Cowboys retaining Mike McCarthy for 2024: Three reasons for Jerry Jones’ decision

There are plenty of reasons for McCarthy’s retention in 2024

Following approximately 72 hours of agonizing among Dallas Cowboys supporters over whether to keep head coach Mike McCarthy after the second-seeded Cowboys’ 48-32 loss to the seventh-seeded Green Bay Packers on Sunday, general manager and team owner Jerry Jones made a choice on Wednesday night. McCarthy’s hiring was announced, and in the statement he released, he expressed his belief that his club is “very close and and capable of achieving our ultimate goals and the best step forward for us will be with Mike McCarthy as our head coach.” Although there are arguments on both sides, Jones’ choice to retain McCarthy as his head coach following his most recent playoff departure before the conference championship round is undoubtedly divisive. These are

The case for keeping McCarthy around in 2024

1. QB Dak Prescott’s and WR CeeDee Lamb’s growth

The number one talking point for retaining McCarthy is the development of the offense in his first year in Dallas calling the plays. The Cowboys led the league in scoring offense (29.9 points per game), and the biggest reason for that was the 180 degree reversal of quarterback Dak Prescott’s play. 

Prescott bounced back from co-leading the NFL in interceptions (15) in 2022 to becoming the the first quarterback in Cowboys history to lead the NFL outright in passing touchdowns while compiling a career-high 105.9 passer rating in 2023 with McCarthy as the offensive play-caller. That made him the first player in the Super Bowl era — since 1966 — and just the second in league history (along with Hall of Famer Bob Waterfield in 1945-1946) to jump from the NFL’s interception leader to passing touchdown leader in consecutive seasons, according to NFL Media researcher Dante Koplowitz-Fleming.   The eighth-year Cowboys quarterback earned 2023 Second-Team All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors for his efforts

Dak Prescott this season

Prescott himself also pitched his own football growth as a chief reason to keep McCarthy in his postgame press conference following the season-ending defeat against Green Bay on Sunday. He even went so far as to suggest his own job security should be questioned if McCarthy’s is.

“He’s been amazing,” Prescott said postgame. “I don’t know how they can be (calling for his job), but I understand the business. In that case, it should be about me as well. I’ve had the season that I’ve had because of him. This team has had the success that they’ve had because of him. I understand it’s about winning the Super Bowl. That’s the standard of this league and damn sure the standard of this place. I get it but add me to the list in that case.”

Fourth-year wideout CeeDee Lamb earned Pro Bowl nods in 2021 and 2022, but he took the leap to being a 2023 First-Team All-Pro after leading the NFL in catches (135). Prescott and Lamb marked the first time in 16 years the same team has had both the NFL’s leader in touchdown passes and catches in the same season. The last squad to have both was the 2007 New England Patriots with future Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady and Wes Welker. That group won their first 18 games of the year before falling just short in the Super Bowl.

2. Consistent regular season excellence

Under McCarthy, Dallas has won at least 12 games in three of the previous four seasons. This run of play joins the Cowboys’ 1990s dynasty period of 1992–1995 in which they won three Super Bowls in four seasons as the second time in franchise history that that has happened. McCarthy is the first head coach of the Cowboys to do this. Since 2021, Dallas has surpassed only the Kansas City Chiefs (37), who are currently the defending Super Bowl champions, in regular-season wins. McCarthy has the highest career win percentage of any coach in Cowboys history with a 42-25 regular season record (62.7% win percentage).

When asked how the game went after the game on Sunday, Prescott responded, “It’s tough to give you that answer when I just went out there and we just did that.” In his players’ minds, that’s a big improvement over predecessor Jason Garrett. The team went 86-67 in 10 seasons (55.9% win percentage) under Garrett with three playoff trips. McCarthy has reached the postseason three years in a row and every year of his four-year tenure in which Prescott has not suffered a season-ending injury.

“This is one of the hardest jobs in America, quarterback and the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys,” Cowboys cornerback Jourdan Lewis said Monday “I feel like he’s done a tremendous job all things in consideration. It’s hard, all things considered. A lot of media, a lot of people against you, all the outside noise and we just made sure that we stuck our arms around each other and stayed together. I think we did a really good job. He helped me a lot with my career, and I feel like I learned a lot with him. … Look what he did in comparison to what happened when he wasn’t here,” Lewis said. “We were struggling to be over .500. He had three straight 12-win seasons. So yeah, I hope so (McCarthy returns).”

3. Poor injury luck in 2023

Prescott stayed healthy in 2023, starting all 17 regular season games and the wild card round defeat against the Packers. The same cannot be said for the Dallas defense. Pro Bowl cornerback Trevon Diggs tore his ACL prior to the team’s Week 3 matchup with the Arizona Cardinals.

Leighton Vander Esch, an inside linebacker in the Pro Bowl, suffered a potentially career-ending neck injury in Week 5 against the San Francisco 49ers. DeMarvion Overshown, a third-round rookie linebacker, suffered an ACL tear during training camp. It was anticipated that he would immediately contribute defensively. As a result, safety Jayron Kearse (6’4, 215 pounds), safety Damone Clark (6’4, 240 pounds), and Markquese Bell (6’3, 205 pounds) received the majority of the snaps at inside linebacker for the most of the season. Due to injuries, there were moments during practice at The Star, the team’s headquarters in Frisco, Texas, when just one or two players were practicing linebacker position drills. The Dallas defense became vulnerable on the ground as a result, something that teams like the San Francisco 49ers could exploit.

 

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