
The data is unmistakeable.  The NFL officiating bias against the Cowboys over the long term can not be missed.  The numbers don't lie, the bias is there.  
Take a look for yourself.

Cowboys No. of Penalties per year and Rank (2012 through week 15 of regular season)

Cowboys	No. of Penalties	Penalty Yds	Rank
2012	111	815	1
2011	114	816	5
2010	109	863	6
2009	115	892	5
2008	119	952	1
2007	104	815	8
*2006	100	939	12
*2005	99	739	25

Cowboys Opponents’ Average Number of Penalties per game and Rank

Opp Penalty/Game	Rank
5.8	24
5.3	29
4.9	30
5.7	18
5.4	18
5.2	24
5.6	18
8.9	1

*Bill Parcells Coached Cowboys

So as we look at the numbers..... the Cowboys always rank in the top 8 for most penalties in a year and always have over 100 penalties.... oh wait, except for one year.  Which just happens to be a Bill Parcells year (from New York and loved by the New York led NFL).

Then let's look at the other point which is just as important.... the "no calls" by the refs against the teams when they play the Cowboys.  So when other teams play the Cowboys, they just automatically get better during that one week.  And always have less penalties called on them?  All on their own?  The NFL Officials have nothing to do with it?  With of course the exception of the Parcell's year where we ranked 1st.  Amazing.

Well I can go on and on, but the data is there and is unmistakeable.  Either the NFL, individual refs or maybe a combination of both, do everything they can to make the Cowboys lose and keep them from being a viable post season team.  
Is officiating the only problem?  No.  
Is Jerry Jones and some of his ignorant GM moves to blame? Yes.  
But in a league where parity is so prevalent, the kind of Officiating bias that the Cowboys have to deal with year after year, easily can make the difference between an 8-8 team and a 10-6 team which makes the playoffs.

This NFL bias against the Cowboys has to end.  The only way I know to begin, is by exposing the NFL cheating.  Read this blog/post and copy and paste to as many places as  you can find.  Get the information out.

Stop the Bias of NFL Officiating Crews

Every call was scrutinized.  Every discussion or delay of the game was discussed for hours on ESPN.  Every mistake was presented as though the fate of mankind was doomed.  That was during the "Replacement" NFL Refs brief tenure.  Yet now I watch hours (too many hours some might say) of NFL football, and the officiating crews are horrible.  They make simple mistakes, there is no consistency in the penalties and in every game there seems to be a distinct bias toward one team.  This occurs not only with the penalties they call on one team, but the obvious "no calls" for the opposing team.  But I wake the next morning, to find no discussion of the NFL officiating crews by ESPN or any other sports network.  All of the mistakes, all of the bumbling around/delay of games, all of the obvious bias toward one team or another, everything is just dismissed and ignored.  

Really?!  It's OK for the "professional" refs who are getting paid huge money to work part time to make egregious mistakes?  But it wasn't OK for the replacement refs to make mistakes?  This obviously seems backward to me.  Why not give the replacement refs a little slack but be really hard on the permanent refs?

I can use numerous games throughout the weekend to demonstrate the bias, but I'll use the Sunday Night Game of Cowboys versus the Eagles, as it is most recent.

Total penalties:
Cowboys - 7 for 60 yards
Eagles - 1 for 5 yards

I'm not saying that it's impossible for one team to have only one penalty while the other team has 7.  But I'm saying I watched the game and some of the 7 penalties for the Cowboys were borderline calls that could go either way (call or no call) while the Eagles committed several blatant penalties that were never called even though the "professional refs" were starring directly at the infraction.  It was an obvious bias on the part of the refs in favor of the Eagles.  And while part of my rant is the lack of coverage by the media for the horrible officiating, I do need to give props to Chris Collinsworth, who pointed out several times how badly the referees were performing.

Not only is the terrible officiating a blot on the NFL, but the outcome of games continually are affected by this constant bias by refs. 
Let me give an example:
Cowboys are in the Red Zone, DeMarco Murray gets a good run up the middle to the 1 or 2 yard line.  Refs call a holding penalty which for all intensive purposes kills the drive and forces the Cowboys to settle for a field goal instead of a go ahead touchdown (loss of 4 points).  When replayed, the commentators couldn't find any Cowboys player guilty of holding.  Then on the very next possession by the Eagles, they are in the Red Zone on the 10 yard line, Bryce Brown gets the carry, there is a blatant hold by one of the Eagles offensive linemen, which allows Brown to run into the red zone untouched for a TD.  Seven points plus the 4 taken away from the Cowboys and you have the referees falsely creating an 11 point differential.

You see this bias in game after game.  It's one thing if a particular officiating crew is calling the game "close", or if another crew is calling it "loosely".  That's fine, that's just human.  But for the crew to call it "tight" for one team and "loose" for the other is just cheating. 

I don't know if this is:

1. NFL trying to control the outcome of certain games so TV viewership will remain high - ie. without the referees the Cowboys/Eagles game would've been a blowout.  The Cowboys won, but the Referees kept the game close and therefore "interesting" to watch so people wouldn't turn the channel and thereby keep the ratings high throughout the game for advertising revenue for the NFL.
2. NFL controlling the outcome of games so they can arrange which teams go to the playoffs and Superbowls.
3. Gambling/organized Crime is involved to effect the spread.
4. Or Referees have teams they favor (or dislike) and therefore let their individual bias interfere with the integrity of the game.

But whatever the reason, something needs to be done to stop this constant calamity each week.  It should start with the media beating up the "professional" refs just as much as they did the replacement refs.  This will start an open dialogue and bring these biased and game changing refs to the forefront.  Only with this attention will anything change.  As long as we sit here week after week and ignore the atrocities that occur every week, the integrity of the NFL will continue to erode.

NY Giants/Eli Media Excuses

Even though the Giants were on a bye this, the NY media based ESPN still felt compelled to provide excuses for why the Giants and Eli Manning have struggled in recent weeks.  The excuse du jour was Eli's arm is tired from throwing so much.  Let me repeat this in case you are still laughing as hard as I am as I write this,...."Eli's arm is tired from throwing".

I do not even know where to begin with refuting such utter and total BS.  Do you really think Eli is any more tired than any other Quarterback in the NFL right now, particularly QBs behind horrible offensive lines like Tony Romo and Mike Vick.  We all know when watching ESPN that you have to live through the NorthEast media bias, but this is ridiculous.  If ESPN is going to make excuses, at least make them plausible.

But then to make matters worst, I started noticing on Sunday that other media outlets, CBS, Fox etc. had started copying this line.  It's one thing to come up with a BS excuse that's ridiculous, but how lazy to do you have to be to copy someone else's stupid excuse.  Unbelievable.  But eventually everyone will say this ridiculous line repeatedly until it becomes "fact".  Kind of like watching Fox News.

I'm going to start a new excuse for the Cowboys Defense allowing the late 4th Quarter Touch Down by Cleveland.  "The Cowboys defense had played for almost four Quarters and were tired."  If I say it enough times it will become true, Right?

Jerry Jones the General Manager

So once again the discussion begins about whether Jerry Jones should fire himself as the General Manager of the Dallas Cowboys.  I watch "First Take" on ESPN2 and there is Skip, Stephen A. and Darren Woodson discussing Jerry Jones the owner and General Manager.  Everyone agrees that he's a good owner, but a horrible General Manager.  This discussion gets repeated year after year in November and/or December once it is evident that once again the Dallas Cowboys (aka America's Team) is relegated to mediocrity or in some cases like this year, less than mediocrity with a 3-5 record.  And once again Jerry goes on TV (Bob Costas interview) and local radio interviews and is asked the question about his ability as a General Manager, and once again babbles on in the unknown language of "Jerry Speak", where he says something but nothing at the same time.  But most telling in a recent radio interview Jerry started re-writing history and spouting statements as facts that are absolutely not factual.  And to make matters worse, I don't think he even knows that he is lying.  In his delusional world, he thinks these non-truths are in fact truthful history.  The most recent example in said radio interview - Jerry said that he was the General Manager of the Cowboys during the early '90s and won three Superbowls, and by virtue of that experience, knows he can do it again.  This is absolutely a false statement and re-writing of history.  Jerry was not the General Manager and was not in charge player personnel while Jimmy Johnson was the head coach.  So Jerry has never been the General Manager and Manager of Personnel for a team that won three Superbowls.  He was owner of a team that won three Superbowls, but was not in charge of player personnel during that period.  And if you don't believe me, then believe Jimmy Johnson who was there..(Jimmy Johson disputes Jerry Jones' claims on Dan Patrick Show).  And again, the real problem with Jerry, he truly believes he is telling the truth.  In his Al Davis, mind dwindling, circle talking, lost world of early onset Alzheimer's believes he was the instrumental force behind those three Superbowls.  But it simply isn't true.

What is true, is that ever since Jimmy Johnson left, the Cowboys have alternated between mediocre and horrible.  The only slight upward tick in fortunes was when Jerry hired Bill Parcells who took a horrible team full of players that couldn't even make the practice squad of the Kansas City Chiefs and within 3 years turned them into a competitive playoff bound team.  Had Jerry not run Bill Parcells off with the Terrell Owens debacle, Parcells might have stayed for the full five years of his contract and taken the Cowboys deeper into the playoffs.  But once again Jerry Jones interfered,  ran off Bill Parcells, hired Wade Phillips and well the rest is part of the horrid Cowboys history.

When are we going to stop having this same discussion every year?
Reporter - "Jerry what do you think of yourself as a General Manager?" 
Jerry - "Well, uhh, I uhhh, blah blah blah blah blah". 
This is not a rhetorical question, as I have no answer.  The definition of insane is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.  Jerry continues to do the same thing, which is be a horrible GM.  We continue to ask the same questions.  We continue to get the same lame Jerry Speak answer.  People continue to show up for games and drive high TV ratings for Dallas Cowboy games.

Jerry cares less about winning and more about fame, recognition and being the face of the Dallas Cowboys, even if they annually suck.  Well, thanks Jerry Jones, you have taken a once proud franchise and driven it into a laughing stock with no hope of redemption.  Even after you are long gone, this blight on the Cowboys history will always leave an indelible mark of disgrace.

Guest Writer Dylan's expository essay on Jerry Jones and Dallas Cowboys

Did you know The Dallas Cowboys have 5 Super Bowl wins? Well let me tell you something interesting, the Cowboys haven’t even been to the playoffs since 2008. That’s pretty bad. The reason is their owner Jerry Jones, he doesn’t know how to correctly draft players for one thing, He also needs to hire more experienced coaches. Sean Lee and Morris Claiborne are great but what he really needs is Offensive Linemen. The Cowboys have a great Running Back, Demarco Murray, but he needs blockers. They just need to get rid of Jerry Jones because if they do they will win games. So the Cowboys need a new owner because they can’t draft, have inexperienced coaches, and play badly.

The Cowboys in the last twelve years have only had 11 first round draft picks some were 2 in one year a lot of them weren’t even very good when they played for the Cowboys. Those 11 picks are: Roy Williams, Terrence Newman, DeMarcus Ware, Marcus Spears, Bobby Carpenter, Anthony Spencer, Felix Jones, Mike Jenkins, Dez Bryant, Tyron Smith, and Morris Claiborne. They only had 8 years out of 12(they had two picks some of the years) because Jerry Jones traded his picks away for crummy third and fourth round picks. He has a great team but it’s all his fault. In my opinion I think Jerry is also the reason the referees cheat the Cowboys. If you can’t tell I’m a Cowboys fan for life. So the Cowboys right now are 3-4 that’s not very good but it’s better than 1-6 like the Browns. Also Jerry claimed "The Cowboys are going to beat The Giants butts at home" but they didn’t because Sean Lee and Demarco Murray were injured, so they couldn’t pull out a win. Jerry needs to hire more experienced coaches because if he doesn’t The Cowboys will never have the proper training that they desperately need, but he did good when he hired Rob Ryan he has really turned their defense around ad they finally cause turnovers now Jerry is also always disagreeing with The Cowboys Head Coach Jason Garret. Jerry also is the teams GM! I mean you really can’t get stupider than that, so that means he is their General Manager or GM. That pretty much means in drafting and free agency he always has the last say, in everything!

So pretty much what I have been trying so very hard to say here in this article is that Jerry Jones needs to retire. Please Jerry retire and sell the team so they can finally win again like they did in the 90’s with Troy, Michael, and Emmit. I really do think that if Jerry retires they’ll be the number on team in the NFL again. That’s why the Cowboys need a new owner so they can go and win the Super Bowl!

Cowboys Carolina Game

Just a quick mention from a couple of weeks ago - I went to the Cowboys/Panthers game in Charlotte, NC.  I went to one of the tailgate parties.  It was located at the Salty Dog Saloon.  It was operated by one of my friends' family.  Awesome tailgate party.  The Panther fans were all very nice and accommodating, even though I had on my DeMarco Murray Jersey.  We drank (including a couple of shots) and ate tons of food.  Big thanks out to Tyler and his cousin for letting a Cowboy fan crash the Panther tailgate party.  We then headed over to the stadium which was across the street.  Very quick and easy to get into the stadium.  Much easier than Cowboys Stadium.  Once inside, we were at about the 10 yard line in the upper section.  But even though the seats weren't great, we had a great view of the game.  The stadium is pretty small, so I don't think there is really a bad seat in the house.  Great, exciting game with of course a Cowboy win in the end.  But it was pretty much two really bad teams playing each other.  I was amazed at the number of Cowboys fans in the stadium, particularly the section I was sitting in.  Seemed as those my friends..Tyler, Tim and Drew were the only Panthers fans sitting in that section so it felt like a Cowboys home game.  Great fun, Great Friends and Great Game.

No single bullet theory for Cowboys Problems

As I read all the Op-Eds after another home loss to the NY Giants, I see the usual blame game.  It's Romo's fault, it's Garrett's fault, it's Felix Jones, it's Dez Bryant and of course the primary focus of Jerry Jones.  And that in itself is the problem.  There is not one issue that can be repaired to help this troubled franchise from its own demise.  Let's break down the issues:

1.  Romo - Romo is a good Quarter Back.  In fact he is very good.  But he is not elite.  Let me give an example....In the Giants game with ~ 1.5 minutes left, the Cowboys are at the 19 yard line and it's 2nd and 1 yard to go for a first down.  Garrett sends Romo a run/pass option, which means if there are more defenders in the "box" than there are blockers, then pass.  If there are fewer defenders in the box than, blockers then run.  In reality the Giants put six defenders in the box and the Cowboys had six blockers.  In this situation now it is a toss up and Romo can choose either - Run or Pass.  There is plenty of time and you have all three time outs, smart money says you have a helmet on helmet between blockers and defenders, so run the ball and get the first down.  A run has a higher percentage of working and has less chance of catastrophic failure as compared to a pass (QB sack for loss of yards or interception).  So Romo's first mistake is he choses Pass over Run.  But that's still OK, it's 6 on 6 he's got Ogletree lined up wide right with single coverage.  He's got Austin in the slot with what appears to be single coverage... so while not the highest percentage choice, it is a viable option.  But Romo's next decision is what takes him out of elite status and why the Cowboys let a great chance to win the game slip away.  After the snap, and after the defenders move to their respective positions,  Romo's first read is correct.  Miles Austin in the slot has single coverage and Kevin Ogletree wide right is also in single coverage.  The Giants decide to double cover Witten and Bryant.  So now Romo's decision to chose pass over run doesn't look too bad.  But Romo has a choice now based on the passing play sent in by Garrett.  Austin is running across the middle for a first down and Ogletree is running to the back corner of the end zone for a fade route.  Even though there is plenty of time, Romo wants the score and he wants it now.  He mistakenly throws the fade pass to Ogletree.  The fade has a very low percentage conversion.  Romo has three WRs with over 100 yards receiving in the game and none of them are named Ogletree.  In fact Ogletree has zero receptions in this game and has performed very poorly since his break out performance in Week 1, six weeks ago.  He could've thrown a simple pass and catch to Austin for the first down, taken more time off the clock and lived for four more downs to get the game winning Touchdown, or he could go for it all on a low percentage throw to a non-factor wide receiver.  Romo choses the latter and in the end the Cowboys lose.  Romo's ability to bring his team back from a 23 - 0 deficit and his 6 years of great stats demonstrates he is a very good Quarterback, but most of his decisions in game critical situations demonstrate he is not an Elite Quarterback.  Which leads us to our next problem with the Cowboys.  There are a lot of teams that have had success with very good Quarterbacks and even good Quarterbacks.  I won't take the time to list them all here.  But teams that have had success with less than elite QBs have other things going for them that the Cowboys do not.

2.  Jason Garrett is not experienced or good enough to be both the offensive coordinator, offensive play caller and head coach simultaneously.  He may be good a good offensive coordinator, he may be a good offensive play caller - certainly the Cowboys offensive stats demonstrate this idea since his arrival as offensive coordinator.  And Garrett may also be a good head coach after a few years of experience like Tom Landry.  But right now, he is not good at all three simultaneously.  Which leads us to the other problem with the Cowboys.... Jerry Jones.

3.  Jerry Jones is not a good General Manager.  He does not want a head coach with all of the power to make the personnel decisions, exampled by this long list of *removing good coaches and bringing in ^weak coaches.... *Jimmy Johnson,  ^Barry Switzer, ^Chan Gailey, ^Dave Campo, *Bill Parcells, ^Wade Phillips, Jason Garrett.  Jason actually falls somewhere in between, he obviously has more power than Wade Phillips or Dave Campo, but not full control like Jimmy Johnson or Bill Parcells.  This can be seen in the player decisions by Garrett.  In his first two years, he has removed from the Cowboys all of the dead weight that were not working hard, even if they were starters - Martellus Bennett, Andre Gurode, Roy Williams, Marion Barber, etc.  However, now we have the Jerry Jones interference - Felix Jones.  Felix didn't show up to training camp in shape, he's slow, he's ineffective returning kicks, ineffective running the ball and now for some reason is having problems catching the ball.  Based on Garrett's history with older players, Felix would be gone and in would come Tanner and Dunbar to carry the load during DeMarco Murray's injury.  But Jerry loves the Arkansas connection with Felix.  Finally and 6 weeks too late, Felix is replaced on kick returns by Dunbar.  In the rushing game, Felix's contribution could easily be replaced with a combination of Tanner and Dunbar, but yet Felix continues to get the starting RB position and majority of carries.  With Garrett's recent player moves but Jerry Jones' history of affection and meddling with certain players, it is obvious Felix is still playing because Jerry wants it, thereby undercutting the authority of his head coach.

So as always, primarily the issue is with Jerry.  However, as usual there is not one single bullet problem that can be corrected.  Romo needs to make better decisions, or the head coach needs to take these decisions away from Romo.  The head coach needs to decide whether he wants to be a head coach or offensive play caller.  And the head coach needs more experience.  Unfortunately the Cowboys have all of these problems at once and none of them appear to be corrected anytime soon.  For that reason, the Cowboys will be competitive during most games but will fall short of making any type of real playoff push.