Overshown Runs Onto Field in Sweats a Day After His $9,528 Fine

Dallas Cowboys linebacker DeMarvion Overshown was punished by the NFL on Saturday and by the officials on Sunday, and the second one came while he was not even playing. Overshown, inactive with a hamstring issue, ran onto the field in street clothes to celebrate a fumble in the Cowboys’ 27-23 win over the Indianapolis Colts, the Associated Press reports, and drew a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for it. A day earlier the league had fined him $9,528 for a hit that knocked out Cardinals running back Bam Knight.

What did Overshown do?

He celebrated a play he was not part of, in the wrong clothes. Quinnen Williams forced a fumble that Shemar James recovered, and Overshown ran onto the field to join the celebration, the Associated Press reports. The officials flagged him for unsportsmanlike conduct, a 15-yard penalty, even though he was inactive and out of uniform. The referee announced the foul by describing what Overshown was wearing, “blue sweats and a stocking cap,” The Landry Hat reports, and the description is what made the moment go viral. “It read like a police chase,” the site wrote. The penalty turned a short field into a long one with Dallas clinging to a three-point lead.

It was the low point of a sloppy afternoon. Dallas committed 14 penalties for 153 yards while outgaining Indianapolis 508 yards to 271, the Associated Press reports, and still nearly lost. Jaylen Waddle was ruled out with a concussion after an unflagged hit from the Panthers on Saturday, and the Overshown flag was the same story in reverse: a punishment for what happened after the play, not during it.

How was he punished on Saturday?

With a fine for a hit the officials had let go. The NFL fined Overshown $9,528 for use of the helmet on the hit that knocked Bam Knight out of last week’s game against Dallas, Sports Illustrated reports, citing Tom Pelissero. Knight was diagnosed with a concussion, fumbled on the play, and was ruled out for Arizona’s Week 9 game against Seattle. Overshown led with his shoulder, but his helmet made contact with Knight’s, and no flag was thrown in real time. The fine came from the league’s post-game review.

The amount sits at the low end of the league’s scale, and Sports Illustrated notes there was room for debate about whether the hit deserved a fine at all. That debate did not stop the league from acting, and it did not stop Overshown from drawing a second punishment 24 hours later for an entirely different offence. Roquan Smith was fined $35,822 for two unflagged hits against the Bills, which shows how the league’s Saturday fines keep landing on plays the officials missed live.

Why was he not playing?

Because of the hamstring that has stalked his season. Overshown missed five straight games with a hamstring injury before returning in Week 7 against Philadelphia, Sports Illustrated reports, where he came up with his second career interception. He forced a fumble against the Cardinals last week and posted a season-high eight tackles, then was listed as questionable for the Colts game with the hamstring issue again. He did not dress, and the inactive list is what made the celebration so strange: a player who could not run onto the field to play ran onto the field to celebrate.

Dre Greenlaw was ejected after headbutting a helmetless Ernest Jones, and the Overshown incident belongs in the same file of discipline stories where the punishment arrives after the moment has passed. The difference is that Greenlaw’s came in the middle of a game he was playing, while Overshown’s came from the sideline.

How did the game still end in a Cowboys win?

On a 29-second drive and a rookie interception. Dallas blew a fourth-quarter lead for the second straight week, the Associated Press reports, but Dak Prescott led a four-play, 65-yard drive that took only 29 seconds and was helped by two Indianapolis penalties. Javonte Williams punched in the go-ahead touchdown on a one-yard run with 1:08 left, capping a 101-yard rushing day, and Caleb Downs picked off Daniel Jones with 35 seconds left to seal the win and hand the Colts their fifth straight loss.

Prescott was 21 of 34 for 335 yards with two touchdowns, and CeeDee Lamb finished with 10 catches for 195 yards and a score, though he lost a fumble on a catch-and-run inside the Colts’ 15-yard line, the Associated Press reports. Dak Prescott confronted the tunnel worker who called the Cowboys embarrassing after the Buccaneers loss, and this win will not quiet the questions about a team that keeps needing late heroics to beat struggling sides.

What did the Dallas media say about it?

That the team keeps inventing new ways to lose games it should win. ESPN’s Todd Archer, quoted by Heavy, wrote: “Even when the Cowboys do something right, Quinnen Williams forces a fumble, they mess things up. DeMarvion Overshown gets a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct for celebrating on the field.” Longtime Cowboys reporter Ed Werder called the team “undisciplined,” and former receiver Jesse Holley wrote that “even players not playing are trying to give the game away for the Cowboys.”

The verdict from the local press was that a win does not cure the problem. The Cowboys are 4-5, they needed last-minute heroics to escape Indianapolis, and their inactive linebacker managed to cost them 15 yards without playing a snap. That is the kind of detail that sticks to a team, and it will follow Overshown into next week whether or not the league fines him again.

What happens next?

San Francisco, at home next Sunday, to begin a three-game homestand, the Associated Press reports. Overshown’s availability depends on the hamstring that kept him out in Indianapolis, and the league’s weekly fines list will show whether the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty draws a second fine to go with Saturday’s $9,528. The Cowboys have a week to get healthy and disciplined. On Sunday’s evidence, they need both.