As he does each season, Mike McCarthy revealed this week that he had a 21-game plan for the Cowboys, which he outlined in a team meeting. Should the coach decide to return to Dallas for a sixth season, that plan may need to materialize.
McCarthy was not fired by the Cowboys following their disastrous 48-32 home loss to the Packers in the wild-card round of the previous season. In addition, they declined to offer him an extension following his third straight 12-win regular season—a first for the team since the 1990s.
More than thirty players, including quarterback Dak Prescott, and the entire coaching staff of the Cowboys are in the last year of their contracts. Jones has stated numerous times that the Green Bay loss was the reason he didn’t
“I acknowledge the Green Bay incident,” Jones said to DLLS’s Clarence Hill.
“We essentially had everyone say, ‘OK, what are you going to do about this,’ after we lost the Green Bay game. Yes, this was more than a game.
How are you going to respond to this? And as a result, everything we do was noticed. Jones disagrees with McCarthy’s admission of the “challenge” of being a lame-duck coach.
Jones has increased the strain on every employee in the company, thinking that the “angst and pressure” of a contract year will bring out the best in them.
But this is what I have generally heard from even more emotional fans:
“You need to make some changes.” I have heard this since the Green Bay game. I can still hear it now. I didn’t alter anything.
However, I tried to put more pressure on myself and all others involved while staying within the parameters of not changing everything and completely replacing people. And I believe that’s the topic of discussion. I believe this to be the cause of the angst.
Andy Reid is the only coach who has won more regular-season games than McCarthy in the last three years, but the Chiefs coach has won two Super Bowls during that time. McCarthy has had one victory in the playoffs. McCarthy is “one of the one’s,” according to Jones.
He knows our professional game like no other. He has undoubtedly received indoctrination and schooling from the NFL. His credentials are excellent. It’s done by him.
His handling of game day is superb. His handling of the game day is impressive, and he works really hard. He is a coach who has won a Super Bowl.
I understand why. But in his capacity as general manager, Jones did not do anything to strengthen the roster this offseason.
After a protracted holdout, the Cowboys finally signed receiver CeeDee Lamb to a long-term agreement last Thursday.
They had done virtually nothing in free agency. McCarthy is therefore under pressure this season to accomplish more with less.