You would think back-to-back losses in critical situations might doom Mike McCarthy, but the Dallas Cowboys head coach appears to be safe regardless of how this year’s playoff push goes down. That’s big news with all of the buzz surrounding former New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton, who has been linked to the Cowboys for years and is finally available for a trade.
What leads us to believe McCarthy is safe? Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said as much. Jones was emphatic in his support of his head coach during his weekly radio spot on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas-Fort Worth.
“No. I don’t even want to,” Jones paused when asked whether a first-round exit may put McCarthy’s job in jeopardy, continuing: “No. That’s it. I don’t need to get into all the plusses or minuses. I’ve got a lot more to evaluate (McCarthy) on than this playoff game.”
So that’s what he’s saying. We’ll see if his actions line up later. The Cowboys are scheduled to kick off with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next Monday night with everyone watching, and they’re hoping to advance to the next round for the first time since 2018’s playoffs. If they win, it will have been just their third playoff victory over the last decade.
But as Jones pointed out, he’s considering more here than playoffs success. McCarthy has guided the Cowboys to double-digit wins in back-to-back seasons for the first time since Troy Aikman was their quarterback, which is impressive. Poor luck in the playoffs won’t undo that.
Still, you have to question how committed Jones may be to that stance with Payton finally available after all these years. If things don’t go his way in the wild-card round, he might get desperate and reverse course. Maybe. We’ll have to wait and see how this plays out, but for now it doesn’t look like the Cowboys will be big players in Payton’s sweepstakes.