Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy stared at his play sheet while his starting offense hustled to the 1-yard line for a fourth-and-goal situation to open Thursday’s training camp practice in Oxnard, Calif.
Surely, McCarthy, Dallas’s fourth-year coach and first-year play-caller, was merely stalling, right? This was an obvious run play, because this is the same coach who made headlines in March for saying he wanted former offensive coordinator Kellen Moore “to run the damn ball.”
But there was McCarthy, fidgeting with his pen, likely contemplating whether to run up the middle or run a confusing jet sweep. After the illusion of possibly passing the ball, McCarthy shared the play with quarterback Dak Prescott.
