Did Cowboys get hosed by refs missing fumble, penalty in loss to Cardinals?

The Dallas Cowboys have cause to complain about the refs in their loss to the Cardinals after they missed a possible fumble and key penalty late.

The Cowboys’ hopes of grabbing the No. 1 seed in the NFC took a blow in Week 17 when they fell at home to the Arizona Cardinals.

This one will sting especially hard because Dallas had an opportunity late if not for a missed call by the referees.

With 2:51 left to play, Chase Edmonds took a pitch from Kyler Murray and appeared to lose the ball as he was tackled. The Cowboys recovered but the officials called the rusher down on the field.

Cowboys got a raw deal on Cardinals fumble missed by refs

Replays told a different story.

The problem was Dallas had just used their third and final timeout, which meant Mike McCarthy was unable to challenge the call on the field.

Since it wasn’t after the two-minute warning, the booth couldn’t initiate the review.

The play itself probably shouldn’t have gone forward because it was a delay of game.

https://twitter.com/WillBlackmon/status/1477799306643992578?s=20

That’s a much more minor gripe since it wouldn’t have given the Cowboys possession of the ball. The fumble would have potentially changed the outcome of the game, giving Dallas a chance to tie the game with a field goal.

Instead, the Cardinals successfully ran down the clock and got the win.

For the Cowboys, it was truly unfortunate. It would have been hard for the refs to get that call right on the field considering how Edmonds went down. The problem really arises from the arbitrary two-minute rule for booth reviews.

The league should want officials to get calls right throughout the game, not just in the final two minutes. If a team is out of timeouts, there should still be a mechanism to make sure a missed call can be reversed.