Owner Jerry Jones went on the air Tuesday for his weekly radio interview on 105.3 The Fan. His mood was clearly more optimistic than it had been over the last month and a half, when Dallas snapped its five-game losing streak that stretched around the bye week with one 34-26 victory over rival Washington.
Among the various topics discussed was the future of Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy. It is widely believed that McCarthy, who is in the final year of his five-year contract, is a dead man; to let the contract expire before a new coach is hired and the direction of the organization changes again. But the mercurial owner certainly knows how to keep a story alive, as he hinted that McCarthy could see an extension this coming offseason.
McCarthy resumed his coaching career in Dallas After being fired by the Packers, he won six games during the pandemic and had to deal with injuries to many players, including quarterback Dak Prescott. He entered the 2024 season with three consecutive 12-win seasons, but failed to advance past the divisional round of the playoffs in any of those seasons.
This year, McCarthy's offense has stalled and any questions about whether he has given up on the game as a player have been answered with one quick and forceful refutation.
Despite the down year, any thoughts of landing a top-10 draft pick by tanking for the remainder of the season will have to wait as ownership still has hopes of making the playoffs.
Despite employing numerous All-Pro players along the offensive line during his tenure, the Cowboys' running game began to falter and all the pressure was placed on quarterback Dak Prescott; similar to McCarthy's 13-year tenure in Green Bay ended with future Hall of Fame QB Aaron Rodgers.
A revamped running game and more modern philosophies on both sides of the ball are theories a new coach could bring to Dallas to replace the short passing game designed to complement the run in McCarthy's Texas version of his West Coast offense.
While McCarthy will do whatever it takes to keep his current job, Cowboys fans may not be willing to endure another season from the Pittsburgh native seem ready to move to a more modern approach.
