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Cowboys' penalty count a lot like season -- some good, some bad

FRISCO, Texas -- Much like their season, the Dallas Cowboys had some good when it came to penalties and some bad.

The good: For the first time since 2005, the Cowboys had fewer than 100 penalties, finishing with 97 accepted penalties. The 2005 team coached by Bill Parcells had 99. In the Jason Garrett era, the previous low was 102 in 2013. Overall, the Cowboys had 113 total penalties.

The bad: The Cowboys had 939 penalty yards, the most of the Garrett era and the most by Dallas since it had 957 yards in 2008. That team also finished 9-7. The previous high in yards in the Garrett era was 879 penalty yards in 2015 and '16.

Second-year cornerback Anthony Brown led the Cowboys in penalties with 10. He had five defensive pass interference penalties and five defensive holding calls. He had no penalties after Week 12, which coincided with a cut in playing time.

Defensive tackle Maliek Collins, defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence and left tackle Tyron Smith were second in penalties with eight apiece.

Pro Bowl right guard Zack Martin did not have a penalty, playing in all but 35 offensive snaps on the season.

The breakdown:

10 – Anthony Brown

8 – Maliek Collins, Tyron Smith, DeMarcus Lawrence

7 – Byron Jones

6 – Jonathan Cooper

5 – Jourdan Lewis, Byron Bell

4 – La'el Collins, Jason Witten

3 – Orlando Scandrick, Travis Frederick, Benson Mayowa, Kyle Wilber, Damien Wilson, Chidobe Awuzie, Chaz Green

2 – Jeff Heath, Geoff Swaim, Terrance Williams, James Hanna, Datone Jones, Richard Ash

1 – Anthony Hitchens, Xavier Woods, Dez Bryant, Brice Butler, Rod Smith, Tyrone Crawford, Chris Jones, Sean Lee, Alfred Morris, Bene Benwikere, Kavon Frazier, Dak Prescott