Frisco, Texas – It feels weird to be here on a Friday after the season ended with a thud.
Few critters are excited, not even rats thankfully.
The shoulder pads were carefully placed…
Now, the papal smoke referenced in Wednesday's Mick shot wafted from owner Jerry Jones' office hours after it was posted in the form of a release. The Cowboys are among the teams that have announced that embattled Mike McCarthy will continue as head coach through at least the final year of the five-year contract he signed in January 2020.
Please give Jerry credit. He's doing it his way. No matter how hard you scratch the grain with your nails.
Why did he not let the fan base's emotional uproar influence his decision to keep McCarthy after a 12-5 regular season that saw them win their second NFC East title in three years? They are also the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs, and their first round home playoff game ended abruptly last Sunday with a very disappointing 48-32 loss to the Green Bay Packers at AT&T Stadium. – Thousands of fans pulling his hair.
He overruled McCarthy's firing due to an emotional fit, and held off on firing McCarthy because he could build on his reputation for years of success and rebuild the Cowboys, who were struggling in the playoffs. He did not allow any influence on his decision to rebuild the company. He can't solve his own problems in New England. The Patriots have posted losing records in three of the past four seasons, with the other season including a crushing 47-17 loss to Buffalo in the 2021 playoffs.
And so old Jerry, 81 years old, is being taken to the woodshed for a literary flogging, as if all of his owner's past over the past 35 seasons since 1989 has made him balk. I can't say that every move he's ever made was right, and he'll be the first to admit so, but at least he'll say he made those moves of his own volition.
He did that again this week, and in the process learned an important lesson: take the emotion out of unfortunate losses and unfortunate events, and instead think things through with a mind that is still very capable. And he did so for about three and a half days after Sunday's “most heartbreaking loss” (as he described it), and after a three-hour meeting with McCarthy on Wednesday, he made his thoughts known aloud. issued a statement to those who It had to do with his own decision.
And it also sounds like he wasn't patronizing McCarthy. If you understood this during Mike's more than 26-minute press conference, yet the head coach said he was faced with some “tough and direct questions” during the three-hour session. McCarthy should have done that, and not just because of the fact that he was eliminated in the first round for the second time in three seasons. Let's not lump McCarthy's losses into the Cowboys' 4-10 playoff record since winning Super Bowl XXX in the 1995 season before McCarthy arrived. – But the main reason for that was the loss was so bad that even San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan allowed some harsh words against the Cowboys, with the score trailing 27-0 with 1:50 left in the first half. At that point, he said he began preparing for Green Bay. The two sides will play in the divisional round in Santa Clara, Calif., on Saturday at 7:15 p.m.
(By the way, sorry, it's just me, but the NFL doesn't do the Packers any favors as a 7th seed. Maybe it's a penalty for being a 7th seed, or maybe San Francisco is a 1st seed. It might benefit one thing, but it's to let them play a short week and head to the West Coast to meet the idle Niners coming off a bye.)
Jerry also said that if he were to hire a new head coach, if it was a defensive-minded head coach, he would probably not only be stepping down from Dan Quinn, but he might be breaking out on his own for a head coaching job anyway. The new coach also realizes he has to hire an offensive coach. Coordinator/Play Caller, Dak is not doing himself any favors dealing with his third offensive coordinator/play caller in three years.
It also means a new coaching staff, even if they decide to go with a new head coach at the first opportunity.
But reading between the lines of Jerry's statement Wednesday night, the owner had a big question about why he was staying with McCarthy again after three straight 12-5 seasons, two of which included winning the NFC East. Although they left behind clues, it means they haven't escaped yet. Either 1st or 2nd round within 3 years:
“Additionally, Sunday's loss is shared by everyone here, not just Coach McCarthy. The players, the coaches, the front office, myself. I take responsibility for the result. I take responsibility for the result. “The lens through which we view things,'' and Coach McCarthy evaluates it as comprehensive. ”
Here's what's more obvious to the Cowboys as to why they suffered this loss. And not just the Packers in the playoffs, but why 4 of the 5 regular season losses came to playoff teams that finished the regular season with at least 11 wins, and just 2 of the 12 wins occurred to teams heading into the playoffs (Philippines). Delphia and Detroit).
- The Cowboys haven't been able to run the football consistently, averaging just 4.1 yards per carry, nearly half a yard less than in 2022, and probably won't be too bad even with Ezekiel Elliott taking a pay cut. It may indicate what could have been.
- The Cowboys couldn't stop the run, allowing five of the six teams they lost to at least 109 yards, with season highs of 266 yards to Buffalo, 222 yards to Arizona, 170 yards to San Francisco, and 143 yards to Green Bay. He also had a 13-yard rush. The sixth loss was a touchdown.
- They lacked a consistent pass rush, resulting in just one quarterback sack in five of the final six games of the season, and none against Green Bay.
- The linebacker corps is lacking. After Leighton Vander Esch suffered a season-ending injury in Game 5, he tried to play with a safety like Marquise Bell or Jaylon Kearse along with top tackler Damone Clark (115). , became a huge problem for the NFL's elite teams that wanted to run the ball.
And in this, and perhaps most importantly, the lopsided playoff loss to the Packers, the defense gave up 41 of a season-high 48 points against the Cowboys. After losing Pro Bowl cornerback Trevon Diggs just two games into the season, the Cowboys will be one cornerback short all season after a top three of Stephon Gilmore, Daron Brand, and Jordan Lewis. was disguised.
That's because when Gilmore injured his shoulder in Game 17 against Washington, he played gamely against Green Bay with his shoulder strapped in a harness. So instead of using the next man, Nashon Wright, or Noah Igbinoghene, who is less familiar with the defense, Quinn decided to increase zone coverage, hoping to take the pressure off Gilmore in man coverage. It was a huge failure. Packers quarterback Jordan Love has too many mistakes in his assignments, allowing him to shatter defenses by completing 16 of 21 passes for 272 yards, 3 touchdowns, and no interceptions, and his QB efficiency rating is He finished with a score of 157.2, just one shot away from a perfect 158.3.
The Packers receivers were running wide open – see completions of 46 yards, 39, 38, 26, 22, and 20 yards.
And when Prescott is off and the offensive line sacks the quarterback four times and hits him nine more times, you get a nasty whip.
So the offseason started here with little knowledge, and Jerry Jones decided to go through it all over again with McCarthy, especially with 16 unrestricted free agents, 8 of the starters, and 5 more. Changes to the coaching staff, including personnel and changes to the roster, are also expected to be considered key contributors.
However, McCarthy is completely disappointed in the loss in the playoffs and has no intention of backing down from future challenges.
“I'm very confident in myself, but I can't say it enough,” McCarthy said. “And I'm confident in what we've done here, and I'm very confident in where we're going from here. … But we have work to do. The job is not done yet. .We both know that.”
Both mean himself and Jerry.
Jerry, in particular, ignored all the outside noise and remained resolute in his efforts to renegotiate with McCarthy.
