McCarthy's in-game coaching is just so bad.
- His clock management is just awful
- Challenging the wrong plays, wasting timeout
I blame him and the coaching staff around him who can't support him during these critical moments during the games. No faith in him or the people he brought with him.
Quinn should be better too.
- Why call such vanilla defenses early in the game, with no deception at the LOS, only to make adjustments at halftime? Why not start the game being aggressive with early blitzes, or at least the fear of a blitz? Why not turn the game into a chess match from the first snap? It obviously works well, creating one-on-one and sometimes missed blocking schemes, and it often entices the QB to get rid of the ball early, often when the DBs are glued to the receivers. It just makes sense. And it's the most effective defense they play. Playing vanilla zone defenses and only rushing 4, with no deception at the LOS, teams just go up and down the field on the Cowboys. 3rd and 12? No problem against the Cowboys Dee and those zone defenses that RARELY work.
- Quinn's BBDB and 3rd and long base defenses are just as bad as Marinelli's, just awful zone defenses with big holes everywhere. It seems like just a matter of how long it will take the other team to score, not if. Thus, why not just play aggressive and try to get off the field then? Mix in some zone blitzes or at least the threat? Don't just sit back and rush 4, and play a straight zone, letting the QB make easy reads. Hec, even the dump off pass gets 7 or 8 yards. The Cowboys stop trying to prevent 1st downs, their just trying to prevent TDs (hold them to a FG!), which is just a silly mentality, unless you're up 21 with 2 minutes left in the game. Not with a whole quarter left in the game.
Once the turnovers stop, the Cowboys defense is going to be giving up 40 points. The turnovers are covering up the bad defense. And Jaylon Smith is still not clearly good enough in the run defense. He's barely passable in pass defense. It may be time to move on from him. Other LBs are playing better.
Like past years, the Cowboys will have to win despite their bad coaching. Moore is definitely in a better groove calling plays, thank goodness.