Everything Dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said after beating the Philadelphia Eagles

Everything that Dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said after beating the Philadelphia Eagles 40-34 on Saturday. All quotes are courtesy of the Philadelphia and Dallas media relations departments.

Mike McCarthy

On how Dak Prescott responded to the first interception

“I don’t know if you can respond any better. Obviously, he had the interception, you know great play. A play you don’t see every day, that’s for sure. Just didn’t get the ball quite on. I think clearly his performance going, you know I think he went 15 completions in a row. Just played at a huge level, tonight you see they crashed the run game. Their run defense was really good. Most importantly, thought Kellen (Moore) did a really good job staying the course, still getting the run attempts, making sure Tony (Pollard) and Zeke (Elliot) were touching the football and obviously we got it done through the passing game today.”

On what a game like this does going forward

“Love it, this is adversity and advancement. This is what we’ve been working on all along. I just think like anything, two things we got really going for ourselves is our play style, this group they bring it the whole time. I just really liked the communication today. You can see, just the short week, preparation, I thought the defensive guys, obviously with Dan (Quinn), we were getting in and out of our personnel groups, it’s just good to see the young guys, the new guys get in, based on the personnel group and just playing the flow. We knew it was going to be a tough one, they’re obviously an outstanding, outstanding football team. I think both teams probably hope we see each other again, because you know what that means. This was a game we wanted to get and felt like we had to have, more for ourselves. Now we’re at 11 wins. I think our place is clear. We just got to make sure, really this is our toughest stretch of the season from a planning standpoint. Going into a short Thursday game you know with Christmas tomorrow, that’s really, professionally, where my focus is. I think the players have done a really good job and we got it done.”

On how the team responded from the loss last week

“I was not concerned about responding at all; I think it’s a credit to the rivalry or the division. I mean look at what our division is doing, talk about something that has a chance to never been done in the history of the NFL. This was going to be a hell of a game. I really wasn’t worried about the physical part of it. I was just really, because of the six days, just on a shorter week, getting guys healthy, we had the injuries last week. I think our guys, they know what’s in front of them. We understand the game is in the past. I think you can’t dwell on it, you just got to learn from it.”

On T.Y. Hilton’s first catch as a Cowboy

“I thought T.Y. had two huge plays in the game, the [third] down and the penalty that he drew. That was an outstanding route where he was grabbed coming out of the breaking point. Obviously with the long down and distance, we are looking for a good runner, that’s a term that I use, if we can get a runner on the outside, you know take the shot. Great route, great ball and obviously a huge play in the game.”

On the Dallas defense tonight

“If you were down on the field tonight, you’d have felt the pressure, it was hot on both sides. I thought they did a nice job with their rush plan too. You know the ball was coming out with Minshew, they hit the RPO, the double move early. They came out and made the two plays right out to start the game. I know we were minus four in the big plays at halftime. That was just one of the messages, I think there was 19 big plays in the first half; just hang in there. There’s going to be probably another 16, 17. Don’t chase them, you know we’ll make them, and we definitely made them down the stretch.”

On CeeDee Lamb

“CeeDee he’s been dynamite all year. He’s obviously getting the attention, because of his performance level, just obviously very gifted young receiver. Just love his tenacity, and his tenacity with a smile. I thought CeeDee played big today.”

On being down 10 points twice

“Just once again, I think it just speaks to the culture that we have here. This is year three, the connection between the players and the coaches and everybody involved here. There really wasn’t any blink. I think if you could see our sideline, and I think it’s a real credit to the focus, which was real important going into this. We lost the penalty battle up there earlier in the year, so it was important for us to play with very high discipline and focus. I thought our guys did that. You would’ve never known what the score was based on the behavior of the sideline.”

On if he considered going it on the last field goal

“No. We were playing for, on the beginning of the drive at the 2:14 mark, we were definitely playing for seven there was the thought.”

On Dak’s response to running out of bounds at 2:01 left in the fourth quarter

“He thought he was at the two-minute.”

On how hard it has been for T.Y. Hilton to earn the trust of the coaching staff

“This is a people business. Obviously, T.Y. is extremely talented, extremely proven, has played at a Pro Bowl level multiple years, so obviously these types of situations are unique. For him to be available and for our organization themselves to get a deal done. You couldn’t find anything but extremely high praise for him as the far as the phone calls that were made. He’s been everything plus. He’s come in here and just grinded on our coaches and learned the language. The biggest thing is, he’s a very polished route runner. He’s done it at a high level, I like the way he’s integrated himself into the group. He’s a great fit for us. Obviously, he had two big opportunities, and they were huge, huge plays in the game today. “

On the young guys on the defense

“It’s that time of year. Just like anything, injuries are so difficult to overcome in-game. When you have a week to prepare and let these young guys play the position that they are going to play in the game. I think what DaRon Bland has done as a rookie is, I’m trying to think back through my time to have that kind of impact, you know never playing inside, get your start inside as nickel and then moving back outside. I can’t say enough about our young guys, but as you know it’s a focus since day one. These guys put in the extra time. They’re up here for the early morning meetings, all through training camp, all this week and they’re the guys that are staying late too. It’s great to see your players have success when they put the extra time in.”

On Dak’s mental toughness

“I don’t know how else to say it, that’s who he is. Adversity is something that he eats for lunch. He doesn’t blink. That’s such a huge part, I think it’s a huge part to be successful in group dynamics. When you work with people in a large setting like this and you have a bunch of guys that are up and down based on the day. That’s very difficult. This guy, Dak’s the same person every day, in the fire, at practice. I just think it speaks volumes to his approach. Talk about another guy that puts in a tremendous amount of extra time. He believes in himself; he believes in this team. He wears it on his sleeve.”

On how Dak kept the team steady and consistent

“I love Dak Prescott, everybody does. He’s a tremendous leader, super consistent. He’s on a unique swing right here, he’s played lights out, but his one critical play has been you know a big play for the other side a couple times here of late. We all understand that you have to talk about it, you focus on it. Like I said last week when you asked me, you know the most important thing is, he just needs to keep firing. Trust me, he knows that, doesn’t need to be reminded of it, but I’ll continue to remind him. He just needs to keep pressing and we’ll correct those things. That’s how this game works.”

On now that they have 11 wins if he will go through different scenarios

“I’m just going to read Todd Archer, ESPN.com. I think it’s clear what is in front of us. We play Thursday, Philadelphia plays over the weekend. We need to get healthy, and players are where they should be tomorrow, with their families. We need to go win in Nashville.”

On if he had a conversation with Dak after the pick-six

“No. Just you know the old punch in the chest or something. Little love tap maybe, no conversation.”

On what he tells the team after a win like this

“I just think like anything, that’s what you train for. You train for big moments in the game. I learned as a young coach, you can over emphasize things too. You can over emphasize big plays. We treat it as a fundamental of the National Football League, you have to have big plays to be successful. I just think the most important vocal point of that is don’t chase the big plays. I think our guys do a nice job of that.”

This story was originally published December 24, 2022 at 8:55 PM.