Playoffs give Cowboys coach McCarthy chance to address criticism – Dallas Cowboys Blog

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FRISCO, Texas — It was a beautiful July afternoon in Oxnard, California. Not much cloud, temps hovered around the mid 70s.

Three months before his 80th birthday, and with coach Mike McCarthy seated immediately to his right, Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones spoke of a Super Bowl drought that had stretched to 26 years.

“We have to be in the playoffs,” Jones said that day. “We have to be viable in the playoffs for it to be a successful season.”

The playoffs are now here – and the Cowboys are coming off their worst performance of the season in Sunday’s 26-6 loss to the Washington Commanders. The 12-5 record doesn’t seem to matter.

It was hardly inspiring and left more questions, with Dak Prescott intercepted for the seventh straight game (including his third pick six in the last four games), multiple special teams errors and a defense that couldn’t handle it. do enough to affect the fifth round. rookie quarterback Sam Howell, who was making his first start.

For next week, they’ll have to live with that performance before facing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the wild-card round of the playoffs next Monday (8:15 p.m. ET, ESPN/ABC/ESPN+).

And they will face a quarterback, Tom Brady, who has won more Super Bowls (seven) than anyone and is 7-0 against the Cowboys.

One way or another, McCarthy will have to salvage what became a mess on Sunday.

“The timing is definitely not what you’re looking for,” McCarthy said. “I clearly recognize it. But I think it’s like a lot of things in life: you get kicked in the ass or punched in the mouth, you have a chance to react. And I have great confidence in our football team that we will respond.

Despite the Dallas Cowboys’ recent regular season success, coach Mike McCarthy isn’t getting any benefit of the doubt as the playoffs begin. Jevone Moore/Icon Sportswire

McCarthy chose the word “resilience” as the theme for the season, and his team did not suffer back-to-back regular season losses.

McCarthy was hired in part because of his playoff success: a Super Bowl victory and four trips to the NFC Championship Game as coach of the Green Bay Packers. His expectations are high, but no coach has won a Super Bowl with two different franchises; only six took two different teams to the title match.

“Once the door closes on the regular season, everyone restarts and now you’re in the tournament,” McCarthy said. “Obviously you want to get in the tournament, win and ultimately play in Arizona. We said that on the first day of training camp. That part hasn’t left us.

Despite finishing last season with a 12-5 record, McCarthy entered 2022 with questions about his job security due to a disheartening 23-17 home playoff loss to the 49ers. San Francisco and with so many connections between retired New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton and Jones. In the first game of the season, a loss to the Buccaneers, Prescott fractured his thumb and required surgery.

“Everyone wants to get off to a quick start, but we responded and kept playing,” McCarthy said.

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He guided the Cowboys through Prescott’s five-game absence, going 4-1 with Cooper Rush as the starting quarterback. They lost running back Ezekiel Elliott for two games with a hyperextended right knee. He didn’t leave tackle Tyron Smith for 13 games, and when the eight-time Pro Bowler returned, he switched to right tackle after starter Terence Steele was lost for the season to an ACL and a torn MCL in the left knee.

Starting cornerbacks Jourdan Lewis (foot) and Anthony Brown (Achilles) were lost for the season five weeks apart. Linebacker Leighton Vander Esch, the leading tackler at the time of his injury, has missed the last three games.

Through it all, McCarthy’s approach never changed.

“There could be a lot going on on the outside, and he stays so consistent with the team and with the staff,” defensive coordinator Dan Quinn said. “So for my part, I certainly admire that about him. A good game, a bad game, training or talking to the guys right after, he’s so consistent in what he does.

“I think people see that, and they know walking into work every day which Mike they’re going to see. And that’s a good trait to have, as opposed to ‘I don’t know how it’s going to be’ or “I don’t know how he’s going to act today.”

With McCarthy, the Cowboys have won 24 games over the past two seasons. Only the Kansas City Chiefs (25) have won more. He is currently 20th in NFL history in wins, passing Joe Gibbs, Payton and Bill Cowher on the all-time list this season.

He became the first Cowboys coach to offer back-to-back playoff berths since Chan Gailey in 1998-99. For the first time since 1994-95, the Cowboys have posted consecutive seasons with at least 12 wins.

And yet, the playoffs begin without McCarthy benefiting from the doubt. Critics say he only won one Super Bowl with Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay – while neglecting to note that Payton also only won one with Drew Brees.

In 16 years as a head coach, McCarthy has 10 seasons with at least 10 wins. Payton had nine in 15 seasons with the Saints. Both coaches have four seasons with losing records, but Payton had three consecutive 7-9 finishes from 2014 to 2016.

“You can say what you want to say; it gets the job done,” said safety Jayron Kearse. “We are moving in the right direction under Coach McCarthy, but this [criticism] just wore that star on your helmet… He doesn’t have the helmet, but he still has [has] that star is still there. Anyone who is in this building understands what this star brings. It is just what it is.

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While players love McCarthy for how he takes care of them during the season with different training schedules depending on short or long work weeks, defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence believes McCarthy’s biggest influence is on the locker room.

“I feel like the best thing he’s done for us is give us players control of the dressing room. Making sure we hold each other accountable,” Lawrence said. “That’s how I feel like he builds a better culture.”

He also has a way of inspiring confidence without false bravado.

“I remember last year before Minnesota, right before the game, he said, ‘You’ve been playing quarterback your whole life, that’s nothing new,'” Rush said. “It was just a good training point or a reflection just before you go to play. A reminder that you can do it, you’ve done it at high levels before. This year we met a bit right before Cincy, and he told me to let go, to play freely, not to stress and not to worry. And we were able to do that.”

After Sunday’s inexplicable performance against Washington, McCarthy will have to reinstall that confidence in his team. And finally, he must deliver.

“It’s playoff time,” McCarthy said. “There are no more guaranteed matches. You are guaranteed a match. And you have to do everything you have to do in playoff football to win. This will be our approach and I have great confidence in this team. I have great confidence in the locker room… These ebbs and flows of the season are part of the success. It’s been a cohesive team throughout. Our file talks about it. Our productivity figures bear this out.

“But at the end of the day, it’s about a game: it’s about beating Tampa. That’s all we think about.

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