Tag: Mike McCarthy

Jan 5, 2025; Arlington, Texas, USA; Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy looks on during the first half against the Washington Commanders at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

Reports: Bears request to interview Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy

Posted on | by Field Level Media

While Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy waits on his future with the team as his contract nears expiration, he could have another suitor in the Chicago Bears, according to multiple reports on Monday.

The Bears, who have a head coaching vacancy, have made formal requests to interview a list of current NFL assistants and one employed head coach in McCarthy, reports said.

ESPN reported that the Cowboys have yet to respond to the request for McCarthy, who completed his fifth season at the helm with Dallas missing the playoffs at 7-10. He is 49-35 in the regular season and 1-3 in the postseason.

His contract expires Wednesday with the Cowboys having exclusive negotiating rights through Jan. 14, ESPN reported.

McCarthy, 61, said he wants to return to Dallas while owner Jerry Jones has not committed to retaining him.

“I don’t know that I am considering making a change is really what I’m trying to say,” Jones said Sunday after the season finale, a home loss to the Washington Commanders. “Mike’s one of the best coaches that I think there is. He was made the coach here because I thought that, and he’s done absolutely nothing to diminish my opinion of him as a coach.”

McCarthy said he has a lot invested in the Cowboys, and the organization has a lot invested in him.

“And then there’s a personal side to all these decisions,” McCarthy said after Sunday’s game. “They all point the right direction. I think anytime you invest your time, energy, your belief, the connection you have, the relationships that are in place here, the understanding of what the organization can do and is willing to do, those are all positive attributes that you take into account.

“But, you know, absolutely, I’m a builder. I believe in building programs,” he continued. “I believe in developing young players. So, at the end of day, it is about winning, and you have to have those components in place to get this thing where it needs to be. I think we have a very good foundation here.”

McCarthy was head coach of the Green Bay Packers for nearly 13 full seasons (2006-18), getting fired after Week 13 in 2018. His Packers were 125-77-2 in the regular season and 10-8 in the postseason, including six division titles and the Super Bowl championship in the 2010 season.

–Field Level Media

Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy appears to be safe from an in-season move by owner Jerry Jones. Mandatory Credit: Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images

Jerry Jones: Cowboys not planning to fire Mike McCarthy

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In-season coaching changes are a thing of the past for the Dallas Cowboys, owner Jerry Jones said.

“You don’t need to worry about anybody in that locker room giving everything they’ve got and more and how bad they feel when they get beat on a play or get beat in a quarter or the whole game, at all,” Jones said Monday following the Cowboys’ seventh loss of the season. “I don’t ever worry about that.”

Jones said he regrets pulling the plug too soon on head coaches in the past, including firing Wade Phillips after a 1-7 start in 2010.

“I’ve regretted that. That’s the music I’m listening to,” Jones said.

There are no plans for an in-season move involving head coach Mike McCarthy in Dallas, where the Cowboys (3-7) are winless at home by a league-worst margin of minus-118.

McCarthy said “it’s frustrating for everybody” to accumulate losses, but he knows the only thing that might save his job when his contract runs out in January is ending the season with a string of wins.

“There is good coming out of this,” McCarthy said Monday night. “You don’t see it because we’re not winning games, but there’s young men that are getting an opportunity to do more and I do believe it’ll pay forward. It needs to hurry the hell up, because we need it in six days.”

The Cowboys went 12-5 last season and discussed a path to the Super Bowl throughout the offseason. Expectations did not match the current reality.

Jones said he’s counting on the Cowboys sticking together through what he described as tough times, similar to Dallas going 1-15 his first year as owner in 1989.

“And we’ve had other tough years. And this one, we didn’t anticipate the record. And the way we’re playing right now, we wouldn’t have anticipated that,” Jones said. “But, not, this isn’t — y’all have heard me tell these old stories until you’re sick — but not, you stay in this league long enough, you’ll have times like this.”

Jones, of course, could change his mind with the Cowboys in the midst of three games in 11 days. Their 34-10 loss in primetime to the Texans on Monday night was the third consecutive home loss by a margin of at least three touchdowns. The Cowboys also suffered a 34-6 loss to the NFC East-leading Eagles and began their current five-game losing streak with a 47-9 spanking at the hands of the Detroit Lions.

Dallas has a quick turnaround for Week 12 against former defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, who quickly righted the ship with the Washington Commanders (7-4).

“This is it, man. We got seven losses. We’ve got to go. Backs against the wall. We got to fight, scratch and claw. We’ve got to do everything we can to go win the next game,” McCarthy said. “That’s where my mind’s at. That’s what I’m going to coach and that’s the expectation. We’ve got to win.”

The Cowboys are in the spotlight for their traditional Thanksgiving Day game in what is set up as a matchup of backup quarterbacks — Cooper Rush for Dallas and Tommy DeVito for the New York Giants — and play again on “Monday Night Football” 11 days later against the Cincinnati Bengals.

–Field Level Media

Dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy (left) and owner Jerry Jones at training camp press conference at the River Ridge Fields. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Jerry Jones not planning to fire Mike McCarthy

Posted on | by Field Level Media

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, also the general manager in Dallas, claims he “hasn’t even considered” firing head coach Mike McCarthy.

“I’m not considering that. Just so you’re clear, I’m not considering that,” Jones said Sunday night after the Cowboys were embarrassed by the Detroit Lions in a 47-9 defeat that ranks as the worst home loss since Jones purchased the team.

At 3-3 entering the bye week, the Cowboys are winless at home and 3-0 on the road to sit in third place in the NFC East behind the Washington Commanders (4-2) and Philadelphia Eagles (3-2). Ten NFC teams have three or more wins but Dallas has allowed 168 points for a score differential of minus-42. In the conference, that’s 15th out of 16 teams and better than only the 1-5 Carolina Panthers (203 points allowed).

“Well, we’re disappointed that we’re 3-3,” Jones said. “The three-loss side of it, I don’t necessarily totally blame on McCarthy. The players will tell you they had something to do with it, too. His other parts of the staff will tell you. And the owner sure will tell you he had something to do with it, so it’s not all on him.”

The Cowboys played the Lions without key defensive personnel, including All-Pro Micah Parsons (ankle), 2023 Pro Bowl cornerback DaRon Bland (foot), and veteran defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence. Lawrence was leading the team with 3.0 sacks when he suffered a foot injury two weeks ago and landed on injured reserve.

Quarterback Dak Prescott said players are strongly in McCarthy’s corner. He’s in the final year of his contract after three consecutive 12-5 seasons.

Dallas failed to score a touchdown in the first three quarters for the second consecutive game. The Cowboys escaped Pittsburgh with a Week 5 win thanks to 14 points in the fourth quarter, their only touchdowns in a span of 10 quarters starting with the third quarter against the New York Giants.

Falling behind 27-3 to the Lions took the running game out of the equation and the Cowboys finished with 53 yards on the ground. It’s the third time in the past five games Dallas failed to top 70 rushing yards.

“Generally speaking, I think my message is — I know you don’t need to hear me say this — but I’m well aware that we’re in the proverbial s— right now,” Jones said.

–Field Level Media

Dec 30, 2023; Arlington, Texas, USA; Dallas Cowboys former head coach Jimmy Johnson celebrates with former players Michael Irvin and Emmitt Smith after being inducted into the ring of honor at halftime of the game against the Detroit Lions at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Emmitt Smith on Cowboys: ‘No one wants to fight hard anymore’

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Emmitt Smith played a significant role in helping the Dallas Cowboys win their last three Super Bowl titles but that doesn’t mean the Hall of Fame running back won’t criticize his former team — and notably owner Jerry Jones.

Smith, in fact, didn’t hold back on Friday during his interview with Pro Football Talk Live.

Smith, 54, was asked if he was surprised Jones didn’t fire head coach Mike McCarthy after the Cowboys’ 48-32 loss to the visiting Green Bay Packers on Jan. 14 in the NFC wild-card round.

“I was completely surprised,” Emmitt said. “I know how disappointed I was as a player to see that product put on the football field. It is not becoming of the Dallas Cowboys’ mystique, respect, the brand. It is not the appropriate representation of the brand itself.

“Now, Jerry understands these kind of words. The brand, right? The star. Everything has to be pristine, but this was not that. That right there was so disappointing not only to me, but to many of our fans and including people that was like, ‘What is that?’ It wasn’t a good look.”

Smith kept his foot on the gas when asked what he felt was missing from the team.

“Nobody wants to fight no more,” Smith said. “No one wants to fight hard anymore. They wanna (say), ‘Oh, we are the Cowboys. Tell me how good I am. Check out my Instagram posts. See me on my podcast? I’m doing all this stuff. I’m everything.’ Without doing anything.

“And everybody’s patting them on the back without doing anything. People wanna give them so much without doing nothing. And what they’re living off of is what happened in the past, not what’s going down right now. They’re not establishing their own legacy, let alone building off of the legacy that was established.”

McCarthy, 60, owns a 167-102-2 coaching record with the Green Bay Packers (2006-2018) and Cowboys, including a 42-25 mark during his four seasons in Dallas. He helped the former win the Super Bowl during the 2010 season but has yet to do the same for the Cowboys.

–Field Level Media

Dallas Cowboys Mike McCarthy against the Green Bay Packers during the second quarter of their wild card playoff game Sunday, January 14, 2024 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Report: Cowboys’ Mike McCarthy will coach 2024 with no extension

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The Dallas Cowboys’ wild-card round home loss to the Green Bay Packers didn’t cost Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy his job — but it didn’t land him a contract extension, either.

McCarthy, 60, is not likely to receive an extension prior to the 2024 season, according to ESPN.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones took the same route with McCarthy’s predecessor, Jason Garrett, who twice worked into the final year of his contract without an extension in place.

The first time, Dallas went 12-4 in 2014 and Jones extended Garrett’s deal. The second time, Garrett could not deliver a playoff season, going 8-8, and was replaced in January 2020 by McCarthy.

The Cowboys, under McCarthy, have gone 12-5 in every season since but are only 1-3 in playoff games.

Following the loss to Green Bay, McCarthy expressed optimism.

“I came here to win a championship,” he said. “I didn’t come here to get another contract or anything other than that.”

McCarthy led the Packers to a Super Bowl title in 2011; Dallas has not made the Super Bowl since 1995.

Jones made McCarthy’s continuing tenure official a few days after the loss to the Packers, saying in part: “There is great benefit to continuing the team’s progress under Mike’s leadership as our head coach. … Mike’s career has demonstrated postseason success at a high level, and we have great confidence that can continue.”

– Field Level Media

Jan 14, 2024; Arlington, Texas, USA; Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy before the 2024 NFC wild card game against the Green Bay Packers at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Reports: Cowboys retaining head coach Mike McCarthy

Posted on | by Field Level Media

Mike McCarthy will return as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys in 2024, multiple media outlets reported Wednesday.

McCarthy, 60, is 42-25 in four regular seasons with the Cowboys, including NFC East titles in 2021 and 2023, but has only one playoff victory with Dallas.

Coming off a 48-32 home loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday in the wild-card round, Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones has not spoken about McCarthy’s status.

McCarthy, who has guided the Cowboys to three straight 12-win seasons, has one year left on his contract.

Dak Prescott, who threw for 4,516 yards and a league-leading 36 touchdowns while finishing with the best completion rate of his career (69.5) in 2023, was among the Cowboys who backed McCarthy after Sunday’s loss

“He’s been amazing,” Prescott said. “I don’t know how there can be (questions about his status), but I understand the business. … I’ve had the season I’ve had because of him. This team has had the success that they’ve had because of him. And I understand it’s about winning the Super Bowl, and that’s the standard of the league and damn sure the standard of this place. I get it.”

–Field Level Media

Jan 7, 2024; Landover, Maryland, USA; Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones walks off the field after warmups prior to the game against the Washington Commanders at FedExField. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Jerry Jones ‘floored’ by loss, declines comment on McCarthy’s future

Posted on | by Field Level Media

What once seemed like a potentially promising playoff run came to a screeching halt for the Cowboys on Sunday, as Dallas was blasted 48-32 by the visiting Green Bay Packers in an NFC wild-card game.

The Cowboys had won seven of their final nine games of the regular season to finish the campaign 12-5 before suffering Sunday’s setback, which Dallas owner Jerry Jones considered “one of the biggest surprises” he’d ever seen on a football field.

“This seems like the most painful (loss) because we all had such great expectations and we had hopes for this team and thought that we were aligned and in great shape,” Jones told reporters following the game.

Jones, 81, was “floored” by the Cowboys’ performance, but he didn’t dive into individual critiques or comment on the job status of coach Mike McCarthy.

“I don’t have any thoughts about the reasons why, or anything to do with the coaching, or the players,” Jones said.

Last week, McCarthy told the Fort Worth Star Telegram that Dallas had “a lot of football left.” Now, the once-second-seeded Cowboys are focused on the offseason after failing to rally from a 27-0 deficit against the No. 7 Packers.

Dallas has gone 42-25 in the regular season under McCarthy, who has been at the helm since 2020. The Cowboys are 1-3 in the postseason in that span.

Green Bay will face the top-seeded San Francisco 49ers in the divisional round.

–Field Level Media

Nov 19, 2023; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy during the second quarter against the Carolina Panthers at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports

Mike McCarthy back to work, ‘business as usual’ for Cowboys

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Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy returned to work and expects no limitations following surgery Wednesday for acute appendicitis.

Defensive coordinator Dan Quinn ran meetings and filled the typical duties of McCarthy while he was hospitalized.

“There’s no change in anything he’s gonna be doing (on gameday). We’ll be business as usual,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said Friday on 105.3 FM The Fan in Dallas.

McCarthy, 60, experienced abdominal pain Wednesday morning, prompting a consultation with the team’s medical staff. Quinn said he walked into McCarthy’s office and he looked pale and uncomfortable.

Jones said McCarthy returned to the facility on Friday morning and is planning to guide the Cowboys (9-3) into their matchup against the NFC East-leading Philadelphia Eagles (10-2) on Sunday night in Arlington, Texas, just as Quinn predicted two days earlier.

“You think that tough Irishman is going to miss this game?” Quinn told reporters Wednesday.

Quinn filled in for McCarthy on one other occasion and served as Cowboys’ head coach at New Orleans when McCarthy was quarantined due to COVID-19.

McCarthy owns a 164-100-2 coaching record with the Green Bay Packers (2006-2018) and Cowboys (2020-present).

–Field Level Media

Nov 12, 2023; Arlington, Texas, USA; Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy during the game against the New York Giants at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Cowboys’ Mike McCarthy to have surgery for acute appendicitis

Posted on | by Field Level Media

Dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy will undergo surgery on Wednesday after being diagnosed with an acute case of appendicitis.

McCarthy, 60, experienced abdominal pain Wednesday morning, prompting a consultation with the team’s medical staff.

Per a team statement, McCarthy is expected to be released from the hospital later on Wednesday and anticipates guiding the Cowboys (9-3) in their matchup against the NFC East-leading Philadelphia Eagles (10-2) on Sunday night in Arlington, Texas.

“You think that tough Irishman is going to miss this game?” Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn told reporters Wednesday.

Quinn, offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer and special teams coordinator John Fassel will oversee practice in McCarthy’s absence.

McCarthy owns a 164-100-2 coaching record with the Green Bay Packers (2006-2018) and Cowboys (2020-present).

–Field Level Media

Jan 22, 2023; Santa Clara, California, USA; Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy before a NFC divisional round game against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Jerry Jones: Mike McCarthy to call plays in 2023

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It’s official: Mike McCarthy will call offensive plays for the Dallas Cowboys in 2023.

That from owner/general manager Jerry Jones, who told reporters at the Senior Bowl on Wednesday that McCarthy will bring a version of the offense he ran in Green Bay to the Cowboys next season.

“This is the logical step to build on it and use what we’ve established, if you will, the foundation of wins we got. This is the time to build on it and that’s what this is, this a building step,” Jones said.

McCarthy was head coach for the Packers from 2006-18 and called the offense for the majority of that time. He was also an offensive coordinator for New Orleans and San Francisco before taking over the reins in Green Bay.

The Cowboys parted ways with offensive coordinator Kellen Moore on Sunday. Moore hooked on as OC with the Los Angeles Chargers less than 24 hours later.

“I think Mike felt it was in our best interest to keep Kellen when he first got here because Kellen’s outstanding,” Cowboys executive vice president and CEO Stephen Jones said. “The more he’s been around Kellen, as much as he respects him, there’s still a part of it that don’t totally jibe, if you will, with what he wants.”

Jerry Jones also confirmed that the Cowboys have talked with Carolina Panthers running backs coach/assistant head coach Jeff Nixon and Los Angeles Rams tight ends coach/assistant head coach Thomas Brown to replace Moore as OC.

Jerry Jones said the team will resume talking with wideout Odell Beckham Jr. in free agency. The team flirted with Beckham late in the 2022 season but with the WR continuing to rehab from ACL surgery, he likely would not have been able to suit up. Beckham missed the entire 2022 season.

Both Jerry and Stephen Jones also told reporters the team wants to retain running back Ezekiel Elliott. The team could dump Elliott’s contract with just a $11.8 million cap hit in 2023. The team signed Elliott to a six-year, $90 million extension in September 2019.

Elliott rushed for 876 yards and 12 touchdowns in 15 games (14 starts) in 2022. Elliott missed time with a knee injury and at times took a back seat with the emergence of Tony Pollard.

Further, Stephen Jones said the Cowboys are committed to quarterback Dak Prescott and are open to extending his contract to lower his cap hit. The team signed Prescott to a four-year, $160 million contract extension in March 2021. Year 1 of the extension kicks in for the 2023 season, giving the Cowboys a $49.1 million cap hit.

However, Jerry Jones also said the team is committed to drafting a quarterback, saying the Cowboys should have committed to drafting one every year years ago.

Prescott injured his thumb in Week 1 against Tampa on Sept. 11 that required insertion of a steel plate and screws to promote healing in his right hand. He returned Week 7 against Detroit.

Jerry Jones also confirmed that wide receiver Michael Gallup underwent two arthroscopic surgeries Tuesday on his knee and ankle. The knee was a meniscus repair and the other was clean-up of his ankle. He’s expected to be ready for the start of the offseason program in April.

–Field Level Media