CFZ The mental toll of keeping Mike McCarthy

[XXLMike]

I would rather keep Mike McCarthy, then deal with the mental toll of reading another one of these horrifically bloated posts.
McCarthy is 17th in NFL Victories

 

[Mac_MaloneV1]

The way they've looked I'm inclined to suspect he wants out of here. They look unprepared and unmotivated. The game plan and play calling that lacks any kind of creativity. It's almost like he's pulling a Jason Garrett level of offensive sabotage.

I mean, it was like this through most of October last year too.

They obviously treat the first month as their version of pre-season.

 

[Coogiguy03]

I mean, it was like this through most of October last year too.

They obviously treat the first month as their version of pre-season.

Well maybe they need to play in the pre season, we'd have a head start in the first parts of the season, knock the rust off earlier!!

 

[ChronicCowboy]

Looks like a lame duck season

 

[ClintDagger]

I don’t think the players have quit or are disinterested because MM in his last year. They just aren’t any good. Interestingly enough, I think MM and Dak are two sides of the same coin. MM is a very average, middle of the road HC. He’s not a dumpster fire but he’s also not exceptional or elite in any way. He’s not going to make people better and will need a loaded team to achieve big time success. This franchise is handicapped. It needs an elite QB & elite HC combination to succeed at the highest level. No offense to MM or DP4 but they aren’t anywhere near good enough to overcome the issues with this franchise.

 

[Cowboys5217]

They still look like a team that hasn't recovered from the GB game. They sleepwalked through both Cleveland and NYG, but all the teams with a pulse beat their butts badly.

The Baltimore game wasn't as close as the score was and only the fluke recovery of an onside kick allowed the score to get closer. Did anyone REALLY think the Cowboys were going to successfully comeback against the Ravens? I never had even a second of belief they would.

I think we are looking at losing the next 4 in a row, and the season will be over for the Cowboys.

This was Jerry's worst off season as a GM by far. Even for Jerry it was terrible. Not one move was the correct move other than some of the draft picks. A lot of the moves were the worst possible decisions (keeping McCarthy, signing Zeke, Dak's contract, no quality FA),

 

[HanD]

hey big mike, stop complaining about needing to get better discipline and less flags. do something about it and get it fixed. been years now.

 

[links18]

Its a throw away year for sure. Someone had to take blame for it and Jerry and son are setting McCarthy up to be the fall guy. They won't take blame and since they are committed to Dak he can't either.

 

[Cowboys5217]

hey big mike, stop complaining about needing to get better discipline and less flags. do something about it and get it fixed. been years now.

Not his fault. He never had these issues in GB. It's the ref culture of flagging Dallas for the most penalties nearly every year. It has become just what you do as a referee.

 

[dreghorn2]

McCarthy did his best with what he was handed.

You can see what he tried to do last year, it just didn't work.

He finally got rid of Moore and could run the offense himself, although he had to get to year 4 of his deal before finally getting rid of Jerry's mandated OC from the previous regime. The result was the leagues best offense.

You can't discipline anybody in Dallas, everyone knows where the power lies with the franchise and unfortunately the head coach is way way down the list when it comes to authority, so McCarthy went the only way he could which was the try to build a family relationship group dynamic.

We read all year how the locker room was tight, and everyone was supportive of one another etc.. which was great when things are going well. However that type of self-governance in football seldom works. The playoffs came and the next thing we hear is post victory parties had already been planned and we had star players sitting on the bench pouting after the the first couple of series. We saw the result.

McCarthy on a one year deal was never going to work, he knows it and the players know it. On a team that already has a huge authority disconnect, an entire staff on one year deals is a joke.

He is a bad coach no, is their better maybe, perhaps probably, but the way this team is structured by the Jones family places such a burden on any coach that it makes it almost impossible to get things done in a professional NFL manner.

But we already know that. Next coach up i guess.

 

[KingCorcoran]

How could any self respecting NFL HC not feel completely hung out to dry? Not only does this owner undermine his HC constantly, he doesn’t even give him any serious roster upgrades. McCarthy apparently needs the money more than his self respect.

If MM walks out he’s never be considered for another NFL head coaching position. It’s his self respect that makes him live up to his commitments.

 

[SlammedZero]

The way they've looked I'm inclined to suspect he wants out of here. They look unprepared and unmotivated. The game plan and play calling that lacks any kind of creativity. It's almost like he's pulling a Jason Garrett level of offensive sabotage.

Totally agree!! They threw up a shot on him on the sidelines during the NYG game and his body language screamed exactly that. He is just riding this season out. He knows it. We know it. It was stupid for Jerry to keep him around this last season.

 

[SlammedZero]

Don't forget the mental toll it takes on the fans too!! I'm mentally exhausted already!! LOL

I'm at the lowest point I've ever been as a fan. I've been watching since I was a teenager in the 90s and it's just taken it's toll on me. It sucks, but here I am.

The Dallas Cowboys. Miracles don't happen here.

 

[atlantacowboy]

That loss to Green Bay last January was not just a first round playoff loss, it was the most embarrassing playoff loss in the Cowboys 64 year history. When an NFL team loses a playoff game in an upset at home in crushing fashion, it leaves mental baggage for the players, and especially for the head coach who is now 1-3 in the playoffs and in the final year of his five year contract.

IMO the decision by Jerry Jones to keep Mike McCarthy after that terrible playoff loss last January was not only cheap (he didn’t want to have to pay off Big Mac’s last year), it also set up this year‘s team with the unnecessary mental baggage of a head coach who has already shown he is incapable of getting this team on a deep playoff run.

Coupled with the questionable decision to keep Big Mac, the FO made it worse by deciding they would do nothing this off-season to make this roster better than the teams of the last three seasons that could not get past the divisional round.

Look, I hope I’m wrong…I really do. But watching this team through four games, they not only look under-manned in several key positions, they look mentally tired. The evidence is already there that this team could be on the verge of quitting on this staff, which is already hanging over a cliff with the expiring contracts.

Here are the red flags that this team is suffering some mental malaise after last year’s playoff loss:

• Haven't won a home game since last December, 2023 when we beat the lions 20-19.
• In the team‘s last 3 home games, it averages giving up 40 points a game, and have looked unprepared at the start of each of those games.
• The players probably feel frustrated at the lack of action by this FO in the off-season but can’t take it out on them.
• With the defense losing its two best players for a stretch, it creates more strain on the mental toughness of this team. Can they overcome that?
• If we lose at Pittsburgh, at 2-3 we would face a tough lions team at home again with the mental baggage of the last 3 home stinkers.
• If we go to the bye week 2-4 with the tough schedule ahead, the “quit alert” bells will be ringing.

The other side of this coin of course is “winning cures everything”. If the team can start winning and show it’s capable of “doing hard things”, it can change this course.

But if I take off the fan glasses and just try to be objective, this does not look like a team that believes in itself nor its head coach.

Jerry's plan this past spring was basically "if you want to leave, then go....... if you are under contract, we will see you next year." It was pitiful. He botched the CD signing by waiting too long. His only good move was not signing Dak, but after a preseason of watching Trey lance, he caved thus dooming any chance he has to improve the roster for the next few years. I think trey Lance was his ace in the hole and it blew up in his face. But, I'm sure he takes full responsibilty so its okay.

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

That loss to Green Bay last January was not just a first round playoff loss, it was the most embarrassing playoff loss in the Cowboys 64 year history. When an NFL team loses a playoff game in an upset at home in crushing fashion, it leaves mental baggage for the players, and especially for the head coach who is now 1-3 in the playoffs and in the final year of his five year contract.

IMO the decision by Jerry Jones to keep Mike McCarthy after that terrible playoff loss last January was not only cheap (he didn’t want to have to pay off Big Mac’s last year), it also set up this year‘s team with the unnecessary mental baggage of a head coach who has already shown he is incapable of getting this team on a deep playoff run.

Coupled with the questionable decision to keep Big Mac, the FO made it worse by deciding they would do nothing this off-season to make this roster better than the teams of the last three seasons that could not get past the divisional round.

Look, I hope I’m wrong…I really do. But watching this team through four games, they not only look under-manned in several key positions, they look mentally tired. The evidence is already there that this team could be on the verge of quitting on this staff, which is already hanging over a cliff with the expiring contracts.

Here are the red flags that this team is suffering some mental malaise after last year’s playoff loss:

• Haven't won a home game since last December, 2023 when we beat the lions 20-19.
• In the team‘s last 3 home games, it averages giving up 40 points a game, and have looked unprepared at the start of each of those games.
• The players probably feel frustrated at the lack of action by this FO in the off-season but can’t take it out on them.
• With the defense losing its two best players for a stretch, it creates more strain on the mental toughness of this team. Can they overcome that?
• If we lose at Pittsburgh, at 2-3 we would face a tough lions team at home again with the mental baggage of the last 3 home stinkers.
• If we go to the bye week 2-4 with the tough schedule ahead, the “quit alert” bells will be ringing.

The other side of this coin of course is “winning cures everything”. If the team can start winning and show it’s capable of “doing hard things”, it can change this course.

But if I take off the fan glasses and just try to be objective, this does not look like a team that believes in itself nor its head coach.

I thought I saw one of the "worst " playoff losses in nfl....not just cowboys.

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

I'm at the lowest point I've ever been as a fan. I've been watching since I was a teenager in the 90s and it's just taken it's toll on me. It sucks, but here I am.

The Dallas Cowboys. Miracles don't happen here.

We have such a mighty legacy. The state we are in is crushing it.

 

[DallasEast]

I have maintained one thing about Jerry Jones' mentality since Wade Phillips firing. It will take the roster quitting on their head coach before Jones pulls the trigger.

November 7, 2010. Ironically, the opponent was the Packers AND against Mike McCarthy. That team said 'Check please!' before the game even started. A week later, Jason Garrett was coaching against the Giants.

Jones likes for players and coaches to perform and mentor up to the standards of what he pays them. Sometimes the contract amount does not meet the standards of observers. Does not matter. It matters to Jones and he believes what he pays anyone is more than enough. It is what he was taught growing up. It is another example of his innate managerial inflexibility.

Phillips set a precedent. The team quitting on him broke the straw on Jones' back. It will take something similar for him to forego what he prefers happening.

 

[HanD]

Not his fault. He never had these issues in GB. It's the ref culture of flagging Dallas for the most penalties nearly every year. It has become just what you do as a referee.

for some of it i agree. there have definitely been undisciplined moments of jumping offsides etc. those are in his control. maybe it's the frustration and a deeper dig into the number of disciplined penalties would say different. i've just heard him say the penalties need to go down for far too long now.

 

[Rockport]

That loss to Green Bay last January was not just a first round playoff loss, it was the most embarrassing playoff loss in the Cowboys 64 year history. When an NFL team loses a playoff game in an upset at home in crushing fashion, it leaves mental baggage for the players, and especially for the head coach who is now 1-3 in the playoffs and in the final year of his five year contract.

IMO the decision by Jerry Jones to keep Mike McCarthy after that terrible playoff loss last January was not only cheap (he didn’t want to have to pay off Big Mac’s last year), it also set up this year‘s team with the unnecessary mental baggage of a head coach who has already shown he is incapable of getting this team on a deep playoff run.

Coupled with the questionable decision to keep Big Mac, the FO made it worse by deciding they would do nothing this off-season to make this roster better than the teams of the last three seasons that could not get past the divisional round.

Look, I hope I’m wrong…I really do. But watching this team through four games, they not only look under-manned in several key positions, they look mentally tired. The evidence is already there that this team could be on the verge of quitting on this staff, which is already hanging over a cliff with the expiring contracts.

Here are the red flags that this team is suffering some mental malaise after last year’s playoff loss:

• Haven't won a home game since last December, 2023 when we beat the lions 20-19.
• In the team‘s last 3 home games, it averages giving up 40 points a game, and have looked unprepared at the start of each of those games.
• The players probably feel frustrated at the lack of action by this FO in the off-season but can’t take it out on them.
• With the defense losing its two best players for a stretch, it creates more strain on the mental toughness of this team. Can they overcome that?
• If we lose at Pittsburgh, at 2-3 we would face a tough lions team at home again with the mental baggage of the last 3 home stinkers.
• If we go to the bye week 2-4 with the tough schedule ahead, the “quit alert” bells will be ringing.

The other side of this coin of course is “winning cures everything”. If the team can start winning and show it’s capable of “doing hard things”, it can change this course.

But if I take off the fan glasses and just try to be objective, this does not look like a team that believes in itself nor its head coach.

You’re really going off the deep end Bob. So many of you throwing in the towel AFTER JUST 4 GAMES. I know you’re just playing to the crowd but it’s mentally draining.

 

[TequilaCowboy]

You forgot about paying a player who has already shown he can’t win in the big stage the highest annual salary in the NFL. Talk about mismanaging the salary cap. Many of them are getting peanuts and one year contracts. There has to be resentment.

Not a happy place for the core of this team.