Blessed with excuses, Mike McCarthy is a reason why the Dallas Cowboys are this bad
Mike McCarthy has been afforded the ability to claim more excuses than every coach in the NFL, combined, and yet there is no excuse for what he did on Thursday against the Washington Team Football (WTF).
The Dallas Cowboys head coach actually had the gall to be defensive when even more of his decisions blew up, and ultimately cost his team a chance to win a game on Thanksgiving.
If anonymous players were complaining to members of the national media before, they should have no fear in owning their dissatisfaction now.
The Cowboys lost 41-16 on Thanksgiving Day to Washington, and in the process their absurd playoff hopes by winning the NFC East are pretty much gone.
We were dumb enough to think they could pull this off, when nothing they have done since McCarthy replaced Jason Garrett as the head coach suggests they are worthy of a playoff spot.
This team is 3-8 for reasons that extend beyond the injury to quarterback Dak Prescott, seemingly the entire offensive line, and other players. One of the reasons this team is 3-8 is Mike McCarthy.
By now, you’ve seen it:
With the Cowboys trailing only 20-16 early in the fourth quarter, McCarthy and special teams coach John Fassel decided they had to win the game in that instant.
Facing a 4th-and-10 from their own 24, that was the ideal spot for a fake punt. Not only a fake punt, but a reverse.
What had happened was ... receiver Cedrick Wilson caught the pitch and his path took him back to his own 10 yard line before he was able to turn up field. And he almost made it.
His run took him to the 23 yard line. Only 11 yards short of the first down.
So, he lost a yard.
“At that point in the game, our information that you look for going into it, it was a solid call,” McCarthy told reporters after the game.
I’m assuming Washington coach Ron Rivera was the one supplying the information.
Extra pie on Thanksgiving is a solid call.
Free beer is a solid call.
Noise-canceling headphones during COVID is a solid call.
A fake punt from your own 24, on a fourth-and-10, is not a solid call.
Calls like this get you fired.
“Obviously, it was a solid play call. It’s a good play design,” McCarthy said again.
No, it wasn’t. The design took the ball 14 yards behind the line of scrimmage, and then the ball carrier would need an additional 10 yards.
Washington took over on downs and scored on the next play, which effectively wiped out the Cowboys chances of any comeback.
They don’t have enough offense to come back from a deficit of anything more than seven or so points.
And with their offensive line losing both starting tackles in the first quarter on Thursday, their chances to move the ball reliably are even more unreliable.
Since McCarthy took over he has been in love with analytics, which is fine and consistent with other NFL decisions these days.
It’s one thing to see a favorable look and “go for it” when no one expects it. It’s quite another to be so in love with a book of numbers that it does not take into account the state of the team trying to execute the plays, or the defense on the other side.
Example No. 42,403: With Washington leading 14-10, the Cowboys faced a 4th-and-1 from their own 34 with 5:22 remaining in the second quarter.
McCarthy went for it.
Quarterback Andy Dalton’s pass for rookie CeeDee Lamb was incomplete, and the Washington Washingtons scored a touchdown five plays later.
The Cowboys were 1-of-4 on fourth down on Thursday, and are now 12 of 25 on the season.
McCarthy remains in denial of how good this team is. On either side.
They’re not good enough to go for it.
The Dallas Cowboys are now 3-8, and McCarthy can look at a load of legit reasons why this team is so bad.
Make no mistake, he’s one of them.
This story was originally published November 27, 2020 at 7:00 AM.
