Cowboys insider offers bold update on Mike McCarthy’s job security after Lions rout
Were the Dallas Cowboys aware that there was a football game on Sunday? It appears not as they were dismantled by the Detroit Lions to the tune of a 47-9 final score. It’s the worst home loss in the 15-year history of AT&T Stadium and one of the worst overall losses in franchise history.
While the Cowboys are 3-3 going into the bye and are navigating a cavalcade of injuries, this season feels like its destined to end in disappointment.
Bigger picture notwithstanding, a loss of historic proportions generally would force a franchise’s higher-ups to consider seismic changes. If it were up to Cowboys fans, head coach Mike McCarthy would have a bullseye on his back, but the proverbial ball is in Jerry Jones’ court.
Whereas many head coaches would be skating on thin ice after a 38-point home loss, McCarthy is seemingly standing on sturdy ground. Longtime Cowboys insider Jane Slater of NFL Network does not believe that Jones will fire McCarthy during the bye week.
Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy unlikely to be fired after Week 6 disaster
While a statement should be made, it’s not like Jones to change coaches mid-season. It took until after the 2019 season for Jones to fire Jason Garrett even though the Cowboys were going nowhere that season. They finished 8-8 and missed the playoffs. This season has a similar feel to it.
Having said that, Jones isn’t a total stranger to canning coaches mid-season. In 2010, he handed Wade Phillips his walking papers after Dallas was bludgeoned 45-7 by McCarthy’s Green Bay Packers.
That decision ironically marked the start of Garrett’s tenure as head coach. Then an assistant head coach, Garrett was promoted to interim head coach before he was given the permanent title after the season.
The problem with potentially letting go of McCarthy is that the Cowboys don’t have an obvious successor. Defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer is on a one-year contract and nobody is pining for him to replace McCarthy after his just allowed 47 points, 7.5 yards per play and nearly 500 yards of offense. It is far more likely that McCarthy and Zimmer are gone after the season.
As the Dallas Cowboys’ 2024 campaign has rolled along, Ezekiel Elliott has been taking fewer and fewer snaps and getting fewer and fewer touches as Rico Dowdle has emerged as the clear RB1 on the roster.
If any doubt remained, Dowdle put it to bed with a career night in the Cowboys’ Week 5 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, rushing for a career-high 87 yards on 20 carries and adding another 27 yards on two receptions, one of which went for a touchdown. It gave him a receiving score for the second straight game.