Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy: ‘I have great confidence in where we’re going’ (2024)

FRISCO, Texas — Mike McCarthy revealed Thursday that he had a lengthy meeting with Jerry Jones on Wednesday that lasted over three hours.

The first topic focused on the disappointment of how the season ended, an embarrassing 48-32 wild-card loss to the seventh-seeded Green Bay Packers that wasn’t as close as that final score suggested. The next part was discussing the football operations, which included personnel, coaches and business.

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“It was a long, productive conversation,” McCarthy said.

During that time, McCarthy said he didn’t view the conversation as him trying to convince the team’s owner and general manager that he deserves another season as head coach. That is the case. McCarthy is returning for a fifth season. Jones ended the speculation by releasing a statement of support for McCarthy on Wednesday night after their meeting.

“The best meetings I have with Jerry are one-on-one,” McCarthy said. “They’re super productive. He’s an awesome boss, but he’s even a better leader. He asks all the hard direct questions, which I love and appreciate because you get a depth into conversations that go into different directions. There is always so much that comes out of it.

“We talked about everything, the right, the wrong, the indifferent, what we need to build off of. I don’t know if there’s much we didn’t talk about as far as topics that apply to the football operation. It’s a conversation, a hard conversation, definitely throughout a number of points here. They are conversations that I personally always look forward to. I never walked out of a one-on-one with Jerry where I didn’t think I was better one way or the other.”

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McCarthy, who said he wasn’t nervous entering the meeting, declined to talk about coaching in the final year of his contract.

“I am extremely confident in who I am,” he said. “I can’t say that enough. I’m confident in what we’ve done here. I have great confidence in where we’re going. And that’s really how the meeting ended. … We got work to do. The job is not finished yet. And we both know that.”

1. What happened against the Packers?

McCarthy said he was “still a little bit numb” by how the season ended. He was obviously expecting a better showing than being down 27-0 late in the second quarter and 48-16 early in the fourth quarter to Green Bay. He did not believe his team came out flat.

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“I think if anything, we were going too fast,” he said. “That was the common message with the players. I watched the game Sunday night when I got home, and that’s what I felt. We’ve done such an excellent job in the big-play production component of the game and it was definitely one of our strengths all year. But you can’t chase big plays. And then there was a number of times we were chasing plays. And it bit us in the ass.”

2. Message to Cowboys fans

McCarthy made a point to say that he and the players feel no responsibility “on what’s gone on here in the 20-plus years before.” Dallas has not reached the NFC Championship Game since the 1995 season. While they were set up well to end that drought this year as the NFC’s No. 2 seed, McCarthy added, “We’re responsible for what’s going on in our program.”

In regards to this season and going forward, McCarthy delivered the following message.

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“We have an unbelievable fan base, and they should be frustrated,” he said. “We’re extremely disappointed. Disappointed for them. Disappointed in our performance. But my message would be this. We have established a championship program. It’s just not the world championship yet.

3. Similar feeling?

The Packers won the Super Bowl in McCarthy’s fifth year as their head coach. Like his first four years in Dallas, McCarthy had one playoff win before putting it all together during the 2010 season. He said he has a similar feeling about this group.

“I think you build a program and continue to grow from it,” he said. “But the reality of it is you have to go through the tough questions and make sure you have answers. The reality of it is this team is going to change. We’re going to have changes. It happens every year. Just start with your roster. Twenty-five percent of our players will be different from what they were this year.

“Frankly, that’s part of the disappointment. Because I thought we had an unbelievable team. I love the way these guys work, their connection and belief in one another. They’re very coachable. When you kick them in the ass, they responded. And they love one another. I think that’s important. The chemistry. So there’s so many good things. But we clearly came up a lot shorter than we anticipated.”

4. Latest on Dan Quinn

Defensive coordinator Dan Quinn is in the process of interviewing with several NFL teams for their head coach position. If he doesn’t get one of those jobs, will he be back as the Cowboys’ DC for a fourth year?

“Dan is a highly-valued member of our coaching staff,” McCarthy said. “We’ll go through the process here.”

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5. Dak Prescott

McCarthy said he had a “productive” end-of-season interview with Dak Prescott. The Cowboys QB did not play well in Sunday’s season-ending loss. He acknowledged as much after the game. McCarthy isn’t concerned about Prescott, who is coming off a second-team All-Pro season, calling him “part of the solution.”

“I have unbelievable belief in Dak,” McCarthy said. “I think he clearly has another step. I think this offense has suited him well. It’s a system built around making the quarterback successful. The growth opportunity that we both see for the future is something that we are excited about. A big part of the conversation was the disappointment. We talked about the particulars of the game and things that went wrong and how we can improve it.

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“I believe in Dak Prescott. I think he’s clearly the answer. He’s part of the solution moving forward. I think as difficult as this time is right now, we can work through this emotional period that we’re in. We’ll continue to build off of what he brings to the table.”

(Photo of Mike McCarthy and Dak Prescott: Cooper Neill / Getty Images)

Jon Machota is a staff writer covering the Dallas Cowboys for The Athletic. He previously covered the Cowboys for The Dallas Morning News. He's a Detroit native and graduate of Wayne State University. Follow Jon on Twitter @jonmachota