‘Football will teach you humility.’ McCarthy reacts to Dallas Cowboys’ loss to Eagles
Maybe he hit the stage earlier — perhaps when Dak Prescott’s season came to an end with a broken ankle — but Mike McCarthy definitely sounded resigned to the fact that his Dallas Cowboys have little to offer the world in 2020 Sunday night.
After the Cowboys’ 23-9 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field, McCarthy sounded more positive than after previous losses. The defense played with more spunk and held the Eagles to 15 points, which was cause for some of his positive outlook.
McCarthy discussed the defense, Ben DiNucci’s performance, the offensive line, and that crazy play in which the Eagles returned a phantom fumble for a touchdown that appeared to be downed during his post-game press conference.
Here’s an edited transcript of his comments.
McCarthy’s opening statement
“Tough ballgame tonight. I obviously feel for our players. A division game, you know, it was tough playing conditions that obviously both teams battled priority on. Taking care of the football tonight and taking it away, I thought our defense really stepped up big time in that area. Obviously, our turnovers cost us and then the big play there that kind of changed the game there in the fourth quarter. But a lot of improvement in a number of areas so we’re definitely moving in the right direction as far as play style and some of the things we are focused on. I clearly understand what this loss does to us, but we need to rally and get together here and move on for Pittsburgh. But it was just a tough ballgame. We had some really fine individual performances and things we can build off of. We took a step in the right direction in a number of areas and I felt a number of components of our football team also improved.”
McCarthy on the offensive game plan and execution
“I mean there were definitely some opportunities you could see with Philadelphia having a number of injuries to their secondary and perimeter. There were some matchups there that we obviously would have liked to exploit more. The wind was blowing pretty good. It looked like it was pushing 18-22 mph there, particularly in the second half. But that’s the game of football and the ability to get the ball on the perimeter would have obviously benefited us. I thought the run blocking unit performed very well tonight. Particularly when you’re running the ball and they know you’re running it and have the productivity that we were able to have was definitely a step in the right direction.”
McCarthy on using misdirection, wildcat formation and trick plays
“I think like anything, that’s why you game plan. The opportunity also to have some deception. But it’s really the focus, too, of trying to get clean blocks. You’re always trying to improve your angles. You’re always challenging the defense as far as playing with good vision and trusting their eyes. Whether it’s formation utilization, the wildcat, the direct snaps, just changing some things up and just trying to give ourselves some good clean run looks.”
McCarthy on the third quarter reverse that ended up in a big loss
“The key to that play is that we didn’t block it. It was a three-technique, so we had a mistake there in the interior. When you have a drive, you’re running that good and you do try to hit a play like that, obviously when it doesn’t work it can be frustrating. We have some deception in our game plan. We frankly have it in every week. We probably called more of them obviously today. Those are plays you try to set up and at the end of the day, timing and execution is part of it. [That play also has] potentially a pass as an option.”
McCarthy on Ben DiNucci’s play
“I thought he did some good things. You know, it was a tough contest for the young man. To come into his first opportunity for live action in the National Football League on Sunday Night Football, division game, obviously it’s the continuity and consistency that you look for. I felt he did some really good things. He can make plays with his feet. He will continue to improve off of that. As far as being in sync with the pass concepts and things like that, it’s important to stay on time in a game like this. It helps everybody. It definitely helps a rookie quarterback making his first start.”
McCarthy on the Cowboys’ defense
“I thought clearly that our defense took a huge step. I thought it looked like our gap integrity, our run defense was the best that we’ve had all year. Not only did we have the four takeaways, but we were all over the ball a number of times. So I thought we definitely took a step on defense.”
McCarthy on Trevon Diggs, who had two interceptions
“I love the way he played. I love the competitiveness. He’s such a high-level competitive spirit. He had some tough challenges and the guy just keeps going. He’s as good a young player as I’ve ever seen in my time in this league when the ball is in the air. It was definitely a fine performance he can build off of.”
McCarthy on Cowboys’ defensive pride
“We’re running out of time. We understand that as far as where we are in the season. I thought our defense played with tremendous pride. We knew we needed to stop the run. And I told our guys we needed takeaways. That’s the brand of football and identity we’re focused on playing. Winning the turnover differential margin for the first time this year, that was led by the defense. The defense pretty much held them to 15 points. You keep the opponent to 15 points or less you should win the game.”
McCarthy on the Eagles’ controversial fumble return for a touchdown
“We thought it was offsides. I haven’t seen the video yet, so I don’t have a comment on that. But in live action, I thought it was clearly offsides. That’s why the ball was snapped early. Then when we finally saw the replay on the scoreboard, it looked that he possibly was down. The explanation was that it was reviewed, and they obviously made the declaration on the field as a score for the Eagles.”
McCarthy on whether Andy Dalton is expected to be out of concussion protocol
“Frankly, I think I should probably answer that tomorrow when I see him. But he was significantly better Saturday when I last saw Andy in the meetings. I would think he’d be close.”
McCarthy the offense scoring one touchdown in the past three games
“That’s an excellent question. I think, like anything in life, the game of football will teach you humility in every form or fashion that you can imagine. For me, it’s just part of the course of the season. It’s part of our challenge. I clearly believe that we will be better off in the future because of these hard times.”
