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.
Of course, the Cowboys ran the damn ball … NOT! (Sorry for the terrible NOT joke. I’ll explain in a bit.)
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In reality, it was an incompletion to the left side of the end zone. Cornerback DaRon Bland broke up Prescott’s pass intended for star wideout CeeDee Lamb, who made a handful of plays after that.
The NOT joke was inspired by McCarthy. He actually used it before practice speaking to reporters, and delivering the joke in a Borat-like voice. If you don’t believe me, you can find the video somewhere on DallasCowboys.com.
This wasn’t taken out of context, which McCarthy claims was the case for his infamous “run the damn ball” quote earlier this year. McCarthy explained Thursday that the comment was about the 2020 season, and not the reason why he decided to fire Moore, who quickly found a new job as the Chargers’ offensive coordinator.
“Maybe I misinterpreted it to you, so I’ll take some responsibility … NOT,” McCarthy said with a slight grin.
McCarthy said he wanted more run plays from Moore in 2020, because they played multiple backup quarterbacks that season with Prescott sidelined due to injury. But McCarthy also added that run plays increased the past two seasons and stressed the importance of controlling time of possession.
In other words, expect the Cowboys to have a more balanced attack this season with McCarthy calling plays, something he hasn’t done since 2018, when he was the coach of the Packers.
Watching the Cowboys’ practice Thursday, it was evident that they’re prioritizing learning the concepts of McCarthy’s new system, one that Prescott admitted has more changes than his transition from Scott Linehan to Moore in 2019.
Rarely did the Cowboys have game-like situations between their offense and defense. Instead, the Cowboys mostly stayed at midfield for full-team drills and didn’t hesitate to repeat plays after sloppy exchanges between center and quarterback. Prescott had a few fumbles off the snap and threw multiple interceptions, but it’s August, and McCarthy is optimistic that mistakes will decrease with more repetitions of the new offensive scheme.
“From Linehan to Kellen, there wasn’t a lot of change, just different ways to get the plays,” Prescott said. “Kind of a different approach about it. But even now, yeah, this change from Kellen to McCarthy, there’s definitely more plays added. There’s things that he’s brought from his past, West Coast–type things.
“We’re installing the plays with a lot of detail, making sure everybody understands the purpose of a play, the details of a play and their role within them.”
The analytics community and football-tape grinders might laugh about McCarthy adding his past philosophies into the Cowboys’ playbook in the era of pass-happy offenses. But McCarthy said he sat down with Prescott and went over every concept he’s ever had in Dallas, giving him the option to remove it or keep it for the new system.
“Build off the concepts that were in place because, going back to 2020, I just didn’t think that was the best thing for Dak Prescott, and that’s still the case,” McCarthy said. “We still went back and looked at every concept he’s had, and obviously, had some input once we were able to get together with him. … If we needed it, great. If we didn’t, we moved on.”
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The Cowboys’ patient approach in training camp to ensure the offense learns McCarthy’s system could impact the defense, but many of the players have already mastered defensive coordinator Dan Quinn’s system. Quinn is entering his third season with the Cowboys, and his defensive unit was one of the best last season with Micah Parsons, DeMarcus Lawrence, Trevon Diggs and Stephon Gilmore leading the charge.
McCarthy said he’ll have his play-calling battles with Quinn toward the end of camp with no do-over plays. Maybe then we’ll get a glimpse of how Prescott handles the new concepts and protection calls of McCarthy’s tweaks.
“I remember in 2011 when Aaron [Rodgers] won the MVP, the conversation we had after that was, ‘Your biggest challenge moving forward is going to be yourself. You mastered the offense,’” McCarthy said. “He [had] complete understanding, and now how he grows with his perimeter teammates and all those connections. Things change in this game from a personnel perspective.
“When I look at Dak, I think he’s entering that phase of his career. He has a complete understanding of the offense, but where he is today is because of the changes we have made. He just needs reps in them.”
Mistakes such as interceptions are O.K. in training camp because no one ever makes those a big deal when it comes to the Cowboys … NOT.
Maybe McCarthy will have the last laugh if Prescott masters the updated offense with a productive rushing attack and a well-rested defense in 2023.
