Dallas Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones Reacts to Penalties; All’s ‘Fair’?

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones believes that, generally, penalties should even out over the course of a game.

Week after week, the NFL faces more and more controversies regarding its officiating.

Few things unite football fans more than a shared disdain of the officials, and there's been no shortage of ammo in recent years. Every fan and talking head has already shared their opinions on the league's officiating problem, but it's rare to hear such opinions from someone with as much sway as Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.

In one of his appearances on 105.3 The Fan this week, Jones shared an interesting take about how games should be called. Essentially, he believes that the penalties should even out between both teams over the course of a normal game.

Jones pulls down his sunglasses at a game / USA Today

“Penalties are a big part of this,” Jones said. “Generally, in a given game, if the officiating is ‘what’s good for the goose, good for the gander,’ is the same for both sides, offense [and] defense, then you really haven’t had a game outcome change. And that one the other day [against the Chargers], we all got it equally.”

It's understandable where Jones is coming from, but looking at the issue more closely, it's easy to poke holes in his argument. If penalties are called evenly, then can teams get away with infractions in the name of keeping the game "even?" Furthermore, does keeping the penalties even make the game "fair" or "balanced" (there is a difference between the two)?

With sports gambling growing more and more popular, this line of thinking could cause some serious problems. Fans already have questions about the league's integrity with sports betting being so widespread, and the NFL definitely wants to avoid any more of those controversies.

It's an interesting idea on the surface, but it seemingly creates more problems than solutions.