Tag: Mike McCarthy

Mike McCarthy ruined Brandon Aubrey’s 66-yard FG attempt by inexplicably not taking a timeout

Mike McCarthy will never get out of his own way.

Mike McCarthy has been an NFL head coach for almost 20 years with two separate teams now. Somehow, the Dallas Cowboys leader still doesn’t have a hang of how to properly use timeouts in the middle of a game.

On Sunday against the Cleveland Browns, that cost his kicker Brandon Aubrey dearly.

As Tom Brady worked through apparent anxiousness, the Cowboys tried to close out the first half with points by attempting a 66-yard field goal attempt. Aubrey showed he more than had the leg, squeezing the monster kick through the uprights, seemingly tying the NFL record for the longest field goal ever. For a moment.

The issue is that Dallas was called for an avoidable delay of game penalty because McCarthy weirdly didn’t call a timeout. (Note: He had TWO of them.) When this kick attempt became 71 yards, the Cowboys elected to just go into the halftime locker room.

C’mon man:

Look, the Cowboys were kicking the Browns’ butts. In the grand scheme of things, making an extremely long field goal attempt while already up three scores shouldn’t mean much for Dallas.

Even still, not calling a timeout before aiming to take the super-long field goal is so classic McCarthy it’s not even funny. It’s a basic game management mistake that shouldn’t happen for someone as experienced as he is. Seriously, there was no benefit to keeping that timeout — it’s the last play of the half, and that’s what you lined up! Just give your kicker the chance you promised!

Against the Browns, this mistake cost the Cowboys nothing. Against better teams down the line, it’s worth wondering whether McCarthy will unwittingly step on a rake again.

Cowboys offense can’t afford to fall behind in the count against Browns

The Cowboys must avoid 3rd-and-long at all costs against the Browns in Week 1 of 2024. | From @ReidDHanson

It’s said when a baseball pitcher delivers more balls than strikes, the pitcher “falls behind in the count.” A 3-1 count tilts the advantage strongly in the batter’s favor because in order to avoid a walk the pitcher has to throw a strike. This typically results in a clean ball across the plate and an eager batter hyper focused on seizing the opportunity presented in this rather transparent situation.

There are parallels to be found between Mike McCarthy’s play-calling with the Cowboys and a pitching scenario such as this. Falling behind in the count leads to obvious across-the-plate strikes in the same way falling behind on first and second downs lead to obvious passing situations on thirds.

Obvious passing downs are golden moments for thirsty pass rushers in the same way 3-1 counts are optimal for good hitters. In both situations the player can pin his ears back and attack. The hitter knows it’s likely to be in the zone across the plate and the pass rusher knows it’s likely to be drop back pass into the pocket.

The Cowboys face one of the fiercest pass rushes in the NFL when they travel to Cleveland to take on the Browns in Week 1. Dallas brings with them a pair of unproven rookies on their offensive line who aren’t just playing in their first NFL game but they’re playing that game at their new respective positions.

Breaking in a pair of rookies against one of the best pass rushes in the league is less than ideal. It’s critical the Cowboys don’t “fall behind in the count” and tilt the scales any further in the Browns direction. That doesn’t just mean productive early downs but also conceding defeat at times on third downs.

As the late great Kenny Rodgers once said, “you gotta know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em.”

Against the Browns, 3rd-and-10 or more might be a good time to fold ‘em and call a draw play.

What this doesn’t mean is conservative play on early downs. Success rate (SR) has taught that just because a play earned positive yardage the offense isn’t automatically in a better situation. A typical three-yard run on first down puts the team in a statistically worse situation than where on first down. In fact, most early down runs do that. In 2023, early down runs from the Cowboys only offered a 37.9 percent SR while early down passes produced a 52.1 percent SR.

When McCarthy calls a run, it needs to be a successful run, or he would have been better off with a pass attempt. Dak Prescott’s dropbacks consistently produce more yards and a higher success rate than runs, and yes, that factors in incomplete passes as well.

Short dropbacks, quick passes and limited progressions are just what the doctor ordered in Cleveland. McCarthy must avoid obvious passing situations, like 3rd-and-long, at all costs. For the sake of the two rookie offensive linemen and the sake of Prescott himself, McCarthy can’t allow the offense to fall behind in the count.

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McCarthy reveals 2024 theme, but what are these Cowboys actually ‘rooted’ in?

From @ToddBrock24f7: The coach’s theme seeks to build on his own 4-year foundation with the team, but will a roster that’s mostly newer than that buy in?

Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy has employed a different theme for each of his seasons with the team. In his first year, it was “20/20 Vision.” The next year, “Victory.” The 2022 rallying cry was “Resilience,” and last season implored the team to “Carpe omnia.”

The 2024 mantra has been revealed, and this one seems to be landing a bit differently.

The word is “Rooted,” the coach told reporters on Wednesday.

While the previous mottoes were forward-looking and could be seen as encouraging a particular mindset or play style, this one feels very introspective. Reflective. Based in the past.

And, it has to be said, maybe more than a little self-serving for McCarthy, who will be coaching to keep his job all season long.

“It’s based on the foundation we’ve built here over five years,” he said, per the team website. “I got good advice from my father about living your life in five-year increments, and what you can learn in that time and space, to not do too much too fast. It’s more of a life lesson. We’re in the fifth year of what we’ve done and what we have to build off of as part of the root system that’s in place here.”

But what, exactly, are the 2024 Cowboys rooted in?

Cynically speaking, they’ve certainly established a knack for regular-season success over inferior opponents, only to be followed by a disappointing premature collapse in January.

To be sure, a foundation is there. Three consecutive 12-win seasons aren’t nothing, as McCarthy himself pointed out in stark terms recently. Stephen Jones called it “hanging around the rim” not too long ago.

But that’s clearly not enough, or else McCarthy wouldn’t be coaching this season without a contract for 2025.

Are there plenty of teams who would love three straight 12-win seasons? Of course there are. But if the Cowboys don’t venture any deeper into the postseason this time around, McCarthy could well be interviewing with some of them come February.

That would mean putting down new roots for the NFC’s fourth-longest-tenured head coach.

The 60-year-old may feel rooted in what he’s grown in Dallas, but he and some or all of his coaching staff- also working without a net- could find themselves transplants in new cities if this season doesn’t bear fruit.

Rooted may be the team’s slogan for 2024, but it also feels very much like the coach’s plea to Jerry Jones to stay the course beyond this season.

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How much will his players buy in to the theme anyway? Of the 53 men who will presumably make up the Cowboys’ Week 1 roster, only 10 of them- that’s 19%- have been wearing the star for McCarthy’s entire Dallas tenure.

And six of those 10 are currently set to hit free agency in 2025, so how deep are those roots, really?

Similarly, how rooted are this year’s rookies in the seeds that McCarthy and the team’s veteran leaders were dutifully planting in 2020? Tyler Guyton and Caelen Carson were freshmen still getting settled in their college dorm rooms.

And forget trying to draw on any sort of ties to the franchise’s larger, more illustrious history. The last of those five Lombardi Trophies they walk past every day in The Star’s lobby, for example, had already been sitting in the display case and collecting six years worth of dust before they were even born.

But rooted does imply an anticipation of growth. And plants that are well-rooted are better equipped to handle stressors like drought and extreme temperature, under- or overwatering, disease, and neglect.

The ’24 Cowboys will no doubt get more than their fair share of stress this make-or-break season. And the younger players can always look to their more experienced teammates- the Dak Prescotts, the DeMarcus Lawrences, the Jourdan Lewises, the Zack Martins- for cues on how to withstand those times.

But the coach got even more specific on what he expects to grow out of his newly-chosen theme, even dropping some horticulture knowledge of his own.

He referenced a certain type of bamboo tree that takes four years to fully establish itself in the ground. Then, in the fifth year, it explodes: one inch or more in less than an hour, three feet in a day, well over 80 feet in a month.

Is that what McCarthy is hoping to see from the Cowboys in his own fifth year? Obviously.

It may be the only thing that keeps him firmly planted in Dallas.

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How to buy Cleveland Browns vs. Dallas Cowboys NFL Week 1 tickets

Tickets are still available for the #Browns home opener against the #Cowboys. Get yours before they’re gone:

The start of the Cleveland Browns’ regular season is just days away.

The Browns and Dallas Cowboys will kickoff their respective regular seasons with a Week 1 matchup on Sept. 8, 2024, at 4:25 p.m. at AT&T Stadium.

This opener features two teams from different conferences that will have high expectations heading into the 2024 NFL season. That will make for an exciting matchup.

Only limited tickets remain for this first game in Cleveland.

SHOP: Cleveland Browns vs. Dallas Cowboys tickets

In terms of the Browns, they will have their front office brass, head coach Kevin Stefanski and GM Andrew Berry, around for awhile after their offseason extensions that were signed. But can DeShaun Watson solidify himself as their starting quarterback after recent injury struggles?

On the flip side, the Cowboys, a big year awaits the names at the top: Quarterback Dak Prescott and head coach Mike McCarthy. Is this their last chance in Jerry World?

Will the Browns or Cowboys take this Week 1 battle between two teams that want to start off on the right foot? Tickets for this contest start as low as $171.

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How to buy Dallas Cowboys vs. Cleveland Browns NFL Week 1 tickets

Tickets are now available for the #Cowboys opener against the #Browns. Get yours before they’re gone:

The Dallas Cowboys’ regular season begins in less than one week!

The Cowboys and Cleveland Browns will kickoff their respective regular seasons with a Week 1 matchup on Sept. 8, 2024, at 4:25 p.m. at AT&T Stadium.

This opener features two teams from different conferences that will have high expectations heading into the 2024 NFL season. That will make for an exciting matchup.

Limited tickets remain for this first game in Cleveland.

SHOP: Dallas Cowboys vs. Cleveland Browns tickets

In terms of the Cowboys, a big year awaits the names at the top: Quarterback Dak Prescott and head coach Mike McCarthy. Is this their last chance in Jerry World?

On the flip side, the Browns will have their front office brass, head coach Kevin Stefanski and GM Andrew Berry, around for awhile after their offseason extensions that were signed. But can DeShaun Watson solidify himself as their starting quarterback after recent injury struggles?

Will the Cowboys or Browns take this Week 1 battle between two teams that want to start off on the right foot? Tickets for this contest start as low as $185.

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Cook will help Cowboys ‘play wide open,’ per McCarthy, but don’t discount Dowdle

From @ToddBrock24f7: McCarthy is OK with RB-by-committee, but the 15k yards between Dalvin and Cook and Ezekiel Elliott won’t leave Rico Dowdle out of the mix.

The addition of four-time Pro Bowl running back Dalvin Cook may have muddied the waters, at least in terms of projecting which ballcarrier will get the lion’s share of the workload in Dallas this season.

But to hear head coach Mike McCarthy tell it, that’s kind of the point.

Cook will start out on the Cowboys practice squad as he acclimates himself to the playbook and ramps up to game speed after working out on his own all spring and summer. But the team clearly has plans for him on Sundays, and he’ll eventually join a platoon that already includes two-time rushing champ Ezekiel Elliott, a resurgent Deuce Vaughn, and Rico Dowdle, who many observers have said looks like the best back of the bunch this offseason.

“What’s the definition of ‘committee?'” McCarthy asked reporters during a Thursday press conference. “As a play caller, you want to play wide open- first, second, third down- and you want it to flow. My definition of ‘committee’ is: it’s a long year. You want to be able to have distribution throughout that position because of the toll that it takes on the running back position.”

As for which one opposing defenses see in the Dallas backfield, McCarthy explained, it will all depend on the moment.

“We don’t want to necessarily be in personnel groups that every time this particular player runs in or this particular player runs in [the defense knows what’s coming]. After three or four weeks, you have major tendencies,” he warned. “We want to be able to utilize all those guys but stay in a normal flow.”

The late signing of Cook- just 12 days before the season opener in Cleveland- does throw a wild card into how the Cowboys’ running back committee has looked in camp and the preseason. But the coach confirmed that signing the former second-round draft pick- who’s had four 1,000-yard campaigns in seven NFL seasons- was no spur-of-the-moment impulse purchase.

“There’s been interest for quite some time,” McCarthy said. “Personally, I’m a fan. I’ve seen him run down the sideline from the opposite side of the field too many times. He’s just a hell of a player. I think when you just look at our roster additions this year, we’ve added some veteran experience- more than we’ve had in the past- and he’s a great example of it.”

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But pairing Cook with Elliott- the two have combined for over 15,000 career rushing yards and seven Pro Bowl nods- should in no way leave Dowdle, who has a grand total of 385 rushing yards after four injury-filled pro seasons, as the odd man out.

McCarthy readily admits that the undrafted South Carolina product will see “a lesser role” only on special teams this year, and that’s because the plan is for him to play more in the Cowboys offense.

“I think I definitely should get a bigger role this year, and I’m looking forward to it,” Dowdle said after Cook’s signing, per The Athletic‘s Jon Machota. “The more you can do, the better. When you can catch out of the backfield, run routes, and also run the ball well, it’s hard to take you off the field. I want to be a three-down back.”

And being in a timeshare with two longtime workhorses doesn’t worry Dowdle in the least.

“One guy is not going out there, being on an eight-play drive, staying eight plays in a row or something like that,” he said. “It’s kind of flipping it: four and four, having a third guy come in, just making sure we have fresh legs on the field at all times.”

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Cowboys named favorites to land Bill Belichick in 2025

The Cowboys are still considered favorites to land Bill Belichick; but would it be wise? | From @ReidDHanson

When Bill Belichick left New England over the offseason the Cowboys were one of the first teams mentioned as a possible destination. Dallas was coming off a postseason implosion against the lower-seeded Packers, and head coach Mike McCarthy had just a season left on his deal. A coaching change in Dallas wasn’t just possible, it was kind of expected.

As luck would have it, McCarthy was able to hold on in Dallas another year. The Cowboys front office opted to roll it all back for one more year in 2024 and that meant letting McCarthy serve out the entirety of his contract with the dreaded lame duck status ominously looming over him.

Belichick, widely considered a surefire Hall of Famer, inexplicably signed with no one. The legendary coach set his sights on 2025 to resume his coaching career, with the Cowboys, once again, serving as a favorite landing spot to onlookers. Jeff Howe from The Athletic recently called the Cowboys “the obvious connection.”

From Belichick’s point of view, he needs to find a team built to win now. At age 73, he’s probably not interested in a complete rebuild. He’s just 15 wins away from passing Don Shula on the all-time wins list, which, provided Dak Prescott is retained, is a feat he could easily achieve in less than two seasons with the Cowboys.

From the Cowboys point of view, Belichick would add legitimacy back to the coaching ranks in Dallas. Jerry Jones has long been accused of hiring “yes men” at head coach. Presumably soured by the Jimmy Johnson experience, the impression is Jones wants to ensure he receives the bulk of the credit the next time ultimate success is achieved. Whether that’s fact or fiction is difficult to say but it’s a widely held perception he’s been fighting since the turn of the century.

He pushed back on this roughly 20-years ago when shocked the world by bringing in Bill Parcells. Belichick would put those same “puppet” accusations to bed if he were brought in to follow the ever-pleasing McCarthy in 2025.

As was the case with Parcells, it would require compromise on both sides to make such a marriage work. The Cowboys’ personnel department has been far more successful finding talent than Belichick has been since taking a leadership role in personnel in New England. They would need to retain that power. At the same time Belichick would have to be king of the kingdom in matters of final roster and playing time. The front office would have to back off.

In other words, the front office would be in charge of buying the groceries, but they would have to get out of the kitchen completely when it was time for Belichick to cook dinner.

On a short-term basis, Jones and Belichick could easily use their friendship to make a working relationship work. Considering the term would only be in the 2–3-year range, it’s not asking too much of them.

Whether or not the marriage would be beneficial for both parties is a different story. Barring major injury, a Prescott-led Cowboys squad would surely push Belichick over the top by 2026. Even if they couldn’t find success in the postseason, Belichick would come out of the union a winner based on his all-time win record.

The Cowboys, on the other hand, may not be much better off. Belichick would offer toughness, preparedness and postseason strategy to a team that’s seemed to lack all three elements. But as a defensive minded coach his success has been largely based on Tom Brady’s awesomeness on the offensive side of the ball. For as good as Prescott is, he’s no Brady.

Prescott needs a coach helping him in the postseason, not leaning on him. Therefore, an offensive minded coach is probably the better option for the Cowboys. Then again, there’s no telling who the Joneses would consider at head coach after McCarthy anyway.

Oftentimes the candidates come out of the recycle bin. When McCarthy was hired, the alternatives being considered weren’t exactly inspiring. Ben Johnson or Bobby Slowik seem like great options for the Cowboys if they are indeed hunting for a head coach next offseason. But if the list of candidates doesn’t include them but rather features a series of defensive coaches and retreads, maybe Belichick is the best option.

One thing is clear – the Cowboys and Belichick is a very real connection for a reason. Both sides can make it work and both sides have something to gain from the other; wins for Belichick and street cred for the Joneses.

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Report: Multiple Cowboys players displaced by Tuesday’s training camp fire

From @ToddBrock24f7: The fire was put out quickly and without injury, but “a couple” of players reportedly had to change rooms for the final two nights of camp.

In all of Mike McCarthy’s training camps, he said, he’d never seen anything quite like this.

Sixteen fire trucks and 35 firefighters responded to a fire Tuesday afternoon in one of the guest rooms at the River Ridge Residence Inn, where the Cowboys train during their annual summer stay. The team was conducting a walkthrough several hundred yards away at the time of the incident.

“When you think you’ve seen it all…” Coach McCarthy commented to reporters Wednesday. “Sometimes things like this happen; thankful no one was hurt,”

The room in question was thankfully empty, and the fire was put out quickly.

“The Oxnard Fire Department was outstanding,” McCarthy said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, and although the team’s practice schedule was not affected, ESPN’s Todd Archer is reporting that a couple of Cowboys players had to move to new rooms for the final two nights of camp.

“It was a very unfortunate situation,” McCarthy continued. “No one was injured, but it’s definitely something we can learn from.”

It’s not known which players were displaced or whether any of their personal items were lost or damaged.

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“Fire, it’s scary, the damage it can do and has done. Some individuals have been affected by it, no doubt about it.”

McCarthy did not go into any further detail about the incident, but he did suggest that team staffers were among the first to respond, even using fire extinguishers, presumably before firefighters arrived on the scene.

“Thankful that we had people that jumped right in there and were on top of it,” he said.

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McCarthy: Ryan Flournoy ‘gets better with every opportunity’ as Cowboys WRs battle for roster spots

From @ToddBrock24f7: The Cowboys HC talked about several of the 13 wide receivers who have two more practices in Oxnard and a preseason game to land a locker.

For the 13 men vying for a spot in the Cowboys’ wide receivers room this season, the chances to make a good final impression are dwindling fast.

The team will have two more padded practices and then a walkthrough before leaving Oxnard. Then it’s back to The Star to prepare for the preseason finale on Saturday. And by the end of business next Tuesday, roster cuts will have been made and several of the hopefuls will be looking for new jobs.

Only three receivers would seem to be bona fide locks to make the squad, but head coach Mike McCarthy may have dropped some hints about the remaining frontrunners in his latest press conference.

Nothing has changed with CeeDee Lamb, of course. He is still absent from training camp as he awaits a lucrative contract extension. And while he has yet to officially work with the team this offseason, he is a regular topic of conversation as the Dallas coaches redistribute his lost reps.

“You have to have a plan,” McCarthy told reporters Tuesday morning. “It’s something that we reconvene [about] every single night- for us as a staff, and more so myself and the coordinators- and we have a plan to work each and every day, and we make those adjustments accordingly. And when CeeDee does come back, we’ll adjust and make sure that we’re ready to go, but right now we’re preparing the other guys.”

Brandin Cooks is not one of them, though, at least not for the next two days. McCarthy explained that the veteran will miss work Tuesday and Wednesday for personal reasons, but the coach was quick to point out, “Everything’s good; it’s a good thing.” Cooks had some knee soreness last week, but this absence is apparently unrelated.

Return specialist KaVontae Turpin is the only other Cowboys wide receiver not to see any action this preseason. His roster slot is secured, however, as the club is no doubt eager to deploy the speedster under the new dynamic kickoff rules.

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That leaves 10 “other guys.” One of the most promising would appear to be rookie Ryan Flournoy. The sixth-round draft pick out of Southeast Missouri State was dealing with a knee issue early in camp, but he has been perhaps the most consistent of the team’s wideouts since. Flournoy currently leads the Cowboys receiving corps in both targets and catches over two preseason contests, including a touchdown grab last week versus the Raiders.

“He’s a young man that gets better with every opportunity,” McCarthy said of Flournoy, who earned the nickname “Super” while in college. “Obviously, he had the injury and missed some time; I just love the way he bounced back. You can see the confidence from Week 1 to Week 2; he took a huge step. I love his physicality: run blocking and finish was exceptional, but obviously he had the big play there. He has shown the ability to do some nice things on special teams. I thought he had a good night out there in Vegas.”

McCarthy also had positive reviews for 2022 third-round pick Jalen Tolbert and 2023 seventh-rounder Jalen Brooks.

“They’re doing exactly what you’re looking for,” said the coach. “Both those guys have grown immensely throughout the offseason program, put in the extra time with Dak. I don’t know of too many external throwing sessions where those two weren’t involved, and that’s what it takes in today’s climate of the NFL. … Those two guys have performed at a pretty consistent basis. I’m very confident in both J.T. and J.B.”

While we don’t have the full breadth of training camp reps to include in our evaluation as the Cowboys coaches do, here’s a look at how the Dallas receivers (who aren’t presumptive roster locks) have fared over the two preseason games thus far.

Player Wk 1 (Rec/Tgt/Yds) Wk 2 (Rec-Tgt/Yds) Total (Rec/Tgt/Yds)
Kelvin Harmon 2-2, 38 2-2, 18 4-4, 56
Racey McMath 0-3, 0 3-3, 54 3-6, 54
Jalen Brooks 2-2, 49 0-1, 0 2-3, 49
Ryan Flournoy 2-3, 18 4-6, 23 6-9, 31
Jalen Cropper 4-6, 26 0-1, 0 4-7, 26
Deontay Burnett 2-5, 23 0-0, 0 2-5, 23
David Durden 1-2, 16 0-0, 0 1-2, 16
Cam Johnson 2-3, 10 0-0, 0 2-3, 10
Jalen Tolbert 0-0, 0 1-1, 6 1-1, 6
Tyron Billy-Johnson 0-0, 0 0-1, 0 0-1, 0

It’s worth noting that Jalen Cropper got additional work as a punt returner in the Raiders game, as did Tyron Billy-Johnson. (Cropper, unfortunately, fumbled away one of his two return attempts.) Billy-Johnson also made the stat sheet as a kick returner in both preseason outings.

In Cowboys Wire’s latest 53-man projections, the team keeps six wide receivers on the roster and reserves two more for the practice squad. Assuming three of those spots are already spoken for, it leaves five more lockers up for grabs, with these 10 receivers going at it and seven days to decide things.

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Cowboys Huggins ejected at Rams joint practice after shoving opposing staff

Watch Cowboys Albert Huggins makes unprompted hit on Rams staffer at joint training camp

There was some unsportsmanlike conduct on display at the Dallas Cowboys and Los Angeles Rams when a Rams staff member was shoved to the ground by Cowboys defensive tackle Albert Huggins during drills Wednesday.

Everyone participating in the drill became emotional and Rams members insisted the Cowboys “didn’t want to practice” after the bizarre unprompted hit on an unpadded assistant.

This choice by Huggins led to his being ejected from the practice by Cowboys coaches and the full transcript of the event states he flipped off the Rams as he walked away from the practice.

Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy has since made a statement on the incident at the joint practice, emphasizing that the Cowboys do not condone unsportsmanlike conduct and Albert Huggins has made an apology.

NFL reporter Todd Archer shared Coach McCarthy’s statement on Twitter.

Huggins could be in trouble if the Cowboys head coach sees him break professionalism again, however, despite McCarthy’s resolution of the drama, he is unlikely to make the 53-man roster as he is a recent acquisition that has not performed for the team.