The Dallas Cowboys knew questions surrounding Mike McCarthy’s contract would shade their season. When an NFL head coach enters the final year of his contract without an extension, speculation will abound.
So when the Cowboys fell to 3-7 last month after their fifth straight loss, the clamor for a regime change in 2025 heightened.
Then Dallas won three of four games, also leading in the final minute and a half in its loss against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Team owner and general manager Jerry Jones has noticed the team’s resolve under McCarthy.
“I don’t know how you cannot say that his team has shown that they’ll handle adversity,” Jerry Jones said Tuesday morning on Dallas radio station 105.3 The Fan. “He can get you there with the injury situation impacting the availability of those players.”
Jerry Jones to @1053thefan on Mike McCarthy: “I don’t know how you cannot say that his team has shown they’ll handle adversity & he can get you there with the injury situation impacting…availability.”
On McCarthy & Mike Zimmer: “So yeah, I give them both high grades this year.”
— Jori Epstein (@JoriEpstein) December 17, 2024
The Cowboys’ past four opponents have won just 35.7% of their games this year (20-36 combined record). In three straight 12-5 seasons from 2021 to 2023, the Cowboys developed a reputation for beating easy to average teams but struggled to consistently best more talented teams, especially in the playoffs. So the recent wins may not represent better coaching than the prior years that kept McCarthy on the final year of his contract in 2024.
Jones’ counterargument: McCarthy has kept a team unified and focused despite significant injuries, including to each of the Cowboys’ four costliest salary-cap investments.
Quarterback Dak Prescott underwent season-ending surgery for a Week 9 hamstring tear, right guard Zack Martin needed season-ending ankle surgery after Week 11 and cornerback Trevon Diggs’ knee surgery now could impact his 2025 availability. Defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence’s foot fracture did not require surgery, but he has yet to return from an injury he sustained in Week 4.
Star edge rusher Micah Parsons’ contract is not as costly, but the All-Pro nonetheless missed four weeks with a high ankle sprain.
With a rotating cast, the Cowboys have won recent games as underdogs and curried favor from players.
“I believe in him wholeheartedly,” Prescott told Yahoo Sports this month. “I don’t want to necessarily get into the nuts and the screws of it all obviously, but I think he definitely deserves a chance — another contract and a chance to coach this team amongst more influence. ‘On his terms’ may be a good way to say it.
“I wholeheartedly believe in him.”
McCarthy has called plays effectively to win games with backup quarterback Cooper Rush.
Dallas’ run game, which was inefficient at best earlier in the season, has improved from averaging a 31st-ranked 3.8 yards per rush the first 11 weeks to an eighth-best 4.6 the past four, per TruMedia. The Cowboys’ production has grown similarly: from 81.7 yards per game through 11 weeks (31st) to 145 in their past four (seventh).
In the defense’s first year under defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer, the Cowboys started poorly, allowing more than 430 yards in four of their first seven games. But the takeaway edge that had defined recent Cowboys teams has begun to return: After collecting five takeaways in their first seven games, the Cowboys have 14 in the seven since. They’ve created at least one takeaway in seven straight games, and at least two in four of those.
The defensive improvement reflects on Zimmer as well as the head coach who hired the coordinator. Does Jones view their future as tied together?
“In a way I do, especially after the last ballgames,” Jones said. “I think you’re seeing the best of Mike Zimmer. I shouldn’t say that. You’re beginning to see some of the best, but maybe the best is still ahead of us. He’s been real impressive now putting that defense together with the attrition that we’ve had with availability with our players. So I give him that.”
What else might Jones give his coaches? More time in Dallas seems increasingly likely.
The final three weeks could impact that, with an uphill climb of games against three teams currently on track to make the playoffs.
The Cowboys host the 8-6 Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday Night Football, then visit the 12-2 Philadelphia Eagles before finishing the regular season with the 9-5 Washington Commanders.
Dallas’ likelihood of making the playoffs remains below 1 percent, per NFL Next Gen Stats. But the team’s bid for retaining McCarthy and Zimmer remains well within play.
“To have that team playing at the level that’s playing,” Jones said, “yeah, I give ’em both high grades this year.”
