As the Cowboys prepare for their wild card game against the Buccaneers on Monday, a lot of discussion has centered around the job security of Dallas coach Mike McCarthy.
Dallas (12–5) clinched a playoff berth for the second consecutive season and enters its game against Tampa Bay after securing back-to-back 12-win seasons, despite an embarrassing 26–6 loss to the Commanders in its season finale on Sunday.
With a chance to win and to compete for a Super Bowl, Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott made it clear where his focus is three days before he takes the field at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. Prescott is confident in McCarthy’s job security in Dallas, sharing that it is “comical” that his status is even in question.
“First, what back-to-back 12 wins in ya’ll tell me how long and we’re talking about a guy’s job in jeopardy? That just shows you when you play for this organization what comes with it and that’s why it’s important to create these walls around us, create this safe place in our locker room and understanding what matters is the men that go out there and get in between the lines and put the work in throughout the week for us to go out and win,” Prescott said.
The comments from the two-time Pro Bowler come after Cowboys owner Jerry Jones neglected to discuss McCarthy’s job security in connection to the Cowboys-Bucs’ game on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas.
“I’ve got a lot more to evaluate Mike McCarthy on than this playoff game,” Jones said Wednesday on the show. “I can’t tell you how much confidence I’ve got in Mike and our coaching staff of being on top of where we are with this team right now. … They understand every frailty that we might have or we might have shown Sunday [in the loss to Washington]. They’ve got everything in their grasp and in their understanding, and I have complete confidence in this coaching staff. It’s outstanding.”
McCarthy has led Dallas to back-to-back 12-win seasons. But the real test of his tenure comes in getting a playoff win, something he failed to do after the 2021 season when the Cowboys lost to the 49ers, 23–17, during wild card weekend. The Cowboys have not surpassed the Division round of the playoffs since 1995.
ESPN’s Dan Graziano recently reported that if the Dallas loses to Tampa Bay in an ugly affair, McCarthy could potentially receive the boot from Jones. McCarthy still has two years remaining on his contract in Dallas. As of now, his time in Dallas remains intact.
