‘That’s not a winning formula.’ Mike McCarthy reacts to Dallas Cowboys’ 1-3 start
The last time a first-year Dallas Cowboys coach started 1-3 was Dave Campo in 2000.
The Cowboys went 5-11 that year — and the next two seasons — before Bill Parcells took over in 2003.
Mike McCarthy, by all rational football logic, should actually be 0-4 to start his Cowboys’ tenure. He was left searching for answers after losing 49-38 to the Cleveland Browns Sunday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.
McCarthy has two big problems on his hands: An inept defense and an offense that is prone to fumble. The Cowboys are last in the NFL with a minus-7 turnover margin.
McCarthy addressed these concerns and more during his post-game press conference. Here’s an edited transcript of his comments:
McCarthy’s opening statement
I’ll start off stating the obvious. It’s a very disappointing home loss. We dug ourselves in a hole. The disappointing part is just the type of mistakes that we made today is really a reflection of our first quarter of play. If you look at the key components of winning football, it obviously starts with running the football and stopping the run. We did not stop the run. It was a huge part of Cleveland’s success and ability to control the clock with time of possession and keep chipping away there in the first three quarters. We need to be better there. Turnovers [are] what got us on offense again. Special teams, we did some good things there. But I’m disappointed. Now that we have four games under our belt, we need to start games better. We need to do a better job of bringing our preparation to the performance and that starts with me. When your team performs and makes similar mistakes, four weeks is a pattern. So, this pattern needs to stop. That starts with leadership. That will be the focus come [Monday].
Was the defense overwhelmed?
[Not] overwhelmed. We just didn’t play very good run defense. I haven’t seen the statistics, but we missed a number of tackles today. Those are fundamentals that you have to bring to the game. That’s part of the preparation. When you look at Cleveland’s offense, you start with their two running backs and their run game. So we knew it was going to be a challenge schematically starting with the wide outside zone and we didn’t handle it very well. When you give up 300 yards rushing, that’s just poor. That’s poor run defense. There’s no way around it.
Are changes in order?
Well, you know we’re in a scheme change from the prior scheme here and we’re not off to a good start. The worst thing we can do is narrow everything down and be a one-call defense. I refuse to do that. That’s not the path. We have a defense that fits our players, and we have to make sure we are getting those guys in position. It starts with the call, the communication, getting lined up and there was too much pre-snap communication again today. I thought we were past that last week. It looked like some of that showed up today. That’s what [Monday] is for. We’ll have the opportunity as coaches to look at it tonight and get in there tomorrow and really look at it to get it ready for our players.
McCarthy on the Cowboys struggles
First of all, we lost the game. That’s why we have to answer these questions this way. But we turned the ball over on offense. The focus was on Myles Garrett. We could have been better on the two big plays he made. Obviously, one of them resulted in a turnover. But ifs and buts were nuts, it’d be Christmas all the time. I get it. But we gave the ball up three times. Other than that, we went up and down the field. We need to play better complementary football. Right now, it’s not happening. It hasn’t happened in any of the four games. We’re a come-from-behind team as I stand in front of you. That’s not the way you win consistently. That will not be our approach, that’s for sure.
McCarthy on the Cowboys’ turnover problems
I don’t care how we’re playing on defense or special teams, we’re minus seven for the year. That’s unacceptable. It will not be the identity of this football team. It can’t be. Until we all get on the same page and get that part corrected, we’re going to be in a no-huddle offense for a quarter and a half. Three of the four games, we’ve gotten behind by two scores. We have the ability to play wide open, which is a real credit to our pass protection unit, our quarterback and our perimeter. But at the end of the day, we are not helping our defense if that’s the way we need to play. We are not complementing each other right now. It starts with stopping the run on defense and it starts with running the football, action passing and taking care of the football. We haven’t got that done one time in our four games.
McCarthy on getting off to better starts
I think that the two turnovers really swung the momentum of the game and then you have them scoring going in and going out. So we actually got doubled up, a quadruple-double if you put it in our terms. The game was out of balance. But I think you have to give our football team credit to battle all the way back. We gave up the big reverse for a touchdown there. If that’s not the case, maybe the outcome is different, or at least that final drive, since we’re playing it differently. This league is about big plays and big-time players making big plays. We’ve got to have it. We were a little short in that area.
McCarthy on the importance of turnovers
It’s something we obviously emphasized, but we didn’t get that done today. We’ll continue to look at it. It ultimately falls at my feet. It’s my responsibility. The application of the details did not exist today in certain spots of the game. There was a lot of good football that will go unrecognized. That’s what happens with you lose. I don’t like the pattern of the four games that we played. The points are outrageous. The time of possession is totally lopsided. We’re minus seven in the turnover ratio. That’s not a winning formula.
McCarthy on Dak Prescott’s performance
Dak is exactly what you’re looking for. He’s wired the right way. His ability to keep playing through adversity, he never blinks. But obviously, the turnovers, you take a look at them — why they happened, how they happened. It’s like anything in this game, the negatives are usually not just one thing or one person. So we’ll take a look at that. But I thought Dak stood tall and led us back to giving us a chance to be in the game there at the end.
McCarthy on the Cowboys’ defensive preparations
We’re always prepared. But at the end of the day, there’s a difference between being prepared and how you perform. Application of detail wasn’t there. It was evident on the first series. We gave up a big play on the first series. Communication needs to be cleaner, we need to get set cleaner and we need to tackle. We didn’t tackle very well, and I think that led to bigger things for Cleveland.
