Are you a Dallas Cowboys fan who absolutely hates the system? Well, “hate” might be a strong word, but do you still criticize how the Cowboys are faring since the last couple of seasons? While people are making a fuss about Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb’s contract extensions, there are other things at play that involve the Dallas HC Mike McCarthy.

Things were difficult, rather abysmal before Mike McCarthy took a job at the Dallas Cowboys after leaving the Green Bay Packers. Since the last 3 seasons the America’s team has been recording 12-5 seasons and this consistency wasn’t a Cowboys trademark before McCarthy showed up. For some reason, he’s still getting heaps of criticism either from the fans or from analysts. This time, Colin Cowherd decided to set the record straight.

McCarthy is not bad, but he’s a ‘victim’ of the situation he’s in. When you’re associated with the Dallas Cowboys in any way, shape, or form, criticism always finds a way to get to you. That’s something that the Dallas HC might not be able to fix anytime soon. Sometimes, those problems pile up because apparently, Dak Prescott is not a good enough quarterback.

“McCarthy’s playoff record is 11 and 11. It is in line with the all-time greats except Belichick and Andy because they have the two best quarterbacks ever and my argument is, Mike is a bit of a victim of making small mistakes with huge brands,” said Cowherd of Mike McCarthy’s situation on his show The Herd with Colin Cowherd.

The playoff record is self-explanatory, but what were the small mistakes that Cowherd was talking about? It was a monumental day for Mike McCarthy. He was meeting his former team, the Green Bay Packers, after 2 years of leaving them to coach the Cowboys. The game went to overtime and Cowboys had the possession of the ball on the fourth-and-3. He could have sent a kicker as a to try a long field goal and won the game. But he didn’t bring out Brett Maher and the next possession was all Aaron Rodgers needed for a 31-28 victory.

After losing to the Packers, his former team that fired him, McCarthy mulled over his mistake and said, “I’m fine with the decision,” and, “Obviously, I know we didn’t convert. Fourth-and-3, we just didn’t convert.” There were penalties and interceptions that led to the loss of yards, and the Dallas Cowboys had to push themselves on Green Bay’s turf repeatedly. It might have felt like a weird time loop. But the point is, it’s small decisions like those that end up vilifying McCarthy.

Let’s look at Dallas Cowboys’ trajectory since McCarthy got a head coaching gig there. Ignore the 2020 season completely because Prescott broke his ankle and went out for the whole season. He went 12 and 5 in 2021, again 12-5 in 2022 (the year when Dak missed 5 games because of his broken thumb) and last season in 2023, McCarthy did the same thing, went 12-5. In fact, Prescott led the league in passing touchdowns and Lamb broke the franchise record of most receptions in a season.

These are some of the reasons why James Jones, the former Packers receiver and Super Bowl winner, finds Colin Cowherd’s arguments compelling.

James Jones sticks with Mike McCarthy

Mike McCarthy head coached the Green Bay Packers for 13 years, won a Super Bowl with Aaron Rodgers and James Jones and he became so legendary. So legendary that in 2015, the city of Green Bay decided to name the street that runs east and west along Nitschke Field to Mike McCarthy Way (Potts Avenue formerly). The point is, McCarthy had a reputation in Green Bay, and they decided to honor him for what he’d done for the Packers.

“The disrespect that coach Mike gets, you come into an organization with the Green Bay Packers who were terrible when you got the job. I want to say 4 and 12 when you got the job, whatever it may be. You come in there with Brett Favre you go, your first season, average, you got to the NFC Championship and you’re 13 and 3,” said the Cheesehead James Jones of Mike McCarthy.

He further added, “Then you go on to win a bunch of games, go to the Super Bowl, win the Super Bowl, back to the NFC Championship games, 15 and 1 seasons. Then you go to the Dallas Cowboys and in three years, you go 12-12-12, something that has never been done….in the history of the Dallas Cowboys. Listen, whoever comes to the Dallas Cowboys, they have this target on their back because you ain’t been to the NFC championship in 30 years, well coach Mike only been there for 3 years, and he’s had you with an opportunity in the playoffs to have a chance to compete. He ain’t been here 30 years, he can’t erase 30 years.”

It’s crazy how McCarthy got so much backlash for a situational football call. He did what he thought was right at the moment. But fast forward to the 2023 season, the Cowboys and the Packers saw each other once again. There was no excuse this time. The Cowboys had to win the wild card game against the Packers but ended up losing 48-32. That was arguably one of the best games of Prescott’s 2023 season where he threw for 403 yards and 3 touchdowns.

The reality of that game was the Packers’ defense was phenomenal. While Prescott was sacked 4 times, the Dallas Cowboys couldn’t sack Jordan Love, not even once. That’s because Prescott threw a lot of passes but ended up missing nearly a third of them (41/60). Yes, the offense was at some fault, but the Cowboys’ defense wasn’t at their very best that day. On the contrary, the Packers defense was outshining even the brightest lights at the AT&T Stadium.

The Packers had 89 total tackles, 4 sacks and 6 passes defended while the Cowboys went 58-0-1 in those regards. You may think that these stats defy what Cowherd and James Jones have been saying about McCarthy all along. You’d be right because it’s important to present both sides of the coin. The Cowboys offense should have been better and should not have given Packers too many chances to intervene. Also, their defense needed to be better to get to Jordan Love. The Packers were just a better team that day and no one can argue that.

We know it was a playoff game, and it mattered the most, but at least McCarthy is getting a closure about what to do to overcome those barriers. Yes, McCarthy is a great coach with a great track record. He’s just settling in with Jerry Jones and the Cowboys and half of the time, he didn’t have his QB1 playing with the team. It wouldn’t hurt to give him some benefit of the doubt. Why? Because McCarthy is up there with the best of the best when it comes to his playoff numbers.

John Harbaugh is 12 and 1o, Mike Holmgren is 13 and 11, Don Shula is 19-17, Sean Payton is 9-8, Mike Tomlin is 8-10 and finally Mike McCarthy is 11-11 without a Super Bowl winning quarterback. We’re not trying to sell you on McCarthy. Clearly, there are a few good and bad things about him. However, it is unrealistic to expect him to replicate the success he had in Green Bay over 13 years in just 3 years, and one man cannot be solely responsible for rectifying 3 decades of no postseason success.

“Go look at Mike McCarthy. You could say that he never won a big game. Oh yeah, he did. Has 11 playoff wins. That’s what [Bill] Parcells has. He has a top 10 offense, top 5 offense 10 times, a number one offense four times. [Brett] Favre was old and grumpy and ad libbing, won with him. Aaron [Rodgers] was gifted but at the end got prickly, but in the end won with him and Dak’s good, not special and he led the NFL offense,” said Cowherd earlier. 

But things are looking good for Mike McCarthy because he’s won Jerry Jones over. What more could he need from the owner? Just a few hours ago, Jones made a statement about McCarthy saying, “Mike has shown me that he’s qualified and he is excellent,” and “He’s shown me that he can be our coach for years to come. And he sits next to me in the draft, and I call on him a lot. And if you can’t get along with Mike McCarthy, you can’t get along.”