Referee calls · 2019–2026
Do refs favor the Cowboys?
No more than most teams. Judgment calls have been worth +0.39 points a game to the Cowboys since 2019, 9th of 32 teams. In the playoffs: −0.16 points a game over 4 games, a small sample that swings on a handful of flags.
Call luck, season by season
Points per regular-season game from judgment calls: the calls that helped the Cowboys minus the calls that hurt them.
Biggest calls for the Cowboys
- Illegal Use of Hands on the Vikings (Harrison Smith), 5 yards, wiping out the play · 2021 Week 8 · 38 pts of win probability
- Offensive Pass Interference on the Giants (Darius Slayton), 10 yards, wiping out the play · 2025 Week 18 · 30 pts of win probability
- Offensive Pass Interference on the Giants (Damion Ratley), 10 yards, wiping out the play · 2020 Week 5 · 26 pts of win probability
- Roughing the Passer on the Eagles (Haason Reddick), 15 yards · 2023 Week 9 · 26 pts of win probability
- Offensive Holding on the Chargers (Jared Cook), 10 yards, wiping out the play · 2021 Week 2 · 25 pts of win probability
Biggest calls against
- Offensive Pass Interference on the Cowboys (Michael Gallup), 10 yards, wiping out the play · 2020 Week 1 · 100 pts of win probability
- Defensive Pass Interference on the Cowboys (Anthony Brown), 33 yards · 2021 Week 12 · 43 pts of win probability
- Offensive Holding on the Cowboys, 10 yards, wiping out the play · 2021 Week 1 · 31 pts of win probability
- Offensive Pass Interference on the Cowboys (George Pickens), 10 yards, wiping out the play · 2025 Week 2 · 29 pts of win probability
- Offensive Holding on the Cowboys, 10 yards, wiping out the play · 2021 Week 12 · 21 pts of win probability
Questions
Do refs favor the Cowboys?
No more than most teams. Judgment calls have been worth +0.39 points a game to the Cowboys since 2019, 9th of 32 teams.
What about the playoffs?
In the playoffs: −0.16 points a game over 4 games, a small sample that swings on a handful of flags.
How is this measured?
Every flag that isn’t a pre-snap foul (holding, pass interference, roughing, unnecessary roughness and the like) is valued in expected points for the team it helped, including any play it wiped out. A flag on a player who is rarely flagged counts more (up to twice), one on a frequent offender less. A team’s call luck is the calls that helped it minus the calls that hurt it. It says how the calls went, not why: teams that throw deep draw more pass interference, for example.
Is it more than chance?
Mostly not. A team’s call luck in odd weeks barely predicts its call luck in even weeks (correlation 0.06 across all teams since 2019), which is what chance looks like. Over 32 teams, a few will always sit at the top of this list.
All teams, 2026 · Referee crews · Dallas Cowboys, every season