The Dallas Cowboys have a (1-3) postseason record with Mike McCarthy — and many believed Jerry Jones would make a bold decision and move on from his head coach after the embarrassing home drubbing at home agains the Packers on Sunday — but that’s not the case.
Even with Bill Belichick available and rumors swirling about the friendship between the former New England Patriots coach and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, the team announced they were keeping McCcarthy. It feels like the smart move as the former Packers coach has led Dallas to 3-straight (12-5) regular seasons.
This year, the Cowboys offense appeared to have a major boost on offense under McCarthy after firing former offensive coordinator Kellen Moore. Suddenly, Dak Prescott put together one of his best NFL seasons and CeeDee Lamb emerged as the dominant No. 1 WR the team has been hoping for.
It’s almost impossible to move on from Prescott at this point, so it makes sense for Jerry Jones to bring McCarthy back for at least one more year to see if he can somehow get past this team’s postseason woes.
The news come as a shock as the owner is known for making abrupt moves in hopes for winning another Super Bowl, but Jones released a statement clearly backing McCarthy.
“I believe this team is very close and capable of achieving our ultimate goals and the best step forward for us will be with Mike McCarthy as our head coach,” Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones said in a statement Wednesday night. “There is great benefit to continuing the team’s progress under Mike’s leadership as our head coach.
Specifically, there are many layers of success that have occurred this season as a result of Mike’s approach to leading the team, both with individual players and with our team collectively. Mike has the highest regular-season winning percentage of any head coach in Cowboys history and we will dedicate ourselves, in partnership with him, to translating that into reaching our postseason goals. Certainly, Mike’s career has demonstrated postseason success at a high level, and we have great confidence that can continue.”
Jones also addressed the stunning playoff loss before continuing to address goals for McCarthy and the Dallas Cowboys future.
“Further, our loss on Sunday is shared by everyone here, not just Coach McCarthy. Our players. Our coaches. Our front office. Myself. There is accountability for our results. I am accountable for our results. The lens we use to view and evaluate Coach McCarthy is holistic. While we’re all disappointed with the result on Sunday and with our playoff record, I am 100 percent supportive of him as our head coach and ability to reach our goals. We will start our process of review and decision making regarding everything that impacts our team and roster and, while we’re not going to address specific players and extensions or free agents at this point, it deserves our deepest review and consideration, and it will get it.”
Dallas Cowboys Legend Emmitt Smith Was ‘Shocked’ The Team Retained Mike McCarthy
Emmitt Smith is one of the greatest Cowboys of all time and was part of the golden era of the team’s success.
Smith joined Kay Adams on the ‘Up and Adams” podcast on Thursday and was asked about the Cowboys decision to retain Mike McCarthy for another season.
“I was shocked,” Smith said. “I was shocked and surprised because what had happened last year in terms of the Cowboys letting Kellen Moore go, McCarthy taking over the offensive coordinator role, saying he was going to establish the run game more and I didn’t see those things take place.”
“Not to mention the up and down season that we did have,” Emmitt Smith added about the 2023 Dallas Cowboys. “We showed signs of brilliance, we competed against teams we were supposed to compete against, but we struggled against the tougher teams we played against. And so they way we got bounced out of the playoffs, was extremely, extremely disappointing to me as a former Dallas Cowboy, a fan of the Dallas Cowboys and a lover of the Cowboys since I was a kid.”
Smith believes the early exit to the Green Bay Packers was the final straw.
“I don’t know if the team was ready to play, but because of that, I didn’t see McCarthy staying. That’s a big big big reason I was surprised when they kept him.”
Smith went on to say he doesn’t have questions about Dak Prescott, and it’s more about how the coaching staff is preparing him and not putting him in positions to be successful.
Those were harsh words from the Cowboys legend. With so many staff changes, it will be interesting to see how Mike McCarthy handles entering 2024 on the hot seat.