Cowboys owner Jerry Jones gives Mike McCarthy vote of confidence ahead of NFL playoffs

Longtime Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones pushed back against the school of thought that another one-and-done postseason run could earn head coach Mike McCarthy a pink slip.

During his weekly radio appearance on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, Jones backed the coach and said McCarthy’s job status would not be solely evaluated based on the results of Monday’s wild-card round game against the Buccaneers.

“No. I don’t even want to… No. That’s it,” he said. “I don’t need to go into all the pluses or minuses. I’ve got a lot more to evaluate Mike McCarthy on than this playoff game.”

McCarthy is in his third season at the helm and has led Dallas to back-to-back 12-win seasons. 

The franchise has not won at least 12 games in consecutive years since the 1994-95 seasons. Chan Gailey was the Cowboys coach when the team last accomplished that feat, but Jones decided to fire him after Dallas lost in the wild-card round.

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Gailey’s termination ended his two-year run as the Cowboys head coach. Jones has previously gone on record to say that he regrets being so quick to move on from Gailey.

After winning the NFC East division last season, the Cowboys went on to suffer a disappointing loss in the wild-card round to the San Francisco 49ers at AT&T Stadium. 

After that defeat, Jones hinted that he could explore going in a different direction as it related to the coaching staff. But, Jones later claimed the appearance of a coaching change was done only in an effort to entice defensive coordinator Dan Quinn to remain with the organization.

Quinn was the Atlanta Falcons head coach during the team’s run to the Super Bowl LI. He was fired after losing the first five games of the 2020 season and went on to join the Cowboys coaching staff in 2021. 

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Quinn’s name was associated with multiple head coaching vacancies during the offseason last year. NFL Network’ reported on Monday that the Denver Broncos have requested permission from the Cowboys to speak with the 52-year-old defensive coordinator.

“I can’t tell you how much confidence I’ve got in Mike and our coaching staff of being on top of where we are with this team right now,” Jones said. “They’ve got every nuance. They understand every frailty that we might have or we might have shown Sunday [in the loss to Washington]. They’ve got everything in their grasp and in their understanding, and I have complete confidence in this coaching staff. It’s outstanding. We’ve got a great chance to go down there and have success.”

McCarthy was able to guide the team to four victories in five games without starting quarterback Dak Prescott. Backup Cooper Rush took over starting duties while Prescott recovered from a fractured finger in his right hand.

McCarthy does have multiple years remaining on his contract with the Cowboys.

If the Cowboys want to advance in this year’s playoffs they’ll have to defeat seven-time Super Bowl winner Tom Brady and the Buccaneers. Tampa Bay beat Dallas in the first game of the regular season, but Jones said he believes it will take a collective effort to win on Monday.

“When you really think about it, we’re not playing Brady,” Jones said. “We’re playing Tampa Bay, the team. And it’s conceivable that we could make Brady not play well and get our tails beat by the rest of the team. And I’m not trying to be cute. But we’ve got to go play the entire team. And this Brady thing has got to be sensitive. I know it’s there and I respect that. Gives us a challenge to do something we haven’t done before, and that’s beat Tom Brady.”