"What the hell you want me to say" - Mike McCarthy blasts NFL referees after Dallas Cowboys lose on Thanksgiving

The Dallas Cowboys and the Las Vegas Raiders played a close game on Thanksgiving that ended with a 36-33 scoreline after overtime. But the main story of the game wasn't how close the contest was.

The officials assigned 28 penalties during the game, one of the highest numbers ever, even though it's not close to the all-time record — a 39-penalty game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers back in 1976.

Mike McCarthy, the Cowboys' head coach, was not pleased with the officials.

Mike McCarthy complains about penalties in Cowboys' loss

It's understandable why McCarthy was so upset with the officials during the game. Both teams were assigned 14 penalties over the four quarters plus overtime, but the Cowboys had 166 penalty yards, while the Raiders had only 110.

"28 penalties. I don't know what the hell do you want me to say," the Cowboys' head coach stated.

According to NFL Research, an official account where the league publishes some official stats, the 110 penalty yards on third down alone were the most in any NFL game since 1991.

Michael Gallup, the Cowboys wide receiver, also wasn't happy with how the referees worked during Thursday's game:

But the harshest words came from Jerry Jones, the Cowboys owner and general manager:

"Well, this probably will be arguably the most-watched game other than the Super Bowl," Jones said. "And I hated that it got down to just throwing the ball up and getting your penalties to get your big plays. I think we were into that. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm so proud of our team for the way we hung in, hung in and came back and played, but it's frustrating for everybody, for all of our fans at this particular time, to have a game that had you on pretty unsure footing as to where you were going to be with your fundamentals, whether those were going to be called or not. And they got calls, too, so it's just a little off balance way to play the game."

The Cowboys are feeling upset, but the penalties to both sides were even, and while we can agree that it's a very high number, it's difficult to point out a bad call that really changed the outcome of the game.

We want officiating to improve, but it's more of a general problem within the league than a problem specific to the Cowboys.

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