Category: Jerry Jones

Cowboys Crossroads: Coaching indecision again places franchise behind provervial 8-ball

The decision the Cowboys make at coach will dictate everything. Deciding on scheme maven or leader is the first step in fixing what’s wrong. | From @ReidDHanson.

The Dallas Cowboys are at a crossroads with their franchise. Much like the prior season, when they had to decide whether or not to re-sign quarterback Dak Prescott, the Cowboys need to determine which direction their team goes at head coach.

Will they re-sign Mike McCarthy to a new contract and stay the course, or will they bring in a new coach and start a new chapter in Dallas? If they choose the former and keep McCarthy, who will they add to the staff to make things better? And if they choose the latter and let McCarthy leave, what style of head coach will be replacing him?

Assuming Jerry Jones’ patience stays intact for the next hire, whoever the head coach hire is in 2025 is likely to be the head coach throughout the rest of the Prescott era. That’s a significant period of time because it coincides with the athletic peaks of players such as CeeDee Lamb, Micah Parsons and Trevon Diggs. As such, the importance of this decision cannot be understated.

The value of coaching has ebbed and flowed throughout the years but in today’s day and age it’s at an absolute premium. The parity in roster talent is extremely tight, often making scheme, strategy, and play design the difference between winning and losing. It’s an area the Cowboys have historically struggled in considerably throughout the last few coaching regimes and an area that’s repeatedly ended in embarrassment.

The importance of such factors has given rise to the Kyle Shanahan coaching tree. Nearly half the NFL now employs some branch of the San Francisco mastermind. His is a system that makes things easy for its signal callers. It simplifies reads, schemes players open, plays out of unpredictable formations and personnel groups and still values the big plays. Different product lines of the Shanahan brand lean on different strengths, but overall, it’s a system that seeks to make things as easy as possible on the offense and as confusing as possible on the opposing defense.

Master-schemers such as Shanahan are en vogue in the NFL right now but curiously so are their polar opposites. Running concurrently to the brainiacs of the NFL are the meatheads, so to speak.

Dan Campbell has taken the NFL by storm with his success in Detroit. The former NFL tight end embodies leadership and inspiration at the coaching ranks. Tough guys like Mike Vrabel and Campbell fit a completely different profile at the head coach position. Their ability to keep order, dictate culture and demand respect has real value in the NFL today, providing a very different alternative to teams looking for a new coaching direction.

The impending split in Detroit will be telling as to which brand of coach is worth more. Both of Campbell’s assistants fall under the scheme-master category. It’s been said it’s their ability to design plays and strategize that makes Campbell’s leadership style work so effectively. But a case could also be made Campbell’s firm position at the top of the flowchart is what allows these brilliant men to get in the weeds and be brilliant in the first place.

The Cowboys have to determine which direction they want to go. They may not even want to go a new direction and choose to stick with McCarthy.

McCarthy isn’t the disciplinarian Campbell and Vrabel are, but he falls under the leadership brand of head coaching rather than scheme master.

That’s not a problem, unless he’s the one left to design gameplans and call plays, as has been the case the last two seasons.

There haven’t been many games where an evenly-matched Cowboys team was able to outcoach the opposing sideline. Whether it’s playoffs or top tier regular season matchups, the Cowboys have been outcoached consistently during the McCarthy tenure. It speaks to the importance of the scheme-master coach and shows that leadership without a gameplan doesn’t amount to much.

There are a number of directions and combinations the Cowboys can go at coach this winter but the one direction they can’t go ignoring the importance of scheme and play design. If they prioritize leadership at head coach, they have to find a way to upgrade and empower a new offensive coordinator to design plays.

The Cowboys’ shrinking window of opportunity depends on it.

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Denied! Cowboys don’t grant Bears interview request for McCarthy, here’s what it could mean

Dallas isn’t ready to relinquish their rights to their head coach, but it doesn’t have to mean he’s returning in 2025.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Dallas Cowboys are not ready to get off the Mike McCarthy Express. The Chicago Bears, who fired head coach Matt Eberflus during the season, recently requested permission to interview the Cowboys’ head coach for their own vacancy. McCarthy is still under contract with the Cowboys for the next seven days, his five-year contract not expiring until January 14.

While speculation has run rampant over whether or not Dallas intends to retain McCarthy, until that day they have his rights and have to be asked by another franchise to speak to him. On Tuesday, they denied the Bears permission.

Many will speculate that this means a deal between the two sides is in the works, and while that may be the case, this isn’t an indication in either direction.

There are several potential reasons why owner Jerry Jones would not grant the permission, and several potential outcomes to the next week.

For one, Dallas isn’t obligated to play nice with any other team. Sure, it would seem to be the moral thing to do if they weren’t interested in retaining McCarthy and letting his contract expire, but professional sports doesn’t require friendliness.

The team could also still be evaluating their season and finalizing their assessment. While the Cowboys organization knows how to print money, their lack of playoff success over the last 30 years paints a picture of a club unable to conduct football business to fine effect. They moved ridiculously slowly in 2020, when then head coach Jason Garrett’s contract expired and they eventually hired McCarthy.

DLLS Sports’ Clarence Hill seems to indicate that is the case in a responsive tweet to the news.

At the same time, McCarthy may not want to return to the Cowboys and be looking for a fresh start. If Dallas wants him back and McCarthy wants to play the field, or outright be done with the organization, that could lead to the Cowboys wanting to make things difficult on him or a pursuing franchise.

Any of these is as likely a possibility that the two sides are negotiating the parameters around a McCarthy return. Compensation could be a factor, contract length could be a factor, assistant coaches and play-calling duties could be a factor. Negotiations happen on all of these fronts, and the Jones have meddled on such things over and over in their ownership history; there’s no reason to think this is any different.

It would be nice to be able to pinpoint exactly what this latest revelation in the Dallas soap opera means, but until the team actually signs a head coach, keep all options open.

WATCH: Cowboys owner Jerry Jones makes acting turn in ‘Landman’

From @ToddBrock24f7: Jones makes a cameo to deliver advice about the importance of family to characters played by Jon Hamm and Billy Bob Thornton.

After the team posted one more heartbreaking loss to put a final, frustrating bow on a thoroughly disappointing 7-10 season, Cowboys fans waited for owner Jerry Jones to make an appearance.

The assumption was that he would have some sort of statement- on the coaching staff whose jobs now hang very much in the balance, on his vision for the coming direction of the team, and, maybe, on what he plans to do differently to turn around the most visible sports franchise on the planet as their championship drought now stretches toward three full decades.

As it turns out, Jones had things to say Sunday night. Only they were scripted lines of dialogue in a TV series in which he had a cameo role.

The Cowboys owner showed up- as himself- in an episode of Landman, the Paramount+ series from creator Taylor Sheridan (of Yellowstone fame) starring Billy Bob Thornton and set against the backdrop of the West Texas oil business.

Jones’s appearance in Episode 9 takes place in a hospital, where he pays a visit to the character played by Emmy-winning actor Jon Hamm, who has just suffered a heart attack. And while Jones’s lines were written for him to fit the show’s narrative, they could just as easily have been lifted out of any one of the 82-year-old billionaire’s numerous interviews about the foundering football club that he purchased in 1989 and turned into a $10 billion family business.

The scene features Jones explaining how his daughter’s college days at Stanford led him to invest in a few California gas wells, to give him an excuse to visit her on campus more often, and that those wells delivered enough money for him to buy the Cowboys.

While Charlotte really did attend Stanford, that story as told by Jones in Landman has been molded and shaped somewhat for better dramatic effect. He does, though, go on to emphasize the genuine importance of family in a way that rings true for the Cowboys owner.

“I made my mind up a long time ago I was going to work with my kids,” Jones says in the scene. “And they’re involved in everything. They’re involved in my leasing, oil and gas, real estate. And so when I got the Cowboys, I got it so that we could all work together. I thought I was doing it for them, but the one that got the most out of it was me.”

Chalk it up to the lighting, the grainy film look of the cinematography, the background music, the pregnant pauses in his delivery, his cracking voice and even moistened eyes, or just some bit of Hollywood magic worked in the editing booth, but it’s a heartfelt and poignant moment. Jones certainly has never lacked the showmanship gene or a flair for the dramatic.

Jones and the Cowboys worked with Sheridan for their 2023 schedule release video, during the height of Yellowstone‘s popularity. And the Cowboys owner has previously appeared as himself in the fictional worlds of other scripted series, including Coach, Arli$$, Entourage, and The League.

To be fair, performing the Landman scene would have been an easy line item on Jones’s list of commitments and obligations for any given day and certainly would have had no bearing whatsoever on any of the weighty football-related matters swirling around the team in this season that has pushed many of their faithful followers to their breaking point.

But that won’t stop legions of Cowboys fans from screaming to the rafters about Jones’s latest acting gig as just the latest example of the misplaced priorities of the organization’s ultimate leading man.

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The real reason why Cowboys seem undecided on Mike McCarthy’s future

Jerry Jones may be waiting to see what the market offers before deciding the fate of Mike McCarthy, says @ReidDHanson.

The idea of Jerry Jones still being undecided on the future of Mike McCarthy sounds preposterous. Jones has nearly five full seasons of data with McCarthy to reference so it’s unlikely one more seemingly meaningless game is going to sway the Dallas Cowboys’ owner in either direction.

If Jones values regular season success most, he should be thrilled with McCarthy. McCarthy had posted three consecutive 12-win seasons as head coach in Dallas and routinely ranked at the top of the league in offense, which just happens to be his bread and butter. Bringing McCarthy back under this circumstance should be a no-brainer.

If Jones prioritizes postseason success, he should be severely disappointed in his head coach. Despite being handed a ready-made Super Bowl contender, McCarthy hasn’t been able to do any better than the coach who failed before him. He’s routinely lost in embarrassing fashion and has been out-schemed in nearly every instance. Under this circumstance letting McCarthy walk would be a no-brainer.

It seems the only thing this situation can’t be is an undecided matter, yet a deeper look at the coaching carousel this offseason may make the case for just that.

Major multimillion dollar corporations rarely make a change at CEO unless they have a better option in mind. Unless they’re simply looking for a scapegoat for a particularly bad situation, they only make a move if it’s for an upgrade. If the Cowboys were seeking to achieve the former (scapegoat) they probably would have cut bait with McCarthy after the debacle against Green Bay last postseason. Whereas if the Cowboys are more focused on an upgrade, they are probably just waiting for a more promising alternative to pop up this winter.

Speculation has been rampant for months as to which head coach candidates will be looking for jobs this offseason. Some are sure bets while others are a flip of the coin. The uncertain candidate pool could be contributing to Jones’ uncertain stance on his head coach. Based on all the regular season success, Jones knows McCarthy is far from a poor option. Based on all the disappointing postseason performances, Jones also knows there are far better coaching options out there in the NFL as well. Who they are, if they’ll be available and if they’ll be interested in the Cowboys are the questions Jones must be considering.

Being good enough to win in the regular season seems to be good enough for the fanbase. McCarthy’s Cowboys remain a ratings juggernaut, win or lose. The value of the Cowboys franchise remains the highest in the world, win or lose. Merchandise sales, media coverage and attendance also seem to be impervious to team failures. Jones doesn’t have to force the replacement if he doesn’t see a clear and obvious upgrade.

There’s an excellent chance the Cowboys decided McCarthy’s fate last winter and his exodus is simply a forgone conclusion. Jones doesn’t like to spend money if he doesn’t have to (see also the Cowboys annual free agent spending) and firing McCarthy with one year left on his contract would essentially require Dallas to pay two head coaches in 2024. Under this very realistic premise the Cowboys are just allowing McCarthy to save face and stay marketable even if they’ve already decided a new direction for the franchise.

Based on the wealth of data McCarthy has given them over the years, the odds are Jones knows exactly what McCarthy’s fate is. But there remains a possibility Jones really is undecided and simply waiting until the full candidate pool has shown itself.

McCarthy’s contract expires on January 14, so Jones has time to see who hits the coaching market and who does not. If a clear and obvious upgrade isn’t available for the Cowboys, Jones may simply decide McCarthy is good enough.

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Jerry Jones, NFL plotting on NBA’s turf, Christmas games just the beginning

The Cowboys owner hopes Christmas Day games stay for the NFL, and other pursuits are showing gloves are off with holiday territories. | From @ArmyChiefW3

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is already in the Hall of Fame for turning millionaires into billionaires with his business acumen and branding, but it looks like he may add another achievement under his resume with his latest proposal.

On his weekly radio interview on 105.3 The Fan, Jones hopes the NFL will make the NFL Christmas Day games a permanent fixture no matter the day of the week.

The NBA has traditionally showcased its best slate of the year on Christmas with some anticipated matchups yet it looks like they might get Scrooge’d by the NFL on one of the year’s highest “households using television” or HUT-level days of the year.

Jones and the NFL struck a deal with powerhouse streaming provider Netflix on a three-year deal that will show two Christmas games for the cool price of $150 million. The $75 million per game price tag must mean the Cowboys are on a short list of teams that would generate enough viewership to make it worthwhile.

Christmas lands on a Thursday in the 2025.

This may not be the finish line for Jones and his 31 colleagues. If the league plans to market the game globally, an 18-game season may provide the NFL a reason for adding two bye weeks, giving players enough time to rest after playing in a different country.

The extra regular season game could hypothetically push the Super Bowl a week allowing it to land on President’s Day providing viewers the opportunity of a day off the following Monday.

That’s more bad news for the NBA as that holiday had become the date they used to host their All-Star weekend and festivities. With the NFL eyeing a move towards a global product, Jones may have inadvertently revealed the NFL’s long-term plans.

Keeping McCarthy would be admission by Jerry Jones he mismanaged 2024

Jerry Jones didn’t make efforts to help Mike McCarthy course correct in 2024 and he needs to keep that same energy now that Dallas is officially eliminated from the playoffs. | From @KDDrummondNFL

Jerry Jones was bold enough to submarine the chance at a special 2024; withholding resources and causing unnecessary drama. He made it very clear the results through the first four years were not worth investing in, without more evidence, and the evidence has not been presented.

The mission, at least how it was perceived by everyone with a set of eyeballs and synapses that fire, was to prove true playoff success was achievable. After three straight 12-win seasons and no real postseason advancement, Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy faced an ultimatum.

Win, or get out of town. McCarthy had not won, suffering an embarrassing home defeat in the wild-card round after the fourth season of his five-year contract. Lame-duck coaches can sometimes have success, but it’s normally a losing gambit. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones thought he was lighting a fire under the entire coaching staff, and his roster, by using a philosophy from Ice Cube’s classic comedy Friday. “Make it enough.”

Smokey was handed $3 and given instructions to head to the corner store and bring his mom back a pack of cigarettes. That’s pretty much what Jones did when he declared the team was “all in.” They weren’t going to the Talent ATM to re-up with impact free agents. They weren’t going to tell everyone their jobs were secure. No, they were pushing all of their chips into the middle of the table and waiting to see the turn and river cards.

Things did not go well, as Dallas expectedly flopped out of the gate and their season, despite still mathematically alive entering Week 16, has been over since October. And now, their elimination is official before they even take the field in said Week 16.

Yet somehow, it appears after making an ultimatum that was not realized, the Jones family is considering bringing McCarthy back. At least that’s how people around the league are feeling.

And if true, it makes absolutely no sense in the context of the past year.

For anyone with a grasp on basic tenets of psychology, the Cowboys rough start to the season was a direct result of the choices that were made in January.

Jones could’ve fired McCarthy back then, but didn’t. Instead he said “prove that you can win in the playoffs.”

McCarthy is not going to get the chance to prove it. That shouldn’t result in a new contract, no matter the affection that Prescott and Micah Parsons and potentially others have for their general.

It would be a dereliction of duty to award an extension without McCarthy doing the one thing he was tasked with; making it enough.

Jones made everything about 2024 far more difficult than he needed to; that’s on him. But he needs to remain committed to that stance at this point. In the immortal words of Slim Charles on the final season of The Wire: Once you in it, you in it. If it’s a lie, then we fight on that lie.

McCarthy was given a defensive coordinator on a one-year deal in Mike Zimmer. The team’s two big offensive stars, QB Dak Prescott and WR CeeDee Lamb weren’t given extensions in the spring and went through the offseason preparing to hit free agency in 2025.

McCarthy was hired because he had a successful resume in Green Bay, hoisting the Lombardi Trophy high above his head in Jerry Jones’ house with the billionaire owner looking down on the festivities. Though many will say those Packers underachieved by having the game’s best quarterback and never returning to the throne, McCarthy was still highly regarded for his time.

He was given two clear edicts upon his hiring.

Turn Dallas into a consistent winner and take them to a a Super Bowl for the first time since the mid 1990s.

After COVID upended the universe including the NFL, McCarthy’s season of culture change was interrupted five games in when Dak Prescott fell to a gruesome leg injury five games into the season. Dallas struggled to a 6-10 finish, but then established that consistency, winning 12 games over and over.

Mission One was accomplished, but Mission Two, the far more important of the two, will go unfulfilled. Dallas will bookend those 12-win years with missing the playoffs and the idea of not knowing the upside of who could replace him is a ridiculous, cowardly stance.

His energy then was that it wasn’t enough. He needs to keep that same energy in moving the franchise forward.

It doesn’t need to get any more complex than that.

WATCH: Netflix drops first trailer for series focusing on Jerry Jones, Cowboys ‘soap opera’

From @ToddBrock24f7: No date for “America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys” has been announced, but 1 line from Jones in the trailer certainly sets the tone.

The Cowboys’ current chances of making this postseason are roughly the same as being struck by lightning while being attacked by a shark, but there’s something else being offered up to fans as a timely diversion.

Come to think of it, it’s probably just as much for the franchise’s many haters, too… and it’s coming to small screens everywhere in the coming year.

Netflix has dropped the first official trailer for America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys, the new docuseries focusing on billionaire Jerry Jones and his ownership of the most-recognized and highest-valued franchise in sports.

News of the project was announced in May, but there is no premiere date yet established for what was conceived to be a 10-part series of 45-minute episodes.

The short preview posted to social media on Thursday gives glimpses of just some of the notable figures who sat down to be interviewed. Former Cowboys stars Emmitt Smith, Deion Sanders, Troy Aikman, Herschel Walker, and Michael Irvin can be seen, as can former President of the United States George W. Bush.

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But no moment in the 30-second clip will get more mileage on the sports-talk circuit- not to mention eye-rolls from Cowboys fans- than a pair of very telling quotes from Jones himself, shown during a montage of historic Cowboys moments.

“It’s bigger than winning football games,” Jones says at one point.

“Keep ’em talking,” he says in a later voiceover. “It’s a soap opera 365 days a year.”

Cowboys fans know that all too well. And though they’d certainly prefer a little less melodrama and a lot more postseason success, they’ll likely be tuning in nevertheless once the Netflix docuseries goes live.

America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders was a massive hit for the streaming service in 2024 and has been greenlit for a second season in 2025, continuing the brand’s seemingly never-ending media presence.

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Cowboys 2025 head coach search should focus on future rather than the past

Mike McCarthy’s resume isn’t what the Cowboys should focus on when picking a head coach in 2025

Ever since the Cowboys’ postseason implosion to Green Bay last January the head coach position in Dallas has been a topic for debate. Mike McCarthy, entering the last year on his deal, had been a disappointing presence since taking the helm in 2020.

Hired to push a highly talented roster over the top, the Cowboys managed just one playoff win under McCarthy. While the Cowboys did manage three consecutive 12-win seasons under McCarthy’s leadership, each campaign ended in embarrassing playoff upsets where Dallas barely looked competitive. All this made McCarthy’s return in 2024 surprising and his departure in 2025 almost imminent.

Yet amidst the current 5-8 season where the Cowboys have all but been eliminated from playoff contention, there’s been talk of McCarthy possibly returning. Players have voiced their support, media analysts have discussed the validity, and even Cowboys legend Troy Aikman has said he expects “Mike McCarthy to be back in 2025.”

“Short of Bill Belichick, I don’t know who you’re going to bring in that has a better resume, “Aikman said via The Athletic. “I just feel that for a team that I really do not think is that far away…I sense that it’s a team that really believes in Mike McCarthy. I feel the locker room wants him back. I think he’s a really good football coach. I believe Jerry Jones thinks he’s a really good coach too.”

If Aikman wanted to light a spark in the Dallas fanbase, then mission accomplished, because that statement hit the fanbase like a tanker truck driving through a nitroglycerin plant.

Aikman’s take on McCarthy’s likeability is, by all indications, indisputable. McCarthy is a players’ coach rather than a disciplinarian. He’s familiar and he’s friendly. It explains the on-field mistakes and it explains the love from the players. He also stays in his own lane, which the front office certainly appreciates.

Aikman’s take on his resume is also indisputable. McCarthy ranks 14th in all-time wins (although John Harbaugh and Sean Payton may pass him this season) and he has a Super Bowl to his name. Looking at the list of expected coaching candidates this winter, no one but Belichick can touch McCarthy’s resume. Most of the upcoming head coach pool consists of up-and-comers and schematic innovators, not old guys with illustrious resumes.

The problem is Aikman’s looking at the young up-and-coming candidates as a negative and the various veteran retreads as a positive. It’s an odd take in a day and age where innovation is treated like gold and strategy is often all that separates the winners from the losers.

Work experience and past success has value but only when that success also projects to the future. A major criticism of the Cowboys under McCarthy has been the simplicity of their offense. As one of the more transparent attacks, McCarthy’s offense has been resistant to the many tricks of the trade that newer coordinators have embraced.

To conclude McCarthy is good today just because he was good in the past (which is what the resume reference implies) is a dangerous step to take. An up-and-comer replacement may carry more risk, he may be not as well liked by players, and he may step on the toes of the front office more often, but that might be what the Cowboys need to take that next step.

McCarthy coming back might be a possibility, but not under the logic that he’s the best man for the job. Best resume?

Yes.

But best forecast for the future?

No way.

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Micah Parsons to ESPN on Cowboys’ extension: Not a ‘big difference between $30 and $40 million’

The Cowboys defensive superstar spoke to his pending contract negotiations and provided parameters to what it would take for him to give a hometown discount. | From @KDDrummondNFL

In a heavily edited snippet from a longer interview, Dallas Cowboys edge rusher Micah Parsons had some really interesting words on Monday Night Countdown. Talking to the incomparable Todd Archer, Parsons spoke to the upcoming offseason negotiations that could make him the highest-paid non quarterback in the entire NFL.

And in his conversation he gave words that will make headlines, but also have a realistic view of things. Parsons wants to play for the Cowboys for life, and he’d be willing to take less but only if it’s because Dallas is truly making an effort to bring in help.

“I’m Jerry’s guy… I know numbers talk, but at the end of the day, whatever it takes for me to continue to be a Cowboy until I retire. I really just love this place. I couldn’t imagine myself anywhere else.”

When asked by Archer if it matters to be the highest-paid defensive player, Parsons went even deeper.

“It really just depends on the circumstances of who we’re trying to get. Who’s trying to return? To me it’s all about the foundation of the team. How can I create the best foundation and play with the guys who’ve helped me create a lot of success? Those guys helped me get to where I am. It’s all about the aggressiveness, how we look at free agency. You see a lot of times, the highest-paid player, and we see they don’t have weapons. I’d rather just be in the best situation. At that point, I don’t think there’s a big difference between $30 and $40 million.”

“My agent might be mad at me.”

Parsing Parsons’ words is important here. Parsons is clearly laying down the gauntlet to Jones that he’s going to have to go out and get the players in free agency to prove to him it’s in his (Parsons) best interest to take a hometown discount.

He’s not going to shortchange himself just for the team to be inactive in free agency. Parsons has been vocal in watching other teams load up in free agency and go for it all.

Parsons was part of a tumultuous offseason for the Cowboys that saw their three leading superstars take completely different paths to their contract situations. WR CeeDee Lamb held out of OTAs and training camp until he was awarded a new deal at the top of the wideout market. QB Dak Prescott showed up to every practice throughout as the leader of the team and was awarded a new deal making him the highest-paid player (on average) in NFL history.

Parsons straddled between the two, missing OTAs but showing up for all mandatory work. His situation was a bit different, as he had two years remaining on his deal at the time. Now, as 2024 winds down, he’s preparing for an offseason scenario similar to his teammates was this past spring and summer.

Here’s the full interview.

Jerry Jones claims he isn’t ruling out an extension for Cowboys HC Mike McCarthy

Never one to waste an opportunity to be in the headlines, the Cowboys owner spoke words about McCarthy’s future not being set in stone. | From @ArmyChiefW3

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones took to the airwaves Tuesday for his weekly radio interview on 105.3 The Fan. His mood was obviously more upbeat than it has been over the last month and a half as Dallas was able to snap their five-game losing streak that wrapped around their bye week, with a 34-26 victory over rival Washington.

Among the several topics discussed was the future of Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy. It’s widely assumed McCarthy, who is on the last year of his five-year contract, is a dead man walking; finishing out the contract before a new coach is recruited and the direction of the organization changes once again. But the mercurial owner certainly knows how to keep a story alive as he hinted that McCarthy could see an extension this coming offseason.

McCarthy resumed his coaching career in Dallas after being fired by the Packers, winning six games during the pandemic and dealt with injuries to many players including quarterback Dak Prescott. He entered the 2024 season with three straight 12-win seasons, but has failed to get past the divisional round of the playoffs in any of those campaigns.

This year, McCarthy’s offense has sputtered and any questions about him giving up play-calling were met with a swift and stout rebuttal.

Despite the down year, any thoughts of landing a top-10 draft pick by tanking the remainder of the season will have to wait as the owner still has hopes of making the playoffs.

Despite employing numerous All-Pro players along the offensive line during his tenure, the Cowboys run game has gradually fizzled and all the pressure was placed on quarterback Dak Prescott; similar to how McCarthy’s 13-year tenure in Green Bay with future Hall of Fame QB Aaron Rodgers ended.

A renewed run game along with more modern philosophies on both sides of the ball are theories a new coach could bring to Dallas in order to replace the short passing game meant to supplement the run in McCarthy’s Texas version of his West Coast offense.

While McCarthy will do everything he can to retain his current job, Cowboys fans may not be ready to endure another season of the Pittsburgh native and appear ready to move on to a more modern approach.