Some wondered if Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones could fire head coach Mike McCarthy shortly after Dallas fell to 3-6 on the season via Sunday’s humbling 34-6 home loss to the rival Philadelphia Eagles.
Jones made no such move, but star Cowboys pass-rusher Micah Parsons sounded unconcerned about McCarthy’s future while speaking with reporters after the defeat.
“Mike can leave and go wherever he wants,” Parsons said, as shared by Jori Epstein of Yahoo Sports. “Guys I kind of feel bad for [are] guys like [guard] Zack Martin and guys who might be on their last year or on their way out. Because that’s who I wanted to hold the trophy for. You want to win games and do great things with those type of legends who put in more time and work than Mike McCarthy ever did. Those are the kind of guys that I have so much sympathy and hurt for.”
That’s hardly a ringing endorsement for a coach in the final season of a contract that Jones reportedly never came close to extending before the Cowboys dropped six of nine games and before starting quarterback Dak Prescott went down with what seemingly will be a campaign-ending torn hamstring.
ESPN’s Todd Archer noted that the Cowboys have been plagued by injury setbacks throughout what’s become a frustrating season for McCarthy and his players. Against the Eagles, backup quarterback Cooper Rush completed 13-of-23 passes for 45 yards before McCarthy turned to QB3 Trey Lance. Unless Lance, the third overall pick of the 2021 NFL Draft, becomes a revelation in the next week or so, it seems unlikely the Cowboys will compete for much of note through January.
“My criteria has always been, ‘How we’re playing. Do we have an edge? Are we fundamentally competitive? Are we competitive when we’re down? Those kinds of things,” Jones said following Sunday’s loss about his expectations for the Prescott-less Cowboys. “Not as much obviously, the score. What does Bill [Parcells] say? You are what the score tells you you are? But still, you look at all of those things and there’s no fairness.”
It sounds like Parsons and others in the Dallas locker room could be just a couple of losses away from making the type of in-game “business decisions” that ultimately cost coaches their jobs. It could be interesting to see how much Cowboys players fight for McCarthy when Dallas hosts the 6-4 Houston Texans next Monday night, assuming Jones doesn’t make a change at some point this week.
