The news of Jerry Jones deciding to stick with Head Coach Mike McCarthy through the final year of his contract has Cowboys Nation split down the middle.
Ok maybe not right down the middle. The overwhelming majority are pissed off, and is there a more appropriate response?
It’s giving “heeeeere we gooooooo” again vibes, and that’s why fans are emotional.
“How could Jerry do this to us?? Three straight playoff exits and yet another season without an NFC Championship Game appearance!” -every Cowboys fan out there.
McCarthy is taking more arrows than Brandin Cooks has in his quiver on social media, and Defensive Coordinator Dan Quinn is not safe from the air raid.
Most fans are shouting for the proverbial beheading of both play-callers, but they haven’t put down their torches and pitchforks long enough to think that sentence through.
You might not want to hear it, but the return of Mike McCarthy and the possible return of Dan Quinn are good things for this team.
I know I’m in the minority at the moment, but cooler heads always prevail, and continuity is the best recipe for the Cowboys to reach the ultimate goal in 2024.
It’s What’s Best For Dak Prescott
Dak Prescott’s eighth season didn’t go out with a bang like expected, instead ending in more of a puff of smoke from a defective Roman candle on the 4th of July.
So much was made of Prescott’s 2023 season this time last year.
The eighth year was THE year for other quarterbacks like Peyton Manning and Drew Brees, and Prescott was poised to follow in their footsteps.
The first five weeks were the antithesis of that, but a switch flipped for the offense after the embarrassment of a 32-point loss at the hands of the eventual top-seed San Francisco 49ers.
Dak and CeeDee Lamb were shot out of a rocket after that game as McCarthy made adjustments to his struggling offense.
Those adjustments catapulted Prescott into the MVP conversation, and Lamb into the Offensive Player of the Year consideration.
Prescott was dialed in, finishing the regular season with arguably the best performance of his career.
It call came crashing down in the Wildcard round, but it doesn’t erase what he accomplished with McCarthy in his first year as the play-caller.
There are some tweaks needed to beat heavy zone coverages, but there is a full offseason to incorporate those tweaks.
Dan Quinn is Still the Best Option
What’s funny about the people who are clamoring for Quinn to be hired elsewhere is they can’t name better options besides Joe Whitt Jr. or Al Harris.
Let me if I’m understanding this correctly.
You want to get rid of the man who has built and led his defense to break franchise records as a unit while individual players are breaking long-standing NFL records?
Yes, he also called a defense last week that put together the worst postseason defensive performance in franchise history, but those two coordinators mentioned above were also there.
If they were so much better and the season was on the line, don’t you think they would have called upstairs with a better plan on how to stop Green Bay?
The problem is that Quinn’s hands were tied as far as his personnel is concerned, and if we are being honest, that’s been the case all season.
Injuries are an unfortunate part of the job that coordinators have to navigate for every team, but Dallas lost some big names from that defense this season.
All-Pro Trevon Diggs was lost prior to Week 3 with a torn ACL suffered in practice.
Leighton Vander Esch was lost just a couple of weeks later to a neck injury that very well may end his career.
Losing Vander Esch wouldn’t have been so detrimental to the defense, but Dallas had already lost promising rookie DeMarvion Overshown to a torn ACL in the preseason.
Dallas remained thin at linebacker all season, eventually coming back to haunt them in the playoff loss.
The defense is made in Quinn’s image, and as the creator, he knows exactly what to do to remedy the ailments from 2023.
The Team is Too Close to Start Over
Attempting to start over with a new head coach and/or defensive coordinator is the worst possible thing the Cowboys could do.
The wound is still fresh, and fans would rather amputate than use a bandage and allow it to heal, but healing your wound instead of losing your leg is still the better option in the long run.
I already know what you’re going to say so let me jump out ahead of you with the common responses:
- “McCarthy and Quinn can’t make adjustments!”
- “Doing the same things and expecting different results is insanity!”
- “Jerry Jones only cares about the bottom line!”
- “Dak Prescott can’t perform in big games!”
Honestly, trying to respond to each of those comments is a story for another day, but I can tell you that all those things can be fixed.
This was a very uncharacteristic draft class from the Cowboys.
Uncharacteristic in the sense that they received minimal contributions.
Will McClay and his scouting department do such an incredible job at evaluating talent to help immediately that when they do miss, it affects the team greatly.
Two years in a row of that is not likely, and 2024 will feature two draft classes essentially making their impact felt at once.
So relax, Cowboys Nation.
Go ahead and be angry, but understand that not only is there nothing you can do about it, but this is the best route to see the team hoist the Lombardi Trophy in 2024.
I agree completely. Bleacher Report, for all its good, brings out the worst in the armchair qb’s!
thanks!
Except Quinn won’t be back, Seattle bound…
This article is total garbage! If you want 12-5 and another first round playoff loss, yep go with McCarthy/Quinn/Dak! 29 years with no super bowl appearance !
How on earth are the above and let’s include Jones braintrust as GM’s going to get us over the hump?
Please for the Love of God, tell us Cowboys fans how that is going to happen?
Change is needed to get leaders who have the “IT Factor ” and ” Stones ” to win and not melt in the big spot light.
Keeping the same is guaranteeing another losing 24 season!!!! I am willing to bet whatever you want to on that fact!
This ridiculous commis the very problem with fans. Find a team like tge Jets if winning and being consistent isnot for you. Grow up.
John, thank you for always helping to curb the spread of incredibly emotional takes. Yes, 12-5 is a winning season. Three in a row, at that. Imagine what would be said after three 5-12 seasons. That’s what’s in store if Dak isn’t retained.
Could you maybe get him to explain what a ridiculous commis is? Sounds like a scientific term for a bad cloud. Kinda like the one described in the first post. And that bad cloud began with the disaster known as the 2023 draft~! More value from the UFAs than the draft selections. Personally, I can take 10 – 7 like the Texans easier than I can One and Done after 12 – 5. But until the defense is fixed by someone other than DQ, they’ll just keep playing bully-ball like RG III pointed out in pre-game about 6 weeks ago.
BTW. 12-5 is a winning season. Did your limited education not teach you math skills?
I will take that bet too. What can you afford? I’m sure I can cover it.
Regular Season Champs…Playoff Losers! Now, more of the same. Great!
As for Quinn, this is not the first time he has failed to be able to make adjustments when an Offense “surprised” him; failing to make adjustments is his reputation, his MO. …more of the same. I would have been willing to hire a D minded coach (Vrabel) and asking McCarthy to be O C…as far fetched as that might be. It could have worked.
Move on .
Vrabel . . . that would work! And it worked for Houston before he went to Nashville. And I don’t know what Mike Zimmer is doing since he left the Vikings, but since Big Mac probably knows him well enough. It’s kinda like people forget the Falcons/Patriots Super Bowl with the Pats pulling off one of the greatest, if not the greatest comebacks in S-Bowl history. And let’s see . . . who was head coach at Atlanta??? Sure hope they still want Dairy Queen in Seattle, or maybe he’d H Coach for the Deadskins???
I don’t get the Dairy Queen part. the DQ defense doesn’t work unless it plays against weaker teams, most of them without an effective run game. And if you fire Big-Mac, who you gonna hire to replace him? Kellen Moore? DQ? For those who don’t remember what happened when he was HC at Atlanta and the Patriots’ comeback against his huge lead in the SBowl?
Dak had his best season since he broke his ankle, maybe the best of his career. But let’s face it; considering his record in big games and the playoffs, this WAS Dak’s make or break season. Cooper Rush is not going to become the starter, and will he even be QB2 next year? Only if Jerrah thinks his “chess move” was as good as he thought when he acquired Trey Lance. Are you expecting Trey Lance to replace Dak? Are you gonna pay him $9M+ to ride the pine or be QB2 next year. I’m afraid that the Cowboy’s biggest problem is what it always has been, so why did you really need to fire Jason Garrett? To keep doing the same things with different faces?
I never thought there was a snowball’s chance of Belichick coming to Dallas; not unless they were sold to new ownership. John Harbaugh? Would you want to become head coach of a team with a young Justin Herbert or Dak?
This I do know: DQ needs to become head coach of the Seattle Seahawks or maybe a team in the newly reorganized UFL. There are several BETTER DCs available, and personally, I’d be calling up Mike Zimmer and ask him what he’s doing these days. Then there are some excellent DCs on other teams that don’t have the Cowboy’s talent on D who might like a boost like the DC in Cincinatti. I’d hire Jack Del Rio before I brought DQ back. Quinns problem, that did NOT begin this past season, is that he doesn’t seem to understand the importance of your defense beginning at D. TACKLE~! Nor having linebackers to fulfill their basic function of stopping the RUN first. Not pass first, run 2nd. And he’s proven to be stuck in that mindset from his attempt to play DBs as LBs, and some of you readers might be old enough to remember the Old Rover position, which is what he was really trying to do with LVE whom he should have prioritized as a Run Stopper First. Now it looks like they’ll need to find a replacement for LVE because he’s certainly NOT on the team. Overshown wll NOT replace Damone Clark, and sadly, the Cowboys need to draft a DT because last years 1st round pick was a bust~! Considering they could have had Devon Achane instead of Schoonmaker or an LB who’s really an LB and not a converted DB. So if and when Overshown comes back, where does he play? Parsons is a DE out of necessity for lack of QB pressure otherwise. Tank Lawrence has his moments, but it’s time for him to become a rotational DE with an upgrade as starter. Certainly resign Gorance Armstrong who is one of the bright spots on D. And with all of the potential Sam Williams has shown, if he can’t stay out of trouble off the field, or keep racking up bonehead personal fouls on the field, it’s time to say goodbye if he is not Lawrence’s successor. And since he’s had 3 years and not done so . . .
Truly enjoy reading your write ups. One of the few logical and common sense views out of the masses of writers and drama seeking writers.
Nothing wrong with continuity since it is trending in the right direction. Problem is though these coaches were themselves ill-prepared to handle what green bay threw at them and unable to adjust. Quinn as good as he was most of the season had his best players out of position to attack. Also you have some great players at skill but they are movie stars and not really tough enough to step up. Mcarthy says they will get across the line on playoffs, well I don’t see any charles haley’s or christian mcafferty’s or lane johnsons or randy white’s to pull those movie stars across. Your talent in too many positions is only almost good enough. But again, they also have to have coaches putting best guys like that in the right places. Also slow starts in a game most times end up running out of time at the end of the game.
The Cowboys lack of clutch play from their QB and inability to adjust by the coaching staff was exposed by the 49ers and Bills well before the playoffs. This article tries to fool us into thinking it was only one bad game. The team has critical flaws and we need new coaches to make the tough decisions necessary to move beyond the 1st or 2nd round of playoffs. However, true leadership starts at the top. Jerry himself is the problem. Harbaugh, Belichick, and Vrabel are all great options. But why would they want to work with a meddling owner who has to make himself part of the show on a daily basis? He needs to hire a GM and get out of the way. 28 years of futility should have taught him that by now. Great business mind but a terrible leader.
One persons opinion men’s nothing just because you are beat writer doesn’t mean you are an expert at anything
Jerry Jones has his hands in every thing Jerry Jones is a senile idiot he doesn’t know what he is doing