Dallas lost guard Connor McGovern to the Buffalo Bills and tight end Dalton Schultz to the Texans. The Cowboys didn't have enough cap space left to sign any outside free agents of note, though they did re-sign safety Donovan Wilson and linebacker Leighton Vander Esch. Dallas also sent a 2023 fifth-round pick and a 2024 sixth-round pick to the Houston Texans for well-traveled receiver Brandin Cooks, who has six 1,000-yard seasons. 2 corner opposite Trevon Diggs even as he turns 33 years old. They sent a fifth-round pick to the Indianapolis Colts for cornerback Stephon Gilmore, who won't win another NFL Defensive Player of the Year award but can be a good No. The Cowboys made two smart trades to fix problem areas. The Cowboys need a special season, or perhaps some of these big changes fans clamor for will actually happen. Dallas is among the league leaders in blue-chip players, like receiver CeeDee Lamb and defensive star Micah Parsons.īut everyone knows that a repeat of last season won't be good enough, or even close. They have been very good the past two seasons and had a productive offseason. (Photo by Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) (Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) He's the quarterback of the Cowboys and pressure comes with the job.ĭallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy and quarterback Dak Prescott (4) are under pressure heading into this season. And it won't lessen the pressure on Prescott. It just now puts more pressure on McCarthy, not that he needed it. McCarthy's old-school strategy should cut down on Prescott's interceptions (and yards, and touchdowns, and scoring as a whole), but it's not like what the Cowboys were doing had gotten them to an NFC championship game. He threw two more in that playoff loss to the 49ers. Prescott is coming off a season in which he led the NFL with 15 interceptions and did so in only 12 games. Maybe that is the best formula for the Cowboys. We need to be a top-five team and that's a skill.” “Time of possession goes to hell, risk for turnover goes up. “It's fun as hell to call plays, but that's not the best thing for your team,” McCarthy said.

This time, McCarthy is inviting the criticism. And his 'run the damn ball' line will come up every time there's a bad second-and-12 or third-and-5 run call this season. And if we gotta give up some production and take care of the ball better to get that, then that’s what we’ll do.”Īnd with that, McCarthy became the rare play-caller to publicly proclaim that he hopes to not have the No. 1 team in the league with the number of wins and the championship. Being a head coach and being a play-caller, you’re a little more in tune. Think when you're a coordinator, you know, but you’re in charge of the offense. But I want to run the damn ball so I can rest my defense. “Kellen wants to light the scoreboard up. “I’ve been where Kellen has been,” McCarthy said. This offseason the Cowboys parted ways with offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, McCarthy announced he'd take over play-calling duties, and then at the NFL scouting combine he gave some quotes that will be repeated every single time the Cowboys lose a 17-13 game with him calling plays. But all of his Green Bay Packers success has been assigned to Aaron Rodgers and his Cowboys success is simply ignored amid calls for his job. Only 10 coaches in NFL history with at least 150 wins have a better winning percentage. 614 winning percentage, better than Bill Parcells, Chuck Noll, Tom Landry and Bill Walsh among other greats. McCarthy is a punching bag, and it's not necessarily fair. And for the largest fanbase in the NFL, 12 regular-season wins and beating a bad Tampa Bay Buccaneers team in the playoffs isn't a satisfactory season.Īnd in that cauldron, McCarthy put himself on an even hotter seat this offseason. The problem is that the Cowboys have been very good for most of the Prescott era (they are 61-36 in his starts), but another team has always been better.

The Cowboys haven't even been past the divisional round of the playoffs since that Super Bowl XXX season. Nate Newton, one of the starters in that Super Bowl for Dallas, will turn 62 years old this year. The Cowboys haven't been to the Super Bowl since the end of the 1995 season. Fans were tired of it all.Įverything is bigger in Texas, including the rage from Cowboys fans. They had to consider moving on from Dak Prescott. Do not duplicate in any form without permission of the Dallas Cowboys.It was time to fire Mike McCarthy.

Nate newton on dak prescot