Despite a mistake-filled performance in all three phases of the game, the Cowboys nevertheless kept it close enough to give themselves a chance at the end of Week 14’s meeting with the Lions.
It was also close enough for one penalty flag to dramatically- and quite maddeningly, if you ask Dak Prescott- alter everything.
“That’s a game-changing call that I don’t understand,” the Cowboys quarterback would say later, knowing full well the comments could get him in trouble with the league.
Dallas was on the move late in the fourth quarter and looked to be headed toward the end zone. Down by 10 points, Prescott had led the offense from their own 33 and were sitting on the Lions’ 11 in a third-and-3 situation.
On the ensuing pass play to tight end Jake Ferguson, he and Lions linebacker Alex Anzalone got tangled up, and the ball sailed just past Ferguson’s outstretched arms. A flag was thrown, but the expected call against the defense never came.
Instead, after a quick meeting, the officials announced offensive pass interference against Ferguson.
Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer was enraged. The broadcast booth was dumbfounded. But instead of the Cowboys’ ball on the doorstep, with a fresh set of downs they could use to cut the lead to three points with just under four minutes to play, Dallas had to settle for a field goal… and hope to get the ball back for another crack at the end zone with enough time for it to matter.
That didn’t happen.
This is NOT offensive pass interference by Jake Ferguson. Alex Calzone gets beaten so bad that he dupes the refs into thinking he was pushed away. pic.twitter.com/gsUvW6d3NM
— Dan Rogers (@DannyPhantom24) December 5, 2025
The play stood out as one of several questionable moments from the officiating crew of Shawn Hochuli, one that Prescott himself was struggling to explain even after the game ended.
“Do I get fined for talking about this?” he asked during his postgame press conference. “That was bad. I’m sorry, that was bad. I’ve got to look at the film; maybe I can see from their vantage point. I know I talked to the ref after, and he said he aggressively pulled through. I’ve never seen a call like that.”
On social media, Anzalone maintained that he was the one interfered with, posting on X: “Y’all are weird.. you can’t grab someone’s jersey and sling through like that. My body didn’t do that for no reason. We declined it anyways”.
According to Detroit’s 97.1 The Ticket, the linebacker said he had been complaining to officials all night about Ferguson.
“He gets a little pushy at the top of the route,” Anzalone said, “and it’s hard for me to, like — what do I do? They only call it when he’s the target, so there were more reps than that. I just saw the replay and I clearly got yanked.”
But Cowboys owner Jerry Jones knows what he saw.
“There was no penalty [against] the Cowboys. Just not one. Period,” he said, per Jon Machota of The Athletic. “I understand mistakes that officiating makes. … We did not have a penalty on that call.”
For his part, Schottenheimer refused to pin the loss on that one play or even go into detail on the call.
“I’m not going to get into that,” Schottenheimer told reporters after the game. “It’s not ultimately what decided the game.”
Maybe not. But calling it the way it clearly looked to most everyone not wearing Honolulu blue certainly would have made it more interesting.
Todd is on X at @ToddBrock24f7. Also, follow Cowboys Wire on Facebook to join in on the conversation with fellow fans!
This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Controversial penalty on Cowboys TE Jake Ferguson changed game
