Cowboys coach wants to stop talking about the picked up flag
Jason Garrett is tired of discussing the controversial call from the Cowboys’ win on Sunday, saying his team deserves more praise.
Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett believes his team is not getting enough credit for overcoming a 14-point deficit against the Detroit Lions and that too much is being made of the referee's controversial decision to pick up a flag on a play late in the fourth quarter.
Garrett, who is preparing his team for the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, says the public focus is all wrong, per Todd Archer of ESPN:
“We’re talking about the wrong stuff,” Garrett said. “We’re talking about officiating after a game. I would like to think that I would say that when the call goes against us, and certainly want to say it when the call goes for us. There’s a lot of calls in a game that impact the game and we never really try to get caught up with those as coaches and players. You try to play and coach the game to the best of our ability.
“There’s a lot of great things that happened in that ball game yesterday, and I think a lot of people are talking about the wrong things. You talk about what happened during the game and the positive things that happened for our football team, how good a football team they are and the battle that we went through and the challenge that we went through to have to win that game.”
On the play in question, Cowboys linebacker Anthony Hitchens was defending Lions tight end Brandon Pettigrew with the ball in the air. Hitchens was holding Pettigrew during the route and then face-guarded him when the ball arrived. Face-guarding is legal in the NFL, but the hold was blatant. Head of officiating Dean Blandino admitted on Monday that a holding call should have been made.
A flag was initially thrown and pass interference was called over the public address system by referee Pete Morelli. However, Morelli then decided to pick up the flag and reverse the decision, leaving Detroit with a fourth-and-1 just inside Dallas' territory. The Lions punted and the Cowboys scored on the following drive for what ended up as the game-winning touchdown. Many players were stunned afterward, including Dallas safety Barry Church, who said he believes Hitchens committed a foul.
Garrett also believes there are issues with the way penalties are called, including the play in question:
“That’s just been my anecdotal experience,” Garrett said. “When the guy who is on the play sees it, he’s the guy who should have the loudest voice. It’s always frustrated me when an official from way far away after the play happens, you see this flag coming in from 50 yards away and he feels like he has a better view of it. Now these guys are pros and great at what they do.
“We have a really healthy respect for them. But that’s my only frustration with it. The guy who is closest I believe more times than not should call the play. They don’t ask the first-base umpire to call balls and strikes. He calls the plays at first, right? He rarely steps in and says, ‘I think that thing painted the black over here.’ He doesn’t have a great view of it. The guy behind the plate does. That’s always been my gripe about situations like this.”
The flag on Hitchens was initially thrown by an official across the field, only to have the head linesman overrule him. Part of the problem could be the all-star crews put together by the NFL for the playoffs. Officials are in the same group all year under the postseason, when individual grades determine who calls games in January and February.
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