The McCarthy Chronicles: Cowboys problems laid bare against Eagles, but it’s not coaching
We are so close to the Cowboys having to make a decision about Mike McCarthy.
Last week’s game was the one that should have been all anyone, namely Jerry Jones, needed. Just a few hours after the Cowboys were eliminated from playoff contention, they came out with their hair on fire and upset the Buccaneers. It was a rallying cry for how this team believes in Mike McCarthy, and also showed how McCarthy - along with Mike Zimmer - has the coaching chops to have his team competitive in any game.
The Cowboys then admitted defeat on the year by shutting down CeeDee Lamb. It was a smart move, and one has to admire Lamb for gutting it out through a terrible shoulder injury the past month and change, but it also signaled that the organization understood there was no reason to keep playing hard and risk serious injury to their best players.
Despite that, Dallas came out on the road against the Eagles and played a tight first quarter. The offense racked up 105 yards on their first two drives, with a pick-six from Cooper Rush being the only blemish, while Zimmer’s defense forced a three-and-out on two straight drives. Early on, the Cowboys were playing just as scrappy as they have over the last month when they went 4-1.
It shouldn’t be a surprise that the Eagles pulled away, though. Critical mistakes from Rush, Jake Ferguson, Andrew Booth Jr., and Jonathan Mingo were swiftly taken advantage of, and it was all downhill from there. Philadelphia is a very good team, with as many wins as the Cowboys’ last two opponents combined. The last time Dallas faced a team this good was, well, the Eagles. The result in that game was pretty much the same: the Cowboys kept things close in the first quarter but then the Eagles pulled away.
Losing to the Eagles - who were seeking revenge after losing their first game in 12 weeks - without Lamb, not to mention all the other players that are out with injury, should not move the needle on this coaching staff in any direction. Much better teams have lost to the Eagles this year, including four teams the Cowboys beat head-to-head.
Instead, what this loss revealed is just how dire this roster is right now for McCarthy and his staff. As phenomenal as Lamb’s year has been, the Cowboys’ passing attack crumbled without him.
Jalen Tolbert has emerged as a reliable option, but his numbers - 512 receiving yards and seven touchdowns on 45 catches - would make for a great fourth option in most offenses. Instead, he’s second on the team in yards and first in touchdown catches. Jake Ferguson has seen a steep drop-off from his breakout season last year; he has four fumbles in his career and all four came this season, and Ferguson has yet to catch a single touchdown.
Beyond Tolbert and Ferguson, the next best solutions are KaVontae Turpin and Brandin Cooks. Both are on expiring contracts, and Turpin is somewhat limited in his usage as a receiver due to his size. Then there’s Jalen Brooks and Ryan Flournoy, both of whom have been healthy scratches multiple times this year, and Jonathan Mingo, who just saw the most snaps he’s seen since arriving to Dallas and still only caught one of his three targets.
The defensive side of things has been ravaged by injuries as well. DeMarcus Lawrence barely lasted a month before a season-ending injury, and Sam Williams didn’t even survive preseason. Marshawn Kneeland missed a huge chunk of the year as well. DeMarvion Overshown was blooming into a full-fledged star and now may not play at all next year. And we got exactly one game of the trio of cornerbacks starting together in Zimmer’s defense before Trevon Diggs was shut down for the year.
Despite all this, the Cowboys played well enough on offense and great enough on defense to win four games in a five-game stretch, and should have won five straight if not for an unlucky bounce against Cincinnati. This season has laid bare just how poorly constructed this roster was coming into the year, and the fact that the team didn’t bottom out the moment they lost these star players is a testament to the job the coaches have done.
The players believe in them, too. Sunday brought news that Dak Prescott plans to lobby Jerry Jones to retain McCarthy, another instance of how the most prominent players on the team want their head coach back. In his final press conference of the season, Zimmer said his potential return next year depends on whether or not he’s wanted, to which Overshown offered a response that could not be more clear:
We want him https://t.co/UBf58ZR711
— DeMarvion Overshown (@AGENT0__) December 31, 2024
The Cowboys’ best players are making it loud and clear: they want McCarthy and Zimmer back in 2025. There shouldn’t be any other endorsement needed, but the fact remains that the Cowboys front office will need to do a better job of building this roster around those top players if McCarthy is going to have any success going forward.
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