Category: 2022 playoffs

Report: Cowboys DC Dan Quinn to have second interview with Arizona

Quinn met virtually with the club on Saturday; he’ll reportedly be flown to Arizona for another meeting, this time in person. | From @ToddBrock24f7

The Cardinals are moving quickly on their interest in Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn. As per a report from NFL insider Tom Pelissero, the organization is flying Quinn to Arizona on Tuesday night for an in-person meeting about their head coaching vacancy.

It will be Quinn’s second interview regarding the job.

Quinn first spoke with the Cardinals virtually on Saturday about the position as he made final preparations for his Dallas defense to face the 49ers in the divisional round of the NFC playoffs.

Several other candidates have already met with the Arizona front office, including current Cardinals defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, former Colts head coach Frank Reich, and Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn.

49ers DC DeMeco Ryans canceled a Sunday interview to focus on the team’s playoff match with Dallas. Steelers defensive assistant Brian Flores was to interview on Monday. Former Saints coach Sean Payton is scheduled to sit down with Arizona on Thursday. Broncos DC Ejiro Evero is also said to be in the mix.

Quinn is also seen as a strong candidate in Denver, where he interviewed last year; he conducted a virtual meeting with them on Friday.

Pelissero’s tweet also mentions the possibility of the Colts bringing Quinn to Indianapolis for a second interview with them sometime this week.

It is indeed a busy week for the Cowboys coaching staff, now freshly eliminated from the postseason. Offensive coordinator Kellen Moore reportedly met with Carolina today about their head coaching position.

Several other Dallas assistants- offensive line coach Joe Philbin, running backs coach Skip Peete, quarterbacks coach Doug Nussmeier, defensive assistant George Edwards, and defensive line assistant Leon Lett- all saw their contracts expire with Sunday’s 19-12 playoff loss in San Francisco.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said after the game that head coach Mike McCarthy’s job was safe.

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Young, flexible roster indicates bright future could still await Cowboys

The Cowboys have several players with a ton of experience, which makes their standing among young and successful teams more impressive, says @ReidDHanson.

Fresh off Dallas’ 19-12 loss to San Francisco, Cowboys Nation is reeling. It was another season-ending loss to the rival 49ers and another example of a good Dallas team playing poorly when it mattered the most. The franchise once again failed attempt to advance beyond the divisional round.

Yet, despite all the raw emotions and unchecked vitriol circulating in the aftermath of this disappointment, it’s not all doom and gloom for the Cowboys as they look to the future. While many of the NFL’s best teams are built on the backs of veterans who are at, or on the downslope of, their prime years, Dallas is quite young.

Of the eight teams which played in the divisional round, the Cowboys are the youngest of them all. At an average age of 25 years, nine months, and five days, Dallas’ window is far from closing.

The core of the Cowboys roster is built on young players. Players like CeeDee Lamb (23), Micah Parsons (23), Tyler Smith (21), Terence Steele (25), Trevon Diggs (24), DaRon Bland (23), Jake Ferguson (23), Osa Odighizuwa (24), Damone Clark (22) and Sam Williams (23) are all high ceiling prospects with bright futures ahead.

These are the cornerstones on which Dallas will be built and the reason for optimism going forward.

Sure, older vets like Zack Martin, DeMarcus Lawrence and Dak Prescott still hold important roles going forward. But other veterans like Tyron Smith, Ezekiel Elliott and Anthony Brown are likely to either have reduced roles or be seen as expendable, the latter reducing the average age further and opening opportunities for young ascending talents with bright futures.

Salary cap projections currently show the Cowboys up against the limit heading into the off-season, but the Dallas roster is loaded with convertible contracts that can free up money with a virtual snap of the fingers.

The Cowboys are financially flexible, loaded with young ascending talent, and built to improve. They are the youngest team that made it to the divisional round and are in excellent shape to improve their roster in the off-season.

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Major upheaval could be in store for Cowboys coaching staff

Mike McCarthy is likely to return but just about every other Cowboys coaching position faces an uncertain future this off-season in Dallas. | From @ReidDHanson

As the Cowboys limp away from their season-ending loss at Levi’s Stadium, some literally, an uncertain future awaits many. In the salary cap era, rosters are always going to see their fair share of churn, so that’s nothing new. But this winter could see major upheaval in Dallas’ coaching ranks as well.

Immediately following the 19-12 loss to the 49ers in the NFC divisional round, owner Jerry Jones spoke to reporters, ensuring nothing has changed regarding his endorsement of his head coach. Mike McCarthy’s job security was first called into question before the postseason began. Instead of hedging or deflecting, Jones gave a fairly sturdy endorsement saying “No. I don’t even want to – no.” After the loss to San Francisco, Jones doubled-down on his support of his head coach. Asked if he changed his mind regarding McCarthy, Jones replied, “No, no, no, not at all.”

But behind McCarthy, down the coaching ranks, anything can happen. Despite getting a significant raise to stay on as the defensive coordinator in 2022, Dan Quinn could be on his way out. Quinn is among the leading candidates to land the Denver Broncos’ open position. He recently interviewed with the Colts and could very well receive multiple offers before all is said and done.

Kellen Moore, the Cowboys offensive coordinator, has drawn interest as well. The 34-year-old play-caller is somewhat maligned in Dallas, but held in high regard around the league. He will interview for the vacant spot in Carolina, at a minimum.

Considering all of this, there is a very real chance the Cowboys lose both coordinators and portions of their respective staffs in coming weeks. Some could see this as a good thing, but in an age where stability is king and the grass isn’t always greener on the other side, major upheaval could set Dallas back.

It’s not unrealistic to imagine Dallas will have significant churn in their coaching ranks. Not because of underachieving performers but because they were successful and received better offers elsewhere.

An important distinction to keep in mind.

Dak Prescott’s ‘unacceptable’ performance vs 49ers points to inconvenient truth

Fans wanted to believe Dak’s day vs Tampa Bay was the norm, but his inaccurate 2-INT performance Sunday is closer to recent reality. | From @ToddBrock24f7

Dak Prescott followed up a game he’ll remember his whole life with one he’d just as soon forget.

The Cowboys quarterback picked a bad day to have a bad day, going just 23-of-37 passing for 206 yards and a lone touchdown in the team’s 19-12 loss to San Francisco in the divisional round of the playoffs.

But beyond the obviously disappointing postseason exit, Prescott’s poor showing brings to light an unsettling notion.

Cowboys fans watched last week’s four-touchdown, 143.3-passer-rating day in Tampa and saw what Prescott is capable of doing when all the stars align.

But then…

Prescott’s 63.6 passer rating this past Sunday was the lowest of his six total playoff appearances, and it was just the 18th time in his career he’s ended a game with a rating of under 70.0.

The Cowboys’ record in those games: 2-16.

Worst of all? Four of those sub-70 outings have come in the Cowboys’ last 20 games.

They are: last year’s wild-card loss to the 49ers, the 2022 season opener at Tampa, the 2022 season finale at Washington, and this past Sunday’s divisional defeat.

All four still hurt, they’re so fresh.

That all-too-recent history suggests that it’s Dak’s wild-card showing that was actually the anomaly… and what we saw on Sunday was, unfortunately, closer to the inconvenient truth.

While Prescott got to enjoy last week’s surgical performance versus Tampa Bay for just a few days, this latest loss will linger for an entire offseason. The Cowboys were in the game right until the end, but they’ll once again watch the conference championships from home, just as they had for the past 26 years.

“Those guys in that locker room gave it all, both sides of the ball,” the quarterback told reporters from the podium Sunday night. “Put me in a position to go win the game, and I wasn’t able to do that. I put it on my shoulders. When you play this position and you play for this organization, you’ve got to accept that. That’s the reality of it. It’ll make me better. It sucks that I don’t get another shot at it for a long time.”

Most troubling for Prescott and Cowboys Nation, though, were the passer’s two interceptions, building on the theme that will live on as the lead story of the team’s entire 2022 season.

“Just two throws that I can’t have, you can’t have in the playoffs, you can’t have when you’re trying to beat a team like that, you can’t have on the road,” Prescott admitted. “No excuses for it. Those two are 100 percent on me.”

The first came early, ending Dallas’s second offensive possession. Prescott dropped back on a third-and-nine and hurled one toward Michael Gallup on the sideline, not realizing that 49ers cornerback Deommodore Lenoir had run the route even better than the Cowboys wide receiver.

 

That turnover gave San Francisco outstanding field position and led to an easy field goal and first-quarter lead for the home squad.

Prescott’s second pick proved even costlier.

Driving deep in 49ers territory late in the second quarter, Prescott tried to force a throw to CeeDee Lamb through a very tight window. Jimmie Ward deflected it, and linebacker Fred Warner was waiting with open arms.

That mistake not only ended what appeared to be a scoring drive by the Cowboys, but allowed San Francisco to tack on another field goal before halftime. What should have been a seven-point Dallas lead at the break was instead a 9-6 deficit.

“I’ve got to play better than I did tonight, simple as that,” Prescott said.

But of course, it wasn’t just Sunday night. Prescott’s 2022 pick problem dates all the way back to opening night, when Tampa Bay safety Antoine Winfield Jr. jumped a Noah Brown route in Week 1 and nabbed a bad Prescott toss.

Prescott went on to finish the regular season with 15 interceptions, a career-worst for him. And that’s with him sitting out five full games due to a fractured thumb.

Some of those turnovers came from receiver miscommunication. Some were the result of a poor quarterback decision or just a bad throw. Some came off an unlucky bounce.

But whatever the reason, they all counted. They all haunted Prescott over the course of a rollercoaster season. And after a wild-card week hiatus, they came back Sunday in Santa Clara.

“They all have their own story,” Prescott said. “Two tonight. As I said, unacceptable. I can’t put the ball in jeopardy like that, whether they’re tipped up in tight throws or whether I’m late on a stop route. Can’t happen. The number that it’s gotten to is ridiculous. I can promise that the number will never be this again. I can promise that.”

Problem is, Prescott had been promising to clean up the misfires for most of the season. And in a game when the defense held the powerhouse 49ers to under 20 points, these latest self-inflicted wounds helped prove fatal to the Cowboys’ postseason run.

“For us to only put up the points that we did, that’s unacceptable. And it starts with me. I’ve got to be better. No other way to sugarcoat it.”

That’s the taste that the Cowboys- and especially Prescott- will have in his mouth from now until the 2023 season.

Sadly, it’s more than a postseason problem, although the team’s 27-year absence from the conference championship round seriously stings the day after getting booted from the tournament.

Ultimately, Prescott says he doesn’t know why the club can’t seem to get over that hump.

“If I had the answers, we would have won tonight,” he told media members. “I promise you, we will, though. In my time, playing on this team, for this organization, we will.”

But not if Prescott can’t figure out why this keeps happening to him, with increasing and alarming frequency, playoffs or otherwise.

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Cowboys safety Jayron Kearse’s emotional offseason to include shoulder surgery

The Cowboys safety took Sunday’s loss especially hard, the end of a season that saw him and others battle through multiple injuries. | From @ToddBrock24f7

Cowboys safety Jayron Kearse fought back tears after the team’s 19-12 loss Sunday to the 49ers in the NFC’s divisional round.

“I gave it everything I had,” he told reporters.

Turns out, he gave more than most on the outside realized.

Kearse will need offseason surgery to repair a shoulder injury he’s had for two months. The seven-year veteran suffered a dislocated shoulder and labrum tear versus the Giants on Thanksgiving, yet played on through the team’s postseason run.

“I battled a lot this year,” Kearse explained to media members at his locker. “I just…”

But his voice trailed off as he shook his head, stopping himself from going further.

There was a knee injury that forced his early exit from the season opener and cost him three outings. There was a back issue. A pregame scare when he landed awkwardly during warmups before the Houston game. And an MCL sprain against Tampa Bay just last week that he promised to overcome in time for San Francisco.

He did, turning in five tackles and one for loss against the 49ers, helping his unit put up a solid effort against a top offense by holding them to under 20 points.

“It’s tough when you know you could have won the game,” Kearse admitted, “and you’ve got to watch them celebrate.”

The veteran, about to turn 29, wasn’t the only Cowboys defender who fought through personal health issues this season. He credited Donovan Wilson, Malik Hooker, Leighton Vander Esch, Micah Parsons, and DeMarcus Lawrence with the same perseverance he showed over the promising 2022 campaign.

“I knew we had a chance to do it. And I didn’t want to miss an opportunity to play with those guys, play next to those guys. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get it done,” Kearse explained, his voice cracking once again. “This is why it hurts so much, because I know we had the team to do it. We had the right guys to do it.”

And he knows that some of those “right guys” won’t be wearing the star again in 2023.

“That’s the harsh reality of his business,” he said. “But as of now, this roster is the same. When we go in that building tomorrow, I get to see my teammates. Hug them. Just be around them. And wherever the chips fall, that’s just where they fall. You’ll never have the same roster two years in a row. But I know we have the right guys. I know that.”

For Kearse and the 2022 Cowboys, knowing it will have to be enough. Because they won’t get the chance to prove it.

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WATCH: McCarthy pushes camera after Cowboys loss; Jerry says job safe

Emotions ran high following the loss as Mike McCarthy appeared to push a videographer exiting the field; Jerry Jones stands by his coach. | From @ToddBrock24f7

Emotions were running high throughout Cowboys Nation in the moments immediately following the team’s ouster Sunday night from yet another postseason.

That goes double for the team’s embattled head coach and longtime owner.

Having watched his team turn in an uninspiring performance in a 19-12 loss to the 49ers, a game that ended with questionable clock management from the Dallas sideline and a bizarre final last-gasp play that was snuffed out by the San Francisco defense before it ever had a chance to materialize, coach Mike McCarthy wasn’t in the mood for photo ops as he exited the field at Levi’s Stadium on Sunday evening.

The 59-year-old coach blocked a local TV camera with his hand and even appeared to push the videographer away as he made his way to the visitors’ locker room.

The photographer, from Dallas’s KXAS-TV, explained via Twitter that it was more of a “hand to the lens” than a push and that McCarthy apologized in private.

McCarthy also chose to categorize the moment differently when asked about it, bristling at the use of the word “shove” in a reporter’s question.

“I obviously didn’t view it like that,” he stated to close out his postgame press conference. “That’s not how I saw the interaction. At all.”

Any physical contact whatsoever, though, is considered off-limits in such a situation and speaks to the clear frustration that got the better of the head coach as another promising 12-5 regular season ended with a whimper.

“Obviously just extremely disappointed,” McCarthy told reporters afterward, referring to the team’s on-the-field performance. “This has been an incredible journey with this group of men. We just came up short tonight to a very good football team.”

But despite the continuation of the Cowboys’ long championship drought, owner Jerry Jones maintains that he is not considering a change at the top of his football flowchart.

“No. No. No. Not at all,” Jones said in the tunnel after the loss.

“But this is very sickening to not win tonight.”

Jones’s pained expression was mirrored in the faces of many Cowboys players after the defeat, with some openly shedding tears.

McCarthy described the state of the locker room as “raw” as he addressed the media.

“This is not really the time to pick apart. I understand you’ve got a job to do, but that’s not where we’re at right now.”

Where the Cowboys are at, though, is home. Out of the postseason before the conference championship round. Again.

But in the moments after their division-round loss to San Francisco- one year and six days after coming up short to the 49ers in the wild-card round- McCarthy chose to look at that detail differently, too.

“Factually, we’ve taken one step closer to our goal. That’s what the comparable would be from last year to this year. I think they’re a different team than they were last year. I think they’re a better team than they were last year. I said this earlier in the week; I thought we’re a better team than we were last year.”

That difference, though- like many- feels like splitting hairs the day after.

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Anatomy Lesson: Cowboys teach master class on leaving points behind

A running tally of how the Cowboys’ myriad of mistakes cost them points in a contest they would’ve won comfortably if they played a clean game. | From @KDDrummondNFL

Minus 7. -7. That’s was the final scoring margin in Dallas’ final game of the 2022 season. A year where resilience was the well-played theme of their existence, the Cowboys never lost back-to-back games. That was the first time since 1994 they’d been able to accomplish such a feat, but it matters not in the one-and-done world of playoff football.

The seven-point defeat, 19-12, to the San Francisco 49ers is the final chapter of this book. The difference between the two teams was never a gulf, but Dallas was unable to limit their mistakes and in this game, they directly tied to the scoring.

The playoffs are not forgiving. They magnify mistakes because the level of competition at this stage means failures will be capitalized on. Here’s a look at how the myriad of Cowboys mistakes les to their undoing.

4 Takeaways: Cowboys shrink in big moments, waste defensive effort

The Cowboys made mistakes at the wrong time in their 19-12 divisional playoff loss to the 49ers. @BenGrimaldi says fans are tired of the script.

The Dallas Cowboys are the most predictable team in the NFL. They’ll do things that make fans believe one week, only to make them want to pull their hair out the next. Nothing ever changes with the Cowboys.

Another year, another disappointing playoff loss for the Cowboys, and for the second year in a row, it comes at the hands of the San Francisco 49ers. It’s another season that ends where the Cowboys had the opportunity to win and finally end their embarrassing streak of not appearing in the NFC title game.

Players and coaches may change, but the results in the playoffs for the past 27 years haven’t. Most Cowboys fans have grown numb to the experience of losing before NFC Championship contest, they’re just waiting on how the team will blow. In the latest loss, it was a combination of things that doomed Dallas, including the quarterback coming up short in his chance to silence the critics.

Here are four takeaways from the Cowboys in their latest failure of the divisional round of the playoffs.

Cowboys RB Tony Pollard suffered fractured fibula, faces month-long recovery

The Pro Bowler and 1,000-yard rusher is set to be a free agent this offseason, but faces a long recovery after his injury in Santa Clara. | From @ToddBrock24f7

Tony Pollard’s injury in the second quarter of the Cowboys’ 19-12 divisional-round loss left the team severely hobbled for the back half of Sunday’s game in San Francisco.

It will now also leave Pollard himself limping into the biggest offseason of his professional career.

The four-year veteran reportedly suffered a high ankle sprain and a fractured fibula in his left leg when 49ers defensive back Jimmie Ward tackled him from behind on a pass play that gained eight yards.

ESPN’s Todd Archer delivered the news via social media late Sunday night.

Pollard was carted off the field and did not return in the Cowboys’ postseason exit.

Pollard will undergo surgery to repair the damage.

The former fourth-round draft pick out of Memphis is set to become a free agent after the first 1,000-yard rushing season of his career. The dual threat had finally become a focal point of the Dallas offense in 2022, leading the team in ground yards and yards-per-carry for the season and nearly matching Ezekiel Elliott in carries. Pollard was also named to his first Pro Bowl for his efforts.

Thought to be one the league’s top free agents this coming offseason and in line for a massive contract (from either the Cowboys or someone else), Pollard now also faces the prospect of a three-month recovery, at minimum.

He was seen leaving Levi’s Stadium on crutches and in a walking boot after Sunday’s game.

Pollard had amassed 22 yards on six rushing attempts when he went down, with another 11 yards through the air on a pair of catches.

The Cowboys offensive attack sputtered badly in his absence. Quarterback Dak Prescott threw his second interception of the evening on the very next play, and the team compiled just 17 rushing yards on six tries the rest of the game.

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Good, Bad, Ugly: Cowboys blunders vs 49ers lead to offseason questions

The Cowboys’ season ends on an inglorious note and it dovetails into an important offseason. Here’s the analysis of what went down. | From @KDDrummondNFL

The season’s over for the Dallas Cowboys, but there’s still things to sort out. The 19-12 defeat at the hands of the San Francisco 49ers leaves an empty feeling where the hope of finally ending the long drought should be sitting. The game was intense, edge-of-seat action but from the beginning the feeling of impending doom seemed to be closing in on Dallas.

There were certainly periods of euphoria sprinkled in, but all in all there were too many regret-causing moments for Dallas to pull off the road upset. Here’s a look at the most important takeaways from the contest; which ones were good, which were bad and which were downright ugly.