Dallas Cowboys’ Mike McCarthy on Jacob Blake shooting: ‘It’s hard to focus on football’
While other teams around the NFL and the sports world paused practices and games in response to the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin and renewed social justice protests across the country, the Dallas Cowboys decided to practice on Thursday.
But coach Mike McCarthy acknowledged that it’s hard to focus on football. The team leadership council discussed the issues and there will be ongoing discussions on how the Cowboys can help play a role and impact change.
“I’ve spent the evening, [Wednesday] night, listening and watching, everything that’s going on in the NBA, the WNBA, the MLB and across our league,” McCarthy said. “These are unprecedented times in our country with the pandemic, the hurricanes getting ready to hit, or have already hit down in the Gulf.
“A disturbing situation in Kenosha, Wisconsin. With that, I want to let you guys know that the conversations within our football team are ongoing. The players, the leadership group talked yesterday, and I think really with our schedule today, with the 8 o’clock practice, we’ll just continue those conversation. Obviously difficult times where things have to change. I find it disturbing.”
“We got major, major issues in our society that need to be addressed,” McCarthy said. “Things need to change.”
Blake, a Black man, was shot seven times by police on Sunday as he attempted to enter the driver’s side door of his vehicle with three of his children inside. Video of the shooting was distributed on social media.
The footage has sparked wide-spread outrage throughout the country and the sports world.
The biggest moves were made by the NBA, WNBA, and some MLB and MLS teams.
Three NBA playoff games were postponed Wednesday, set in motion by the Milwaukee Bucks not taking the court against the Orlando Magic in protest. Players on some teams have reportedly voted for shutting down the remainder of the season.
The WNBA canceled all its games on Wednesday. In MLB, games between the Milwaukee Brewers and Cincinnati Reds, the San Diego Padres and Seattle Mariners, and the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers were also postponed. The MLS called off five games, including FC Dallas’ game at Colorado.
The Detroit Lions canceled practice on Tuesday in response to Blake’s shooting. The Washington football team canceled a scrimmage set for Thursday.
“I respect that,” McCarthy said of the Lions. “I think everybody has an opinion and any type of actions, courts progress generating what they feel is in the best interest of their football team or their organization, it’s definitely right-minded. I respect what they’re doing.”
After McCarthy spoke it was learned that the Indianapolis Colts will not practice Thursday, and instead will hold discussions about how to make positive impacts on social change. The New York Jets , the Green Bay Packers and Arizona Cardinals also canceled practice for the day.
Safety Darian Thompson said the Cowboys’ decision to practice on Thursday was a team decision. When it was over center Joe Looney gave a speech to the team about loving each other and unity, followed by a team prayer.
The players planned to talk after practice to discuss plans for Friday as well how they can move forward to make a difference.
“We are not shedding a blind eye to things that are occurring in this world today,” Thompson said. “These situations are difficult to talk about but they do need to be talked about. That’s an ongoing conversation between our teammates and our staff to try to figure out how to make a difference.”
“We need to talk about a way to make a stand and make a change, to shed light on what’s right and what’s wrong in what’s going on in this world today. We’re going to figure out a way to put our best foot forward to address the situation that’s going on.”
As far as the Bucks who started it all on Wednesday, Thompson said, “I think that was an awesome decision. I think that was a decision that the players and everyone involved felt was right. I stand by the decision that they made. Obviously, it’s more than sports. The decision they made not to play definitely has my respect.”
Said McCarthy: “I respect and understand what they’re trying to accomplish. Once again, every organization, every locker room is made up of different personalities. I like their statement, I thought their statement was powerful and it was right on the money.”
Vice president Stephen Jones said the Cowboys didn’t consider not practicing. But he respects the decisions of other teams and leagues have made.
He is more concerned about what they can do to make a difference going forward.
“Certainly my heartfelt prayers go out to the Blake family and Jacob Blake and that’s just so disturbing and difficult to see this happen,” Jones said on his radio show on 105.3 The Fan. “We don’t have answers. You’re not going to have answers overnight, but we certainly have respect for the decisions leagues make, organizations make. They’re all different. They’re all made up differently.
“Certainly everybody’s doing what they feel is the right thing to do. This has to stop at some point. We’ve got to certainly bring the awareness of what’s going on to the forefront.”
Just like the Bucks and the Brewers, the Blake shooting in Kenosha hit home for McCarthy because he spent 13 years as the head coach of the Green Bay Packers and his family still lives in Green Bay where his kids are going to school.
It’s also personal because his family was involved in law enforcement when he grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania..
“It’s definitely difficult,” McCarthy said. “Kenosha, Wisconsin, is obviously south of Milwaukee and spent a lot of time on the phone the last couple of evenings. It’s definitely concerning. Having friends and family back there. These times are unprecedented. Things need to change. I grew up in a home of public safety, but I mean I just don’t understand why it keeps happening and I think I’m like everyone else. I don’t have the answers but things need to change.”
McCarthy has been talking to the team about the social justice movement since the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in May. Thompson echoed other Cowboys in being appreciative of how receptive has been to those types of conversations.
“He doesn’t take these situations lightly at all,” Thompson said. “He explains to us plenty of times how he’ll listen and how he wants to learn and how he’ll have our back. He’s always made that clear. He loves the team and he loves the guys around and he loves everybody, he’s been very beneficial in this situation and very understanding.”
McCarthy, however, can only do so much and relate. Blake’s shooting and the seemingly repeated and deep-rooted issues surrounding the incidents are personal for the Black players on the Cowboys.
“It’s extremely frustrating, extremely, extremely frustrating,” Thompson said. “Sometimes you don’t know what to say, that’s just something that we’re dealing with in day-to-day life and something we have to continue to deal with if we don’t make a change.”
Linebacker Leighton Vander Esch said he understands how tough the situation is on his Black teammates. He said they are a band of brothers in the locker room, and the Cowboys are trying to show they have each other’s back off the field just as they do on it.
“You get to sit down and talk to them,” Vander Esch said. “You just listen, just listen to what they have to say and take it all in. Like Joe [Looney] said today at practice when we prayed, it was just all coming together, listen to what each other has to say because you can learn things from both sides, whether you think one way, whether you want to act one way, you can still learn things. And it’s just having an open heart about it.”
This story was originally published August 27, 2020 at 8:51 AM.
