The Dallas Cowboys are once again double-digit point favorites this week on the road against the Carolina Panthers.

If we learned anything about this team last week, it may be that they have stopped playing down to the competition and doing what they should be doing.

The Panthers will have a few extra days of rest and preparation after losing to the Chicago Bears 16-13 on Thursday

The Cowboys are preparing for a road trip to face the Panthers, a game in which they are heavy favorites. But that, and other factors, have stirred up some discussion on whether or not this could become a trap game.

In situations like this, officiating assignments can often become even more crucial than normal, as we saw in Week 3 against the Cardinals. Let’s take a quick look at the Cowboys’ weekly penalty breakdown before getting into the referee crew for the Panthers game.

The Cowboys are preparing for a road trip to face the Panthers, a game in which they are heavy favorites. But that, and other factors, have stirred up some discussion on whether or not this could become a trap game.

In situations like this, officiating assignments can often become even more crucial than normal, as we saw in Week 3 against the Cardinals. Let’s take a quick look at the Cowboys’ weekly penalty breakdown before getting into the referee crew for the Panthers game.

The Cowboys are preparing for a road trip to face the Panthers, a game in which they are heavy favorites. But that, and other factors, have stirred up some discussion on whether or not this could become a trap game.

In situations like this, officiating assignments can often become even more crucial than normal, as we saw in Week 3 against the Cardinals. Let’s take a quick look at the Cowboys’ weekly penalty breakdown before getting into the referee crew for the Panthers game.

Not only is Martin’s crew stingy with the flag, but they’ve also earned a reputation for being tougher on the home team. With the exception of last season, Martin’s crew has finished the year with more penalties on the home team each season. So far this year, he’s calling 59.3% of all penalties against the home team, the highest rate of any crew this year.

However, as one might expect for a referee that so rarely penalizes either side, this hasn’t had much of an impact on the actual outcome. The home team is 46-39 all time in games called by Martin’s crew, and this year alone the home team is 5-3. However, the home team has been more penalized or just as penalized in all but two of those games.

Martin’s predilection for going harder on the home team may not shape the outcome too much, but his hands-off approach to penalties in general has led to a very favorable record for favored teams in his games. The favored team is 6-2 in games called by Martin this year, a trend that’s held true for much of his career.

Martin doesn’t really have too many tendencies as far as the types of penalties called. Offensive holding and false start are the two most common, as always, but even by comparison he’s middle of the pack in how often those two get called. Martin has called the second most neutral zone infraction penalties this year and is tied for the league lead in illegal shift penalties, but that’s a total of nine flags thrown between the two categories. This crew just doesn’t throw the flag very much.

Since becoming a head referee, Martin has called five Cowboys games. The Cowboys are 3-2 in those games, with all three wins coming on the road. The home team was penalized as much or more than the road team in four of those five games. As was stated earlier, Martin is pretty consistent in the way he calls games.

This was pretty much the perfect week for the Cowboys to draw Martin. The Panthers may or may not be able to shock the world on Sunday, but Martin is not the official who is going to help them in any manner. He’ll let these teams play, which bodes well for the heavily favored Cowboys. Unlike the Cardinals game, where the official was known to be aggressive with throwing the flag and favoring the home team, Martin is the complete opposite and should make it that much easier for the Cowboys to avoid a trap game.