Mike McCarthy calls baffling gameplan in loss to Houston Texans

Mike McCarthy had a rough Monday night performance.

The Dallas Cowboys lost yet another game on Monday, this time losing to the Houston Texans 34-10. The Cowboys were underdogs heading into the game, as they likely will be for every game the rest of the season except maybe against the New York Giants on Thanksgiving and the Carolina Panthers on December 15. When a team is facing the landslide of injuries that Dallas is, it’s important to have a well-coached game to overcome the lack of talent available. Mike McCarthy did everything in his power to make life more difficult for the Cowboys on Monday.

The first glaring mistake was running a fake punt early in the first quarter. On their own 30-yard line, punter Bryan Anger threw a pass short of the line to gain which set the Texans up for the first touchdown of the game.

His second glaring mistake came in the second half when he took points off the board but failed to re-capture those points when the opportunity presented itself. Kicker Brandon Aubrey had just drilled a 64-yard field goal, bringing the Cowboys within seven points. However, McCarthy chose to accept a penalty committed by the Houston Texans which took the field goal off the scoreboard and gave Dallas a new set of downs. They were then unable later to convert a fourth-down attempt, ultimately coming away with zero points on the possession. Knowing how bad the Cowboys offense had been up to that point, it felt questionable to not take the field goal the second time and make it a one-possession game instead of going for it on fourth down.

The most glaring problem with McCarthy on Monday wasn’t a single play. Nor was it the consistent penalties and poor play-calling. QB Cooper Rush finished the game with 55 pass attempts. That is simply absurd. When Rush had success as a starter the last time Prescott was hurt, it was because he was able to be a reliable ‘game-manager’ at the position. He didn’t throw for a ton of yards, but he made the right plays. Forcing any quarterback to throw 55 times in a game is a recipe for failure, but Rush hasn’t shown that he has the arm talent to consistently stretch the ball down the field. Despite McCarthy saying earlier in the week that RB Rico Dowdle would receive more carries, he finished with just a mere 10 on Monday night.

The Cowboys run game wasn’t very effective in fairness to McCarthy, but they didn’t scheme ways to get guys like KaVontae Turpin the ball in space on jet sweeps. They did utilize CeeDee Lamb a little in this way, but they could have been more creative running the ball then calling the same stale scheme. And that doesn’t even mention the possibilities if they would have given Trey Lance some opportunities.

The Cowboys are facing an uphill battle the rest of the season without their starting quarterback. However, their head coach continues to hurt them more than help them, and is making his seat even warmer come this offseason.