Usually you wouldn’t think a coach who reached the playoffs would be on the hot seat entering the season, but the Cowboys’ Mike McCarthy finds himself under a more watchful eye in Jerry World than most other NFL head coaches.
After a first round exit at home thanks to the 49ers, McCarthy and his 12-5 Cowboys went home a little sooner than they had probably anticipated. It led to owner Jerry Jones keeping the door cracked open for a potential coaching change in the future. With options like Sean Payton sitting out on the open market or Dan Quinn internally, the Cowboys have plenty of good options if the team disappoints for a second year in a row.
Jones has said Payton won’t be a “conversation piece” for McCarthy’s job with such a good option in Quinn already with the team if a change is necessary. If the Cowboys get off to a slow start in 2022, you can be sure that those names are going to quickly emerge for McCarthy’s job. Currently, however, McCarthy has no desire to speak on the subject.
“It’s irritating that the first question you ask me has nothing to do with how I do my job,” McCarthy said to David Moore of the Dallas Morning News. “I show up every day for work to win a championship. How do we win today? That’s what I’m asking. My viewpoint is it’s not a story. It’s a media-driven narrative, or at least a narrative driven outside my realm.”
McCarthy, 58, does not want to handle any coaching questions and specifically stated that if it “doesn’t have to do with winning” then it isn’t worth his time. He’ll have to focus on winning more than he did last year if he wants to make sure those questions stay in the past.