The Dallas Cowboys' win over the Washington Commanders on Sunday was surprising for many reasons. Not only had they lost five straight games, but half of the roster was left back in Dallas due to injuries.
Among the new additions to the injury list were Zack Martin and Tyler Smith. Without the standout guards, the starting offensive line in Week 12 looked as follows: LT Tyler Guyton, LG T.J. Bass, C Cooper Beebe, RG Brock Hoffman and RT Terence Steele.
For those keeping score at home, that's three undrafted free agents, a third-round pick and a first-round pick. In a pleasant surprise, the patchwork line was outstandng. Cooper Rush was only sacked once and played his best game since taking over for Dak Prescott.
It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, however. Guyton's penchant for committing penalties reared its ugly head and he was benched in the second half. The No. 29 overall pick racked up three more penalties in the game.
While supportive of Guyton, Mike McCarthy sent a pretty direct message to the young tackle.
"It’s a big emphasis, we’ve obviously talked about it time and time again. The discipline, the stance of breaking that plane, it’s just not consistent enough. There’s communication and every crew is different. It has to stop. He knows it. He feels sick about it. But we just got to get it corrected, those are penalties that potentially took points off the board. We're far enough down the line, he understands it."
- Cowboys HC Mike McCarthy
It's clear that McCarthy is getting tired of drives stalling out because of Guyton penalties. In fairness, Guyton's holding penalty on Sunday was completely bogus, but that's a moot point. Officiating in the NFL is at an all-time low. Every linemen is bound to receive the short end of the stick.
At the end of the day Guyton has been penalized for all sorts of infractions and most of them have been drive-killers.
Entering Week 13, Guyton has been flagged 16 times. Only Texans left tackle Laremy Tunsil has been flagged more. Of those 16 flags, 12 have been accepted, two were declined and two were offsetting. The Oklahoma product has more penalties than the rest of Dallas' offensive line combined.
Guyton's penalties are a real shame because he's put out some encouraging tape as a rookie, including on Sunday. He didn't allow a single pressure on 25 pass-blocking snaps. While he's allowed five sacks on the season, the Cowboys want him to learn on the job.
That is working. He's only allowed four pressures in the last three games and his 21 pressures allowed in 11 games are 24th-most among qualified tackles, per Pro Football Focus. He's making real strides in that department, but it doesn't paper over the penalties.
Like McCarthy said, the season is 11 games old.
As much as the Cowboys want Guyton to take his lumps, it will be hard to stay committed to that if continues to be a hindrance to the offense.
