Dallas Cowboys are ‘all in’ on Mike McCarthy as head coach, new voice for Dak Prescott
A year after the Dallas Cowboys allowed rumors about his job status make Mike McCarthy uncomfortable as head coach, the front office has left no doubt who is charge of the football team.
Vice president Stephen Jones said the team is “all in” on McCarthy with him taking over as the play caller. The departure of offensive coordinator Kellen Moore is evidence of the team’s commitment to McCarthy as head coach.
“Absolutely, absolutely,” Jones said from the NFL Scouting Combine on Tuesday.
McCarthy called plays for much of his 13 years as head coach at Green Bay, which included a Super Bowl title in 2012. He was fired in 2018.
Jones said McCarthy decided he needed to take over play calling from Moore after back-to-back 12-5 finishes and consecutive season-ending playoff losses to the San Francisco 49ers.
Moore had been in charge of the team’s offense since 2019 and kept the job when the Cowboys hired McCarthy to replace Jason Garrett in 2020 partly because of Moore’s relationship with quarterback Dak Prescott and the need to continue his development in the same system.
Prescott wasn’t happy when the move was initially made. However, Jones said he believes Prescott is on board with it now.
The Cowboys didn’t involve Prescott in the decision-making process.
“Mike was recommending this (play calling change) and Mike is the head coach and we went with him,” Jones said.
In the last three seasons under Moore, the Cowboys offense ranked 14th in 2020 when Prescott missed 11 games with a fractured ankle, first in 2021 when Prescott set franchise record for passing touchdowns with 37 and 11th in 2022 when Prescott led the NFL with a career-high 15 interceptions.
McCarthy felt it was time to do it his way and a change was needed.
“I got complete faith in Mike, he’s won a Super Bowl calling plays and he’s been to championship games calling plays and he knows exactly what it takes”, Jones said. “In his mind, we can be better and take the next step on offense ... not that Kellen and his staff didn’t do a great job, we’ve had a good offense for the last two years but obviously we’ve got to take the next step to get to the next level.
“There were probably 10 to 20 percent of the things he kind of respected what Kellen Moore had to do and it wasn’t his way. Now he wants to change that bottom 15 to 20 percent that he doesn’t agree with and do it his way.”
Jones also believes a new voice will be good for the Cowboys and Prescott, who the team is also committed for the long run.
“When you’re around smart people you get to a certain level with somebody and change can be really good,” Jones said. “I’ll let Dak speak to whether he needs it or not ... we think it can be a positive for him. Obviously, we think we can take the next step and be a better football team with some new voices.”
Moore is now the Los Angeles Chargers’ offensive coordinator.
While McCarthy will plays and run the offense, Brian Schottenheimer has been hired as offensive coordinator to lead a revamped staff on that side of the ball.
Only tight ends coach Lunda Wells and receivers coaches Robert Prince returned from last season’s offensive coaching staff.
Scott Tolzien is the new quarterbacks coach, Jeff Blasko will coach the running backs, Mike Solari takes over the offensive line.
Because of the changes in philosophy and scheme and the need revamp the playbook, McCarthy and few offensive coaches will only stay in Indianapolis at the combine briefly. Jones said others would not come at all.
This story was originally published February 28, 2023 at 3:00 PM.
