Mike McCarthy finished his first season with the Dallas Cowboys at 6-10.
It’s the worst debut for a new Cowboys coach since Dave Campo went 5-11 in 2000.
McCarthy, however, isn’t losing much sleep, it appears, over whether his coaching had much to do with the team’s struggles. We all remember Dak Prescott’s season-ending injury, the injuries to the offensive line, and the shocking incompetence of the defense during the first half of the season.
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After the Cowboys dropped their finale against the New York Giants, 23-19, McCarthy defended his game management during the season. At issue, were the Cowboys neglecting to go for two after Ezekiel Elliott’s touchdown in the third quarter and later his failure to challenge a non-catch that set up a Giants’ field goal.
“No, not at all,” he said. “I didn’t feel there was enough information for them to overturn it. We didn’t think it was clear and obvious.”
During McCarthy’s final post-game press conference of the season he addressed Kellen Moore’s contract extension, COVID-19 protocols, staff evaluations and the defense’s improvement in December.
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MCCARTHY ON THE FRUSTRATION OF ENDING WITH A LOSS AND MISSING THE PLAYOFFS
It’s been, obviously, a year of a lot of ups and downs, trials and tribulations and frankly, in some ways this game is a bit of a microcosm of our season. But I felt that the guys, obviously, this month of December continued to work and put us in position to play for potentially a playoff berth after what happens tonight. It’s disappointing that we didn’t come out of here today with a win.
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MCCARTHY ON NOT CHALLENGING DANTE PETTIS’ RECEPTION
It was obviously down in our area, and the way the receiver turned, to me, and the information [available], we just felt it was too close. We felt like it was kind of a bang-bang type situation. The fact of the matter that we were in a tight game and the three time outs was obviously of high value there. So we just didn’t think there was enough information to overturn it … I have not seen the play.
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MCCARTHY ON NOT GOING FOR TWO AFTER THE EZEKIEL ELLIOTT’S TOUCHDOWN
Not at that point in the game. It was too early in the game to go for two in my opinion there.
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MCCARTHY ON HOW REPLAY CHALLENGES ARE HANDLED BY THE COWBOYS
We’re trying to gather as much information as possible. Obviously, you don’t get a whole lot of help on the road, particularly if the play is something that you have higher interest than your opponent. I think that’s the norm. Also, we have coaches in box that relay the information that’s dealt to me and I make the decision.
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MCCARTHY ON THE SLOW START OFFENSIVELY
We just didn’t get into a rhythm in the passing game. They hit a couple of plays on us. It didn’t go quite the way we wanted to, the execution. But I thought we played extremely well on defense in the second half. We just kicked too many field goals. That’s really what it came down to.
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MCCARTHY ON COWBOYS’ RED ZONE ISSUES
Those are the things that we can really attack during the offseason. But I think as you go through your week-to-week self-scout, you really focus on the things you can help correct in the week’s preparation through execution. But really, the self-scout is more about what we’ve done down there, what we expect the opponent to give us and keep trying to attack them schematically. But it clearly, was not our best situation on offense.
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HOW DOES THE LOSS AFFECT THE OFFSEASON MOMENTUM?
The facts are what they are. We finished 6-10. We’ll take a step back and go through a thorough evaluation of everything in our football operations. We’ll see what the spring schedule and protocols [look like]; we don’t even really know what’s in front of us, frankly. I like the look of our guys. I think this is the way they work and continue to fight all the way through here until the end. Obviously, we have a lot of guys coming back from injury situations. So, when we do have a chance to get together and formulate, I think we’re all excited for the next opportunity.
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MCCARTHY ON KELLEN MOORE RETURNING NEXT YEAR
We all want to build off what we were able to put in place and continue to grow offensively. I think it’s great to have him back and have him on a three-year deal. It’s all about improving and growing. Like I said from Day 1, I clearly understand the opportunity that was in front of him and how special it was for him and his family at Boise State. But he wants to be here and we’re glad to have him and continue to build.
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MCCARTHY ON WHAT DETERMINES GOING FOR TWO
[Time] is part of it. It’s part of the equation, but there are other variables that you look at. You have numbers that you are aware of going into the game. How the game is being played and all of those other variables are discussed. That’s why the decision was made. I thought it was a clean decision.
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MCCARTHY ON TAKEAWAYS AND HOW THE DEFENSE FINISHED THE SEASON STRONG
I think as a football team the vision of how you want to play and play to one another, it took us a while to accomplish that. If you go through the whole season, where the offense’s production was high but the ball security, our giveaways were enormously in the negative. Then defensively, we had our struggles in the run defense. I think as the season went on, even through the injuries and changes, we were able to play to the time clock, pace and the factors of playing complementary football. I think that’s why we were able to have success throughout December. The defense’s takeaways were a huge part of it. We had 12 takeaways in the last four games. That’s big-time football when you’re taking the ball away at that rate.
