'That's Not Like Him': Cowboys RB Javonte Williams Owns Up to Costly Penalty

Running back Javonte Williams was one of 11 Dallas Cowboys players named to coach Brian Schottenheimer's leadership council - a group that is an extension of the coaching staff inside the locker room to, in theory, maintain a culture standard...

Which makes Williams' unsportsmanlike penalty in the season opener at the New York Giants - a 28-20 loss for the Cowboys - all the more confusing.

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The second-year Cowboy caught a 17-yard touchdown pass from Dak Prescott, and as he crossed the goaline, extended the ball in the direction of the nearest Giants defender.

New York had been leading 28-14 in the fourth quarter before the score. Dallas, Schottenheimer says, hoped to go for a 2-point conversion to get within a touchdown deficit with less than half the quarter to go.

Instead, Williams' taunting penalty pushed the extra-point try by Brandon Aubrey back to nearly 50 yards. As reliable as the All-Pro kicker has been over the years, the adjustment knocked him off his rhythm, and his try sailed wide right.

That settled the final score as the Giants rolled through the Cowboys' disappointing defense to kneel down on the win, which took away any chance of the offense getting the ball back to finish a comeback effort, anyway.

"That's not like Javonte," Schottenheimer said after the game about his running back's mistake.

Williams' rushing was also a far cry from what we saw in his Cowboys debut last season, a 1,200-yard campaign that earned him a contract extension this summer.

Dallas mounted just 69 yards rushing. Williams accounted for 41 yards on 12 carries for an average of 3.4 per attempt - one of his lowest individual marks with the team.

"I can tell you our offensive line is pissed about it," Prescott said about the Cowboys' nonexistent run game. "So look forward to the way that they respond and their mentality moving forward."

"I thought, again, they pushed us around a little bit up front. Their defensive line, our running game, there was way too much penetration early in the game," Schottenheimer added. "Javonte was running into freaking, you know, a wall in the beginning of the game. And we made some good adjustments at halftime. But it’s a team game."

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For his penalty in particular, Williams has taken ownership of the costly mistake.

"I'm a pro. I know better than that," Williams said. "I shouldn't have did it. I'm going to correct it. It is what it is. I'm just going to move past it."

The miscue underscored a theme for the Cowboys in Week 1, who were flagged for nine penalties overall (but one coming intentionally).

Williams judges the lapses as a determining factor in the outcome.

"It's us versus us," he said. "Self-inflicted wounds, penalties, things like that. That's what cost us the game."