Cowboys right tackle Doug Free isn't making excuses. Rather, he's bound and determined to significantly improve his play. (US Presswire)

Cowboys right tackle Doug Free leads the team in penalties is among the NFL leaders as well in both false starts and holding calls. Last week, Free was part of a line that got his quarterback sacked four times.

With the Bears and Julius Peppers coming to town this week, it doesn’t get much easier.

But he knows one thing is glaring about his game.

"It needs improvement, definitely," Free said Wednesday. "I haven't pass protected well enough. I don't think I've done a good enough job and we got to get it fixed, and I have to fix it and I have to take the good coaching and keep working the techniques that I have been taught and really focus on it."

Free isn’t making excuses that he’s had to move back to right tackle this year, or that a new center in Ryan Cook has caused some miscommunication or cohesiveness issues.

“We just have to play better, simple as that,” Free said. “And that includes myself. I’m not playing up to the level that I expect to play. I have to get back to work and get it better. We have no other choice.”

Free has four false starts, which is second in the NFL, only behind teammate Tyron Smith. Free said those issues fall onto the shoulders of the tackles and no one else.

“It's mainly on me and Ty, we've just got to focus more," Free said. "I think the distance from the center could contribute to some of that, but I’m not going to blame it on all that. Just a matter … we have to focus better and really stay focused on what the count is and just have our stuff ready and right for the next game."

Free, a fourth-round pick in 2006 out of Northern Illinois, served as a backup for four seasons until he replaced an injured Marc Colombo in 2009 at right tackle. He finished the season there before the Cowboys made him a left tackle to replace Flozell Adams. After Free’s stellar first season on the left side, he signed a four-year, $32 million contract before last season. But he struggled so much in 2011, the Cowboys decide to flip him back to the right side and move Smith to the left.

"It's been a little bit of a challenge, but it's nothing that I can't handle," Free said of switching sides again. "It's nothing that won't get taken care of."

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