Cowboys news: Mike McCarthy acknowledges lack of run game on both sides of the ball
The running game is always a key component of success or failure in football, regardless of the era. The Cowboys failed to meet the mark this past season on both sides of the ball.
The Cowboys’ inability to run the ball effectively on offense and their defense’s glut of running yards were evident in their season-long losses.
For his first offseason media meeting, head coach Mike McCarthy was asked especially to address the run, both on offense and defense, on Thursday.
In the grand scheme of things, McCarthy stated, I think we need to be better in both categories throughout the course of the year.
I believe it’s something we were discussing, These are the things that pertain to training, how you perform it, and how you can get better at it. In both areas, we are not where we should be.
In both categories, the Cowboys’ location was essentially in the middle of the pack. At 112.9 yards per game on offense, they were 14th out of 32 teams in terms of rushing yards per contest.
They ranked 16th in defense, giving up 112.4 yards per game, and were exactly in the center of the pack.
Tyron Smith’s future is discussed by Cowboys’ Mike McCarthy – Mauricio Rodriguez, AtoZ Sports
This season, Smith played a lot more than anyone had predicted.
Since selecting Tyler Smith in the 2022 NFL Draft, the Cowboys have been planning to let go of the future Hall of Famer, but it’s difficult to give up on one of the best pass pro tackles in the whole league.
In 2023, Smith was named to the Second Team All-Pro, after only allowing three sacks and 21 pressures in 610 pass-blocking snaps. It was as though Smith went back in time to his best, healthiest NFL years, gaining access to all of that knowledge and experience in the process.
When questioned about his talks with Smith, McCarthy told reporters, I think the biggest thing for Tyron is, you know, we spoke about the direction of his season and the training plan that was in place for him.
This is without a doubt the best season I’ve had with him since 2020. That made him feel incredibly good.
Granted, Smith dealt with injuries all season long and missed a total of four games. In all those, he was missed. With a revised deal that was full of incentives for playing time, the Cowboys reduced the risk associated with his erratic health.
According to his deal, Dak Prescott will remain with the Cowboys for a number of further years. PFT Mike Florio
An extension including Dak Prescott seemed inevitable.
It seems there was some doubt as to whether head coach Mike McCarthy would return to the Cowboys. They will without a doubt welcome back quarterback Dak Prescott.
It is unrelated to his play, which was excellent in the regular season but insufficient in the playoff defeat to the Packers. It is entirely related to his contract.
Rather of wearing the second franchise tag, Prescott signed a four-year contract, which he is now entering its last year of.
He was franchise-tagged for the first time when his four-year rookie contract expired, and he reached the second tag because the Cowboys declined to renew his rookie contract after three years.
He was in a powerful position in the beginning of 2021. With it, he took exactly the same action that team owner Jerry Jones has used whenever he has had significant influence throughout his life.
He used it to his fullest advantage.
Prescott’s cap figure will thus soar from $26.832 million in 2023 to $59.455 million on opening day of the 2024 league year. To avoid paying the hefty cap charge, the Cowboys are forced to extend his contract before then.
Cowboys maintaining Mike McCarthy feels as though the year 2010 has returned. The Boys’ Blogging by Jess Haynie
It appears to be a repeat.
Mike McCarthy is back, then. That one sentence has a lot of power and completely changes our perception of the forthcoming season.
And if the Dallas Cowboys’ past is any indication, McCarthy’s comeback might position him for another midseason dismissal.
For McCarthy, it wouldn’t be the first time. Green Bay sacked him in 2019 after he had a 4-7-1 start to the season.
Following a 7-9 campaign in which the Packers missed the playoffs for the first time since 2008, that happened.
It also had to do with McCarthy’s failing relationship with quarterback Aaron Rodgers, which was coming under increasing scrutiny as the club lost ground.
Here at Dallas, things are different. McCarthy has won twelve games in a row and frequently appears to sing kum ba yah alongside Dak Prescott.
This week, his teammates praised him on social media and even celebrated the news of his homecoming.
However, their response differs greatly from that of many fans, who expressed dismay upon learning that McCarthy would return for the fifth and final season of his Cowboys deal.
The upcoming season will have a lot in common with Wade Phillips’ last few days in Dallas in 2010. Under Phillips, the Cowboys had been largely successful during the previous three years.
With two NFC East championships, their first postseason victory since 1996, and elite players spread throughout the roster, the squad appeared to have real championship potential.
However, Dallas was knocked from the 2009 playoffs by the Minnesota Vikings in a 34-3 rout in the second round.
The Cowboys, who had been on a high following their victory against the Eagles, hit an all-time low point and gave up any points that Phillips had scored in the front office.
It was unclear if he would even make a comeback in 2010, but he undoubtedly did. But obviously that left him in the most precarious position.
In less than ten months, Phillips’s world came to an end. Texas began the next season 1-7 with an aging offensive line and a closed championship window. Although Tony Romo, the quarterback, sustained an injury that year, it didn’t occur until halfway through the sixth game. Following a 45-7 landslide defeat to the Packers two weeks later, Phillips was dismissed, and Jason Garrett was elevated from offensive coordinator to acting head coach.
It seems a lot like that 2010 season in 2024. McCarthy has fared better than most NFL teams, as has Phillips. In addition to numerous regular-season victories, he has two division titles. However, the squad’s postseason performance has been abysmal, and their humiliation versus Green Bay rivals was reminiscent of what Phillips’ team accomplished in Minnesota fourteen years prior.
