McCarthy’s credit for Cowboys’ success
With a 5-1 record, there are many reasons for the Dallas Cowboys’ success.
Dak Prescott’s return from injury and return to MVP status.
Offensive coordinator Kellen Moore’s game plan.
Defensive coordinator Dan Quinn’s ability to remake the unit that was so banged up in 2020
The return to form of running back Ezekiel Elliott as one of the NFL’s best running backs
The play of the offensive line under Pro Bowlers Tyron Smith and Zack Martin.
The wordless start with seven interceptions by corner Trevon Diggs
The big plays of rookie Micah Parsons
The directive when drafting in free agency and financially.
Credit seems to go everywhere and not to coach Mike McCarthy.
“There’s a lack of understanding of how a team works,” notes owner and general manager Jerry Jones. “Those guys aren’t there if not for Mike’s tenure. I can assure you he was there with both (Moore and Quinn) with a lot of commitment and hard work. So that should Mike’s leadership is a great asset.”
“At the end of the day, you hear about some complementing each other, offensively and defensively and that’s also the coach’s job, to accommodate, to complement, as well as being the leader in setting the tone for the team relative to body language, relative to the types of things you’re trying to communicate to the players. He’s the leader and he’s doing an incredible job.”
The disastrous 2020 season with a 6-10 record can be explained in many ways: the COVID-19 pandemic, Prescott’s ankle injury that cost him 11 games, the defensive collapse (they allowed 29.6 points per game, 28th in the league), the death of strength and conditioning coach Markus Paul. McCarthy faced 2021 with doubts.
Since he’s not deciding plays and without a defensive back, some are questioning what McCarthy really does.
It’s the same questioning that previous head coach Jason Garrett faced after he stopped deciding plays in 2013. Garrett didn’t take credit for 2014’s 12-4 campaign-he was given to quarterback Tony Romo, running back DeMarco Murray, wide receiver Dez Bryant and offensive coordinator Scot Linehan. Nor in 2013 (13-3)-that one went to Elliott and Linehan by shrewdly employing rookie Prescott with a defensive opportunity, despite Garrett being named coach of the year. Same in 2018 (10-6) – with the trade for receiver Amari Cooper.
Ultimately, Garrett was given credit for his consistency and approach. As repetitive as it sounds publicly, the players were with him despite his lack of postseason success.
McCarthy’s calmness has been a good influence for a team that is constantly under the spotlight.
“It’s definitely necessary in a leadership position,” McCarthy said. “I think all of us, we learn things not only about the game, the preparation part, the performance part, but you definitely have to learn about yourself. I’m a big believer in listening to your own language. I think you’re coaching a different generation today than when I came into the league in the early ’90s. I think that’s part of the learning process. Again, if you want consistency, you have to have consistency from the leadership position.”
In preparing his team physically, McCarthy takes an almost scientific approach. He has meetings with strength and conditioning coach Harold Nash and rehab director Britt Brown every day, studying after practice GPS numbers that track each player’s activity.
Instead of a traditional Friday practice, the Cowboys go through a regeneration day designed to get them at their mental and physical best. After Monday night’s win over the Philadelphia Eagles, McCarthy did not coach the players with equipment the following week.
“We’re all products of our own experiences,” Cooper noted. “I remember him saying one time that he had already coached a team from the ground up. He said that, so he’ll tell you. And I guess it wasn’t a good thing and he learned from that experience. So yeah, he does things a little differently now. He’s very aware of how we might feel during the week after Sunday’s games.”
McCarthy gives his assistants freedom. Moore is the biggest beneficiary. Upon arriving in Dallas, McCarthy surprisingly said he would keep Moore as the play caller. When he was with the Green Bay Packers, McCarthy briefly gave that up in 2015 before resuming the duties and said he would never give them up again.
Moore currently leads the No. 1 offense in yards per game (460.8) and points per game (34.2).
“[McCarthy] is an incredible resource for me as I go through each and every week just to say in talks, ‘Hey, what do you think about this situation? What do you think if maybe we did X, Y and Z?” describes Moore. “And we can share those ideas together. And I think, since this is our second year together, I think we’re so well aligned in terms of our approach, our system and the routine that we take every week, that we’re in a really good place.”
Quinn said one of McCarthy’s “superpowers is that he’s a very consistent person.”
“He doesn’t ride the wave, so I think he can see [where] everyone else is and say, ‘Hey, let’s keep this in the middle.’ But he has a good connection with the players. He’s direct in his communication. I think as a player and as a coach that’s what you want. Tell us directly what we need and how we’re going to do to win.”
Winning is the most important thing. Winning is the reason Jones hired McCarthy. He went to the playoffs in nine of his 13 years with the Packers and had a 125-77-2 (.618) record. He attended four NFC championship games. Won one Super Bowl.
After the season-opening loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, McCarthy had a 17-27-1 record since his final playoff season with the Packers in 2016. By comparison, Matt Patricia had a 13-29-1 mark in 43 games as the Detroit Lions head coach from 2018-20.
The Cowboys haven’t lost since, but there are some who believe they win in spite of McCarthy, not because of him, pointing to fourth-chance decisions and clock management.
