The NFL has a rulebook, which you can read for fun, but just don’t bother applying it to an actual NFL game.
Despite the league’s best intentions to outline what is and is not a penalty, and making a violent game “safe,” all infractions are not the same. With increasing regularity, nothing a ref’ calls makes any sense.
Starting with the first play of the game, the Cowboys’ 29-23 overtime win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday featured some of the most bewildering officiating from any game this season.
I asked Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott if the players are frustrated with the “pattern” of calls this season.