Cowboys' DeMarcus Lawrence on the lack of holding calls: 'F--- them refs'
Dallas Cowboys defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence has been one of the best defensive players in all of football this season. In 13 games, Lawrence has 54 tackles, four forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries, 13.5 sacks, nine additional quarterback hits, and 41 hurries. Among 4-3 defensive ends, only Cameron Wake has pressured the opposing quarterback on a greater percentage of snaps than Lawrence.
The only thing Lawrence hasn't done extremely well this season is draw penalties. According to Lawrence, an opposing offensive lineman has not been called for holding him in five games. And he is not happy about it. Lawrence went off on Monday, disparaging NFL refs for the lack of holding calls against Cowboys opponents.
David Helman, a staff writer for the Cowboys' official website, pointed out that the Cowboys have indeed drawn an NFL-low eight holding calls against opposing offensive players. (Only six of them were accepted.)
Per https://t.co/LsQ8PfigMx, the Cowboys have benefitted from 8 total offensive holding flags this year, not including special teams. That’s last in the league.
League average this season is 16. https://t.co/YyNsf6VXj5 — David Helman (@HelmanDC) December 12, 2017
Cowboys opponents have been called for holding just twice in the last 10 games. They at one point went 33 straight quarters without seeing an opposing lineman get called for a hold, which is a little insane -- especially when you consider that they employ two of the NFL's better pass-rushers in Lawrence and David Irving, who has seven sacks in eight games, but sat out Sunday against the Giants with a concussion.
Lawrence probably has a beef here, but it seems like coming out and saying, "F--- them refs" is probably not the best strategy for getting refs to show you more respect.