FRISCO – We can virtually guarantee that Jerry Jones’ comments on Tuesday about head coach Mike McCarthy and his staff’s so-far performance in 2024 were not designed to add any more heat or scrutiny to the already-existing lame-duck vulnerability of the Dallas Cowboys coaching staff. But Jerry did “go there” nevertheless with some brutally honest remarks of what he believes has gone wrong with his 3-3 team, seemingly placing some of the blame on a very specific area that is supervised by his fifth-year head coach. In Jones’ weekly visit with “Shan & RJ” on 105.3 The Fan – yes, his first appearance since last week’s blowup in which he threatened to have the hosts fired – he spoke on a number of topics. Two of those topics dovetail together nicely … though we’re not sure McCarthy would describe them that way.
“There’s … some (problems) of execution, (and) some of the talent – I like our talent but young talent has a few more mistakes associated with it than if you’re dealing with a veteran player,” he said. In other words, “growing pains” for the roster assembled by a GM who has the trust of his owner. (That would be Jerry and Jerry.) But then Jones, who has all but assured that he has no plans to fire McCarthy in-season (and even added that he has some regret over doing just that a decade-and-a-half ago with Wade Phillips) added another wrinkle to the conversation – and a seemingly daming one.
“We’re designing bad plays, we’re designing bad concepts,” Jones said in a brutally honest statement that represents a message McCarthy is certain to find bothersome. Is there a way to characterize that statement as something other than a shot at the coach? Of course, and anybody who knows the game of “Translating Jerry” would concede that.
But the Cowboys do have a passing game that hasn’t clicked even after paying Dak Prescott $60 million per year. And despite that “young talent,” the Cowboys’ running game averages 77 yards per game, the NFL’s worst. We’ve seen some critics (who do not speak “Jerry’ese”) suggest that Jerry is conspiratorially trying to set up McCarthy to be “the scapegoat.” But that’s the wrong animal. In the end, the guy in charge of allegedly “had play-design” isn’t about a goat. It’s about a duck. A lame one.
