If you were still on the fence about whether or not the Cowboys should bring Mike McCarthy back, Monday night should have made it clear.
Given how the Dallas Cowboys lost their most recent game against the Bengals, it may seem unfair to blame head coach Mike McCarthy. But while it’s easy to point at a specific moment in the contest, and one player’s very personal blunder, which cost Dallas victory, the Cowboys could have been ahead if McCarthy hadn’t made his own big mistake.
Facts are facts; if CB Amani Oruwariye had secured that blocked punt or just not even touched it, Dallas would have been in a strong position to win. The ball likely gets downed somewhere between the Bengals’ 45 and the 50, meaning the Cowboys were already close, if not in, kicker Brandon Aubrey’s range. With the way Rico Dowdle was running, it’s more than reasonable that they would’ve picked up yards, maybe even a first down, to wind the clock down and walk off with the victory.
But should the game have even been tied at that point? Let’s talk about the night that Dowdle was having. It was his best yet as a pro; 131 rushing yards on just 18 carries, plus one 10-yard catch. Averaging 8.4 yards per touch, Dowdle was the best thing Dallas had going offensively. Cooper Rush was struggling, and had it not been for CeeDee Lamb’s great individual effort on a 43-yard catch it would’ve been a very poor night for QB2.
Naturally then, McCarthy went away from him in the crucial final drives. After Cincy made it 20-20 on a field goal, Dowdle did get the first carry and was stopped for a one-yard loss. But instead of giving him another shot, McCarthy leaned on Rush for two straight incompletions that led to a punt. The next time Dallas got the ball, Dowdle took the first carry for 14 yards. He didn’t get another one as Rush threw three more blanks and the Cowboys had to punt again. The Bengals’ next drive led to the special teams disaster.
McCarthy’s personality as a coach is well known. He’s a West Coast guy who’s never made the run game a feature of his offense. That made sense when his quarterbacks were Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers, and even at times when Dak Prescott is humming, but it looks pretty stupid when you’ve got Cooper Rush overthrowing open guys and not even seeing others.
It’s even dumber when you consider the opponent. Keeping the Bengals’ offense off the field was crucial to success and Dowdle was providing a great way to do it. While the couple of carries they gave Ezekiel Elliott was ineffective, why weren’t Hunter Luepke or Deuce Vaughn worked into the mix? If Dowdle couldn’t take a heavier workload, there were other ways to run the offense that would’ve exploited Cincinnati’s clear weakness.
But that’s where McCarthy has so consistently failed in Dallas, especially in these two years as the play-caller. He runs a stubborn scheme, both in its archaic design and predictable in-game decisions. Even with his starting QB out and the run game dominating, he can’t help himself. McCarthy is going to live or die his way, either because he’s too proud to adapt or lacks the talent and creativity to do so.
Whatever the reason, it’s more evidence of why the Cowboys have to move on from McCarthy this offseason. Sure, he deserves credit for the way the players have kept fighting in a realistically lost season. But you can’t let that distract you from the fact that he’s one of the culprits. A better coach doesn’t lose this last game.
So while some players certainly deserve blame for Dallas’ fall on Monday night, don’t let Mike McCarthy off the hook. Bad moments and even off nights happen for players, but McCarthy’s poor judgment has been on display for far longer and more consistently. Even if the front office has a brilliant offseason, trusting McCarthy to take that talent somewhere special is no longer reasonable.
