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Flagsgiving: Cowboys called for 166 yards worth of penalties in game against Raiders

Thursday's game served up a buffet of penalties as the Cowboys battled their way against the Raiders -- and yellow flags.

ARLINGTON, Texas — Whether you want to call it a sea of yellow or a buffet of penalties, either way the Dallas Cowboys had a heaping of it Thursday against the Las Vegas Raiders.

From devastating pass interference penalties to holding calls, this Thanksgiving game had it all. And the Cowboys saw the most of it.

Fourteen penalties for 166 yards. No, that's not a typo.

Referee Shawn Hochuli and his crew garnered the attention of fans and media as they called their fair share of nitpicky and questionable calls.

And it wasn't just the Cowboys. The Raiders also had 14 penalties for 110 yards, but they walked out of AT&T Stadium with the win.

"Twenty-eight penalties. I don't really know what the hell you want me to say," Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy during a postgame news conference.

"It was obviously frustrating. The game was herky-jerky from start to finish," he added.

Dallas cornerback Anthony Brown caught the most heat from fans after he had four offensive pass interference penalties, including one in overtime that eventually led to Las Vegas' game-winning field goal.

To give you an idea of just how many times the clock was stopped, the game ended just before 7:30 p.m. after a 3:30 p.m. kickoff. The game did go into overtime, but it's rare to see a 3:30 p.m. game go that late.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones had some words on how the officiating went Thursday.

"I call it throw up ball. Right way to play a game like this, just throw it out there and get a penalty.... this will probably be, arguably, the most-watched game other than the Super Bowl, and I hated that it got down to just throwing the ball up and getting penalties to get big plays," Jones said after the game.

Rookie sensation Micah Parsons even fell victim to the Thanksgiving flag fest when he got called for a questionable roughing the passer call. Replay showed that Carr fell to the ground and into Parsons, but the linebacker was called for the 15-yard penalty.

"I think we should play football. We’re not here to play tag," Parsons said after the game.

Whatever you choose to blame the loss on, it's clear the Cowboys haven't been the same team since that dreadful loss to the Denver Broncos. Dallas has lost three of their last four games.

The team will look to bounce back against the New Orleans Saints next Thursday night.

And it can't get any worse than 166 penalty yards, right?

... Right?

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