After the team defeated the Commanders on Sunday to finish the season with 12 victories, the No. 2 seed, and the NFC East championship, Jones surprised some people by saying he wasn’t sure whether head coach Mike McCarthy would return for a fifth season.
When asked about McCarthy’s future, he responded, “We’ll see how each game goes in the playoffs,” according to Clarence Hill Jr. of the Fort-Worth Star-Telegram.
When given the chance to elaborate on his seeming wait-and-see strategy on Tuesday on _Shan & RJ of 105.3 The Fan, Jones was far more adamant about his belief in the Super Bowl-winning coach going forward.
When asked about the response to his earlier remarks, Jones remarked, “I was a little surprised.” “I’m not sure how I could clarify myself further. McCarthy’s deal is set for the upcoming season. Thus, it is not a problem. Second, his work and coaching style have exceeded my expectations. .. To be clear, I haven’t sat down with him to discuss a contract in the middle of the postseason. Why would you act in such way?
“Incidentally, he’s the busiest cat in Texas. Therefore, I don’t want to spend any time discussing these kinds of topics with him, especially when I already have an agreement or want to extend one. That concludes our discussion.
Jones has already expressed his satisfaction with McCarthy’s work. By regular-season standards, he most definitely ought to be.
As Dallas’ head coach, McCarthy has amassed a 42-25 record. After starting the season with a 6-10 record, he went on to win three straight seasons with 12 wins, including two division crowns.
The amount of double-digit winning seasons the Cowboys have had four years into the decade is equal to their total for the 2010s (three) and the 2000s (three).
Under McCarthy, Dallas has finished first in scoring in two different seasons, including this one, a feat the team hasn’t achieved since 1980.
During that decade, his Cowboys won three Super Bowls; the last one was in 1995. They have not only not returned since, but they have also not made it past the NFC Divisional Round.
McCarthy has had numerous achievements, but they haven’t helped him escape that pattern.
The Cowboys, who were the NFC East champions in 2021, lost to the 49ers during Super Wild Card Weekend.
In the penultimate game of Tom Brady’s Hall of Fame career in 2022, Dallas defeated the Buccaneers and ultimately lost to San Francisco in the Divisional Round.
Dallas, which is 8-0 at home and assured of at least one more game at AT&T Stadium, where it has a +172 point differential, comes in as the NFC’s second seed this time around.CeeDee Lamb led the league in receptions with 135 while Mack Parsons led the defense to a top-five season in scores and yards allowed. Dak Prescott led the NFL with 36 passing touchdowns and was a strong candidate for most valuable player for the most of the season.
The path to achievement is already clearly marked. That’s perhaps why Jones first appeared more likely to approach things game-by-game in the most important games before making it clear how happy he is with McCarthy’s job two days later. That’s been the case for many unsuccessful Cowboys teams in the past.
McCarthy has the power to go on a tear and completely flip the story. First up, let’s take on the No. 7-seeded Packers, who have beaten the Cowboys four times in a row and nine times in a row since 2009; however, McCarthy was wearing green and gold during all but two of those victories.
If McCarthy, the 60-year-old head coach, suffers against his former team, Jones will surely have further questions about McCarthy’s future.
That probably still applies even if the Cowboys start strong and then lose steam the next week.
To get to an NFC Championship Game and beyond should be the aim—and maybe the bar. Dallas would be facing the top-seeded 49ers, who have defeated the Cowboys in the last two playoff games and humiliated them 42-10 in Week 5 of this season, if the postseason plays out according to seeding.
Naturally, it will take a few weeks and a few outcomes before there is such a meeting.
Before then, Jones, McCarthy, and the Cowboys will need to assess how each game plays out.
