The latest Dallas Cowboys offseason news.
Micah Parsons reflects on fourth NFL season, backs Mike McCarthy – Tommy Yarrish, DallasCowboys.com
The Cowboys may not have found as many players to build the future roster around as they hoped this season, but at least there’s Micah Parsons.
While his own accomplishments were impressive, Parsons was proud of the resiliency of his teammates all season as well. The Cowboys took pride in continuing to play hard even when they knew a trip to the playoffs is out of the picture, and Parsons believes the players who make that possible are guys that need to stick around.
“Knowing that there is no playoff game but coming out there and putting it all out there for your teammates, those are the type of guys that you want to keep around,” Parsons said. “Build around, keep in this locker room, and that’s going to help build the culture and change the culture to become champions.”
Parsons is also hungry to push for a championship, and he’ll talk about that amongst other topics with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones on Friday at the Cotton Bowl when Texas and Ohio State play at AT&T Stadium with a trip to the College Football Playoff National Championship game on the line.
“It’s going to be great talking to the guy that believed in me first to see what the mission is and how we’re going to accomplish and really make us happy, and make the fans happy.” Parsons said.
Another point of emphasis for Parsons this offseason is getting a contract extension, something that he’s made clear he wants to do and is willing to sacrifice in order to stay in Dallas and help bolster the roster. For now though, the looming question is the status of Mike McCarthy, and Parsons continued to back him through the end of a challenging season.
“I thought he did very well, I felt like obviously for what he’s had, he definitely made an impact,” Parsons said. “It’s definitely challenging because anytime you lose your starting quarterback… it’s the most challenging part.”
If this is in fact the end for McCarthy in Dallas, Parsons is thankful for the time they spent together.
“I appreciate Mike for everything he’s done for me and the program if this was our last ride,” Parsons said. “He’s always been a great man, a great father, a great testament of faith since he’s been here so I appreciate him.”
Micah Parsons drops telling quote about Mike Zimmer’s future as Dallas Cowboys wait to make any decisions – Mauricio Rodriguez, A to Z Sports
Parsons has proven himself as the type of player that gives his all no matter who his coaches are, endorsing more time with Mike Zimmer the same way he did with Dan Quinn.
“If I got (Zimmer) back, awesome, I think Zimm might want to come back, I told you he’s ready to ride off into the sunset,” Parsons told reporters postgame. “To him, it’s not even about money anymore, I think he’s gotta want to do it.”
Parsons, who will have dinner with Zimmer this week, seems to be aware it’s a decision the Cowboys defensive coordinator will have to make himself as much as the team that would need to extend his deal if it wants to keep him around. For him to come out and say it explicitly and pointing out how much “want” is a factor here is very telling. There’s a real chance Zimmer might call it a day.
Questions about Zimmer’s intentions have increased over the last couple of weeks, when the coach talked to reporters about how the 2024 season had been hard for him.
“It’s been hard, I’m not going to lie about that,” Zimmer candidly said following Week 17. “It’s hard, it’s been hard.”
McCarthy’s worth, Lance lessons among things learned in Cowboys’ Week 18 loss – Ben Grimaldi, The Cowboys Wire
The Cowboys ending the season with back-to-back losses to division rivals and finishing 2-6 at home is certainly a tough look for Mike McCarthy at the end of his contract.
Mike McCarthy shouldn’t be back
It was evident early this season it wouldn’t be the Cowboys’ year, and while McCarthy gets credit for having the team fight through a rough stretch, it was obvious in Week 18 the head coach shouldn’t be back. Starting with the move to play Lance, McCarthy made some highly questionable decisions in the loss.
Despite moving the ball well most of the game, the offense bogged down in the red zone, partly due to McCarthy’s subpar play calling. Lance looked to throw to the corner of the end zone on numerous occasions, none of which worked and all which failed to use Lance’s legs.
However, the most egregious decision was to punt the ball late in the fourth quarter. Facing a fourth-and-1 at the Washington 47-yard line with 3:25 left to play, McCarthy played it passive, electing to punt. Instead of going at a defense that struggles to stop the run, and against a team that allowed the Cowboys to rush for 150 yards in the game, McCarthy gave the ball back to the Commanders to mount a game-winning drive.
The Commanders took the gift and drove 91 yards for the winning score. It was one of McCarthy’s worst decisions during his tenure with the Cowboys, which is saying something.
Old habits die hard in Cowboys season-finale as they lose to the Commanders – LP Cruz, Blogging The Boys
If you watched one Dallas Cowboys loss this season, you might as well have watched all ten.
Red zone issues
It’s great that Brandon Aubrey was perfect, making all five of his kicks (four field goals and one extra point) but that’s too much of a good thing. The Cowboys’ offense disintegrated once they reached the red zone. The glaring mistake was the previously mentioned poor throw by Lance to Dowdle, but that’s only one occurrence. Dallas was 1-6 on their drives in the red zone. They also outgained the Commanders 378 to 269. The one time they did score in red zone was a touchdown to Dowdle but that was only his second touchdown of the season. It’s been a recurring theme this season. Dallas goes on a long drive, and they must settle for a field goal.
They ranked 27th in red zone efficiency. On Sunday, the Cowboys went on long drives, winning time of possession by almost 15 minutes to milk the clock only to come up short once getting deep into Commanders’ territory. It’s also surprising that the offense didn’t call any quarterback-designed runs for Lance inside the five-yard line when they had done so between the 20s.
Brandon Aubrey breaks yet another record in loss to Commanders – Mario Herrera Jr., Inside The Star
Much like Micah Parsons, kicker Brandon Aubrey was also a season-long bright spot for the Cowboys on special teams.
Butter Aubrey
Brandon Aubrey earned the name “Butter” Aubrey for his smooth kicking style and pinpoint accuracy. Perhaps so many years playing soccer taught him to kick to a spot, and not just try to get the ball between the uprights. Aubrey earned another Pro Bowl nod this year despite kicking with only 85.1% accuracy, down from 94.7% last season.
Don’t criticize him too much for his seven misses. His 40 makes were another record, becoming just the fifth kicker in NFL history to finish the regular season with at least 40 successful field goals. David Akers, former Philadelphia Eagles kicker holds the record with 44, set in 2011 as a member of the San Francisco 49ers.
Daniel Carlson was on the only other kicker to accomplish this feat besides Akers with 40 made field goals in 2021, but Aubrey isn’t the only kicker to join this list for the 2024 season. Pittsburgh’s Chris Boswell finished the season with 41 successful field goals, and sits in second place all-time behind Akers.
Brandon Aubrey’s accomplishments continue to pile up. His 40 made field goals this season totaled 1,769 yards, which converts to 5,307 feet. This means he is the first kicker in NFL history to make a mile’s worth (5,280 feet) of kicks in a single season.
