Your Sunday morning Cowboys news.
Cowboys’ Parsons wants McCarthy, others back in 2025 – Todd Archer, ESPN
The Cowboys best player jumps on the ‘bring back McCarthy’ train.
While Micah Parsons is not ready to give up on 2024, the All-Pro pass rusher would like to see the Dallas Cowboys return all their key contributors for 2025, including coach Mike McCarthy.
“I would like a fair shot with everyone back — players, coaches — because the injuries kind of struck of what this season could really be,” Parsons said in an interview with ESPN that will air before the Cowboys’ “Monday Night Football” matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals. “The injuries have been terrible. And, you know, it really sucks. Seeing Zack [Martin], D-Law [DeMarcus Lawrence] not having the year I know he planned to have. He had such a great start. It really sucks.
“In terms of coaching, man, Coach Mike, me and his relationship has always been really good. He always took real good care of me. I just don’t know how the business side of it’s going to go, you know? [Owner and general manager Jerry Jones] has his own mindset about who he wants to coach. This is his team. I’m kind of just, like, a pawn in this business.”
In an interview with Yahoo Sports last week, quarterback Dak Prescott said he wants McCarthy to return and he “wholeheartedly” believes in him. The head coach is in the final year of his deal. Jones recently said on 105.3 The Fan that it would “not be crazy” for McCarthy to earn an extension despite the Cowboys’ record.
Mike McCarthy support present throughout Cowboys’ entire locker room – Josh Sanchez, Sports Illustrated
The confidence in head coach Mike McCarthy is everywhere in the Cowboys organization.
This week, Dallas Cowboys star quarterback Dak Prescott made waves when he was open about his support for head coach Mike McCarthy. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones responded to Prescott’s comments about McCarthy, and now EVP Stephen Jones is sharing his thoughts on the situation and McCarthy’s future with the team.
Jones spoke during an appearance on Shan & RJ on Audacy’s 105.3 The Fanand said he doesn’t think Prescott is the only player supporting McCarthy. In fact, McCarthy believes the “whole team” supports the head coach. “I think our whole team endorses Mike McCarthy. He’s got skins on the wall. He’s won a Super Bowl. He’s been in multiple championship games. He knows what it takes to win in this league,” Jones said.
Jones was also asked whether wins and losses will be the deciding factor when it comes to McCarthy’s future. “No. I think we understand organizationally and we also have much, much respect for what you guys do, and obviously you have your opinions and influence our fans. And we know our fans have high expectations. But we also know what it takes to win in this league. We’ve won a lot of games over the years,” he said.
“But we also understand that our fans are frustrated because we haven’t taken the ultimate step, which is win playoff games, get in championship games and Super Bowl games and win a Lombardi. We haven’t gotten that done, so it’s natural that the criticism comes our way.”
Looking ahead to the coming coaching cycle – Jonathan Jones, CBSSports
Despite the recent surge in pro-McCarthy sentiment, the Dallas Cowboys are expected to be among the teams searching for a new head coach at the end of the season.
The Jets, Saints and Bears all have vacant jobs, and sources believe the Cowboys and Jaguars will have openings at the end of the year. The belief has been there will be between six to eight coaching jobs this cycle.
But due to NFL rules, teams can’t perform even the quickest search for a coach until after the regular season is completed in January.
Jourdan Lewis talks defensive improvements, Bengals ‘aggressive’ offense – DallasCowboys.com
The Cowboys defense will have their hands full with a prolific Bengals offense.
When the Cowboys and Bengals meet on Monday Night Football, a lot of attention will go to how Cincinnati’s high-powered offense will fare against a Dallas defense that has started to find its stride over the last few weeks. Cowboys cornerback Jourdan Lewis acknowledged that despite the Bengals 4-8 record, they’re still a dangerous opponent.
“Try to be aggressive, push the ball down field,” Lewis said of Cincinnati’s offensive style. “We got to be prepared to stop that because they got to a lot of playmakers that make plays and can burn us. We just got to go out there and execute, it doesn’t matter what their record is.”
The Bengals are fifth in the NFL in points per game (27.9), first in passing yards per game (264.3), and ninth in total yards per game (356). Seven of their eight losses this season have come in one possession games and the Bengals average 27.75 points per game in losses, which is more than the Cowboys average per game this season (20.7). It’s safe to say it won’t be an easy challenge to overcome.
“It’s tough,” Lewis said when asked how to stop a high-powered offense like Cincinnati’s. “You just got to give Joe [Burrow] a lot of different looks, a variety of different looks, and hopefully we can get some stops and just go out there and prepare our hearts and go out there and execute on those guys and challenge those receivers.”
Let’s Assess the Cowboys’ Rookie Offensive Linemen – Rivers McCown, D-Magazine
McCown takes a detailed look at both Guyton and Beebe and comes to this conclusion:
You usually can’t write the book on a draft pick after one season. But after two seasons in the NFL, you have a good sense of what is happening. I don’t see what happened to Beebe or Guyton this year as disqualifying them from becoming solid, or good, or perhaps even joining Smith as Dallas’ long-term keys to protecting Prescott.
Both linemen will have to get stronger. And should Jerry Jones choose to shuffle the deck at head coach, they’ll need to avoid someone who comes in and wants to replace them. Headstrong as Jones can be, I don’t think he’d stand in the way of his new coach signing a better center than Beebe after one season, for instance. Many new coaches—see: Mike Zimmer on defense this year—come in wanting to replace otherwise functional players with Their Guys. It wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility to move Beebe to his old guard spot to compete if Zack Martin retired.
The important thing is that there’s enough positive momentum here to feel like these players have a chance to take the leap this offseason. But it also doesn’t mean they will improve at all. The sophomore offseason is one of the great black boxes of the NFL, where players are tested to improve not just their body but their football IQ, their resiliency, and their on-field instincts. 2025 is the year Guyton and Beebe will prove the Cowboys right or wrong.
Prisco’s Week 14 NFL picks: Cowboys officially bury Bengals – Pete Prisco, CBSSports
No question mark in the title of this post.
Joe Burrow is playing great football, but his defense is awful. The Cowboys still have life in their playoff pursuit — barely. The Dallas defense has improved with the return of health of key players, but they will be challenged here. I think the Cowboys hang around and pull off the upset. Cowboys win it.
Pick: Cowboys 27, Bengals 26
