Jay Gruden irked by offensive pass interference penalties

As the penalties piled up in the Washington Redskins’ 19-16 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Monday, so did coach Jay Gruden’s frustration.

The Redskins committed nine penalties for 73 yards, two of which wiped out big gains. In the first quarter, tight end Jordan Reed was called for offensive pass interference, which negated wide receiver Pierre Garcon’s seven-yard gain. Reed was called for engaging in his block while the ball was still in the air, something he has struggled with this season — particularly on screen plays. Instead of third-and-1, the Redskins were stuck in second-and-18 and the drive ended with a punt two plays later.

In the second quarter, the Redskins appeared to pick up a first down when Kirk Cousins connected with DeSean Jackson for a six-yard gain. Garcon was called for offensive pass interference. Instead of a first down at the Dallas 19-yard line, the Redskins were backed up to the 35-yard line and settled for a field goal two plays later.

Gruden indicated on Tuesday that he will be reach out to the league office for clarification on the penalties.

“It’s frustrating because I don’t know if some of them were penalties, that’s the problem,” Gruden said. “The offensive PI on Pierre, he’s running a route, I don’t know what you tell Pierre. That’s a route he was supposed to run. He did exactly what he was supposed to do. [He] ran a flat route to DeSean Jackson to get a first down and they call offensive PI. I have no idea what we tell Pierre there. That’s what we coached him to do.

“The offensive PI on Jordan Reed was a bang-bang call. They said he was blocking before it was caught, which might have been half-a-second, timing-wise. It was really close. That type of play is run five or six times a game. Every team in the league runs that and it’s called once every 10 plays, maybe.”

The Redskins’ coach also took issue with defensive pass interference calls on cornerback Quinton Dunbar and Bashaud Breeland, saying that they both “played it pretty good.” He later circled back and said the two could be coached up better on when to release from receivers in coverage.