FRISCO, Texas — The National Football League is generally a “What have you done for me lately?” kind of business, especially for its trainers.
Even though Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy helped lead America’s Team to three consecutive 12-win seasons from 2021 to 2023, owner and general manager Jerry Jones decided to turn up the heat on McCarthy and his staff in 2024. The decision to have them coach the final year of their five-year coaching contracts came after Dallas’ 48-32 face-plant against the Green Bay Packers in the NFC wild-card round last January Jones said, “We all have Green Bay in mind,” after the Cowboys’ 2024 preseason finale when asked why McCarthy’s expiring contract had not yet been addressed. Jones also said that “anxiety, pressure, competing” will bring out the best in his coaches and players.
However, Jones changed his tune for the better regarding McCarthy’s future in Dallas on Tuesday after the The Cowboys’ 34-26 upset win over the Washington Commanders this ran their record to 4–7 and snapped a five-game losing streak.
“I don’t think that’s crazy at all,” Jones said on 105.3 The Fan when asked about possibly re-signing McCarthy for 2025 and beyond, through The Athletics. “This is a Super Bowl-winning coach. Mike McCarthy has been there and done that. He’s got great ideas. We’ve got a lot of football left.”
McCarthy claimed Tuesday afternoon that he hasn’t consciously thought about his contract status, but he’s open to positive speculation and/or lineups about his future.
“I really haven’t talked about all year and I’m definitely not going to start on a short week in a major division game,” McCarthy said Tuesday. “I’m not going to throw away positive vibes either. Keep them going, it’s all good. That’s not something I’m really focused on.”
To be fair to McCarthy, much of what happened was the result of injury problems or poor depth after an inactive free agency period. Quarterback Dak Prescott is out for the year with a hamstring injury, four-time Pro Bowl defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence has been out since Week 4, cornerback DaRon Bland made his 2024 season debut in Week 12 after suffering a foot stress fracture, and three-time All-Pro Micah Parsons missed four games with a high ankle sprain, just to name a few of the many injuries.
“As a staff, this is very difficult,” McCarthy said. “As we’ve talked about as a staff, we’re going to be better coaches because of this experience. I believe that. I’ve experienced it in the past. That’s what this league is about. It’s not about players getting hurt. It’s really when and who, the time of it, getting the young guys ready to play as fast as possible you have different levels of that every year if you go to coach in this league you have to be able to coach through these times i know we will all be better for this experience.”
Despite the bumpy nature of the Cowboys’ 2024 season, McCarthy continues to have the buy-in of key locker room leaders. That’s no small feat considering their Thanksgiving Day opponent, the New York Giants, had several players, namely wide receiver Malik Nabers and defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence, use the word “soft” to describe the state of their team. Nabers too specifically criticized head coach Brian Daboll’s play calling.
“He’s a player’s coach,” Cowboys All-Pro CeeDee Lamb said of McCarthy on Tuesday. “We all love him, everything he does for the team and as far as leading us, just having the confidence and everything he wants to put on a lot for us, we love every bit of it. So about Jerry and everybody. those situations, that has nothing to do with me. Don’t try to put me in it, but we, I love Mike, that’s for sure.”
“We knew the type of talent we had in this room, and we knew the type we just needed to buckle down and understand where we needed to go as a team, especially on defense,” Cowboys cornerback Jourdan Lewis said Tuesday . “We just kept grinding, and we believed in it (defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer’s scheme). … The way we played last week, I think we all do (believe in the coaching staff). I never wavered, my faith (in the coaching staff) never wavered.”
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