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[Dallas Cowboys]

Cowboys at Panthers referee report: Dallas will have uphill battle with zebras

It feels weird to have this much optimism around a team that’s just 2-2-1, but that’s where we are with the Cowboys. Their offense is cooking, the defense showed signs of life last week, and the team is favored in a road game with the Panthers this week.

Things may be trending in the Cowboys’ favor as of late, but it hasn’t all been sunshine and rainbows. Let’s take a look at their penalty numbers before getting into the officiating assignment for this week’s game.

Cowboys Penalties	Penalty Yards	Opponent Penalties	Penalty Yards
at Eagles	4	42	9	110
vs Giants	12	106	14	160
at Bears	4	25	6	41
vs Packers	11	95	7	53
at Jets	11	91	10	61
Total	42	359	46	425

The Cowboys have now gone consecutive weeks with 11 penalties, and it’s their third time in four games with double-digit penalties. After sitting outside the top 10 in penalties for the year, they’ve now leapt into a tie for the fifth-most flags; more concerning, they’re fourth in total penalty yardage.

Special teams continues to be an issue here, too. The offense is 19th in penalties, the defense is 16th in penalties, but special teams is second in the league in flags drawn. Coincidentally, the Titans – led by John “Bones” Fassel – is the one unit more penalized than Dallas.

As for the Panthers, they’re one of the more disciplined teams in the NFL, currently drawing the fifth-fewest penalties. They have yet to draw double-digit flags in a game and have just one game with more than 60 penalty yards. Odds seem good those streaks continue with this week’s officiating crew.

Referee for Cowboys at Panthers — John Hussey
https://t.co/TDHm3jFYbP #DALvsCAR pic.twitter.com/MDhuDj1L7c

—  Fᴏᴏᴛʙᴀʟʟ Zᴇʙʀᴀs (@footballzebras) October 7, 2025

John Hussey is one of the longest-tenured officials in football, having joined the NFL all the way back in 2002 as a line judge. He became a head referee in 2015 and is now in the midst of his 11th season leading his own crew. That gives him a pretty sizable career of how Hussey calls games, over which he’s developed a reputation for helping the home team.

Last year marked the first time since 2017 that Hussey’s crew did not finish the year with more penalties called on the visitor, though it was narrow, with just six more flags on the home team. Prior to that, his crew usually finished with considerably more flags thrown on the road team; so far this year, he’s called seven more penalties on the home team.

It’s possible that Hussey is changing his tendencies, though that’s usually uncommon for referees as tenured as he. A breakdown of Hussey’s games this year offers a reasonable explanation for the discrepancy: he officiated a Titans game in Tennessee in Week 2 that saw the Titans – and that horribly undisciplined special teams unit we mentioned before – flagged six more times than their visiting opponent. That game sticks out as a real statistical anomaly.

One thing that has been materially different this year, though, is the on-field impact of Hussey’s calls. Known to be a boon for the home team’s winning chances, Hussey has seen the home team go 107-56 under his watch before the start of this season.

However, the home team is 2-2 so far this year, with several surprises. In Week 1, the Bills staged an epic comeback over the Ravens; backup Mac Jones led the 49ers to a win over the Cardinals; and the Commanders just upset the Chargers. Not only that, but the home team is 1-3 against the spread with Hussey on the call this year, which seems to suggest home teams aren’t getting the usual boost they have in the past.

That’s a comforting trend for the Cowboys, but the fact remains that the Panthers don’t draw the flag too much. The Cowboys offense leads the league in first downs gained by penalty, but Carolina is giving up the fewest first downs by penalty, just two. In the same vein, the Panthers are tied for sixth in gaining first downs that way.

The Panthers are a very disciplined team so far this year, and the Cowboys haven’t been one in recent weeks. Hussey may no longer be the harbinger of doom for visitors, but his presence and extensive track record is anything but a positive for the Cowboys.

Source: https://www.bloggingtheboys.com/dal...-report-uphill-battle-penalties-special-teams

 

[Dallas Cowboys]

Dallas Cowboys scouting report: Breaking down the Panthers defensive scheme

When the Cowboys take the field this Sunday, it’ll be their third straight year facing the Panthers in Carolina. Even with a new coaching staff in Dallas, that lends itself to some familiarity with this squad, especially on defense, where defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero has been for all three games.

Evero has been one of the rising stars in the coaching ranks for a while now, viewed by many as a future head coach. He famously turned down the Broncos interim head coaching gig when Nathaniel Hackett was fired in 2022, and instead went to Carolina as the defensive coordinator.

Through his first two years running the Panthers defense, Evero hasn’t had much success. His first year in Carolina, which saw Frank Reich fired midseason, finished with the defense 26th in EPA/play allowed and 32nd in defensive DVOA. Last year, the defense finished 32nd in EPA/play allowed and 30th in defensive DVOA.

That’s not what you want to see, but the Panthers also had a litany of injuries on defense last year. By the end of the year, they had lost seven starters to season-ending injuries, with Pro Bowl nose tackle Derrick Brown going down in the season opener.

Brown is now back in action and leads the team in sacks, and Carolina went to work to upgrade the defensive roster around him: in the offseason, they added six new players that have all become key contributors on that side of the ball. The result: modest improvement, but nothing extraordinary. Carolina ranks 21st in EPA/play allowed and 27th in defensive DVOA.

To understand the defensive struggles, it’s important to understand Evero’s scheme. He’s a Vic Fangio disciple through and through, coaching under him with the 49ers and later becoming right-hand-man to fellow Fangio disciple Brandon Staley while with the Rams. As such, Evero’s scheme is built on playing with a light box and committing defenders to pass coverage, routinely using two deep safeties to keep everything in front of the defensive backs.

As with any scheme, there are pro’s and con’s to the approach. Evero’s scheme fundamentally asks a lot from his defensive line and safety groups. The defensive line must generate pass rush to force quarterbacks into throwing shorter passes, as well as hold their own against the run with such a light box, while the safeties have to trigger downfield from far away to make plays after the catch and keep those short passes short.

Therein lies the problem for the Panthers.

Nobody has fewer sacks than them, and their pressure rate is tied with the aforementioned Staley’s Saints unit for second-worst in the league. Opposing receivers are averaging 3.8 yards of separation at the catch point against this defense, tied for fourth-most in the league; again, that’s a feature of the coverage scheme, but it’s a problem when the Panthers are also giving up 513 yards after the catch.

Against the run, the defensive line hasn’t been getting it done either. They’re stuffing the run on just 12.5% of run plays, sixth-lowest in the league. They’re now going up against a Cowboys offense that has the lowest rate in the league of runs that get stuffed. That hardly bodes well for them.

So when the defensive line can’t get pressure or stop the run, and the coordinator refuses to help them out with blitzes or loading the box more – Carolina ranks in 25th in blitz rate and 27th in stacked box rate – what else is supposed to happen? The Panthers know their scheme well by now, but Evero isn’t getting adequate enough production to run the scheme effectively. Sooner or later, something has to give.

This week may be their most challenging yet. Dallas is red-hot offensively, torching defenses through the air and on the ground. They’re averaging 187 passing yards a game just on plays where there’s no pressure and 7.3 yards per carry against light boxes. Things don’t look good for this Carolina defense right now.

Source: https://www.bloggingtheboys.com/dal...ense-scouting-report-zone-sacks-derrick-brown