Chris Pedota / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images The Cowboys are a bottom half team in the NFC East right now. Marshon Lattimore gets added urgency for Commanders’ playoff involvement – Dean Jones, RiggosRag.com Washington’s Marshon Lattimore could square off against a familiar foe in Tampa. Marshon Lattimore’s time on the field since joining the Washington Commanders has been extremely limited. If this defense wants to thrive in the postseason, they need their best coverage cornerback to make a lasting contribution. Lattimore hasn’t been seen over the final two games of the regular season. He reinjured his hamstring during a titanic battle with Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown. Head coach Dan Quinn stated he was optimistic about his postseason involvement, there was just no need to force the issue with Washington’s playoff spot already secure. Marshon Lattimore will push hard to renew physical rivalry wth Mike Evans Almost as soon as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers clinched the third seed and a home wildcard tie versus Washington, the pending battle between Lattimore and Evans didn’t take long to become a hot topic of discussion across social media. This should give the former first-round pick all the incentive needed to feature in some capacity. Lattimore isn’t one to shirk a challenge. He’s highly competitive and is going to relish the chance to line up opposite Evans once again. He knows how to get into the wide receiver’s head, which will be a tremendous asset for the Commanders in pursuit of reaching the divisional round. This might speed things up from Lattimore’s perspective, but it’s not going to alter the Commanders’ approach with the shutdown boundary presence. They have a process in place and need the Ohio State product to hit specific targets before giving him the green light. That won’t change just because a must-see tussle with Evans is the prize. Evans reached the 1,000-yard receiving milestone once again with no time to spare against the New Orleans Saints. That extends his superb run since entering the league, but there is no love lost from Lattimore’s perspective if history is any indication. Jalen Hurts remains in concussion protocol as Eagles prepare to face Packers in playoffs – Liz Roscher, Yahoo! Sports As the postseason nears, Hurts is still in concussion protocol. Quarterback Jalen Hurts remains in concussion protocol as the Philadelphia Eagles prepare for Sunday’s wild-card game against the Green Bay Packers. Head coach Nick Sirianni told the media on Monday that Hurts is still in the protocol following the concussion he sustained early in the Eagles’ Week 16 game against the Washington Commanders. He missed the remainder of the game, which the Eagles lost, and didn’t play in Week 17 or 18. Kenny Pickett filled in for Hurts in Week 16 and part of Week 17. Tanner McKee stepped in after Pickett took a nasty shot to the ribs in Week 17, then made his very first NFL start against the New York Giants in Week 18. Sirianni didn’t give any details, which has been true of every “update” he’s given since Hurts entered the protocol on Dec. 22. The Eagles haven’t released any information on whether Hurts has been progressing through the various phases of the NFL’s return-to-participation protocol or how far he’s gotten, though Sirianni did confirm that Hurts was present at Saturday’s walkthrough. Unfortunately, since that is a non-contact club event, there isn’t much to glean from that. The Eagles beat the Packers all the way back in Week 1 during the NFL’s first game in Brazil. Both teams are much different now than they were four-plus months ago, but missing Hurts would be a tremendous blow to the Eagles’ chances. Eventually Sirianni will have to reveal more, but not until the Eagles actually hold a real practice this week. Joe Schoen: No ‘Hail Mary’s’ in trying to turn New York Giants around – Ed Valentine, BigBlueView.com New York’s front office feels big improvements are right around the corner. Joe Schoen didn’t hide from responsibility for the mess that the New York Giants have been over the past two seasons when he met with the media after the announcement he would return for a fourth season as general manager. “First and foremost, myself,” said Schoen when asked where responsibility fell following a 3-14 season. “We’re not good enough. We didn’t play well enough. I’ve got to do a better job assembling a roster with more talent so we can go out and compete at a higher level. So, I look inward, first and foremost.” Schoen said his belief that he would be brought back “never wavered.” Fixing the Giants after a combined 9-25 record the past two seasons is not an easy task. It won’t be made easier for Schoen by co-owner John Mara’s statement that “it better not take too long” for the product to get better. Schoen said they will be “looking at the organization top to bottom, trying to figure out what’s best moving forward.” Schoen knows there is a mountain to climb. He thinks the organization is in a position to have an opportunity to do so. “We’re here. We’re picking third in the draft. As we built this thing, when [quarterback] Daniel [Jones] had the ACL a year ago, not knowing how he was going to come back, we also had to be conscious of what may be on the horizon. So, you’re working on parallel tracks,” Schoen said. “So, we’re sitting here with 40-plus million dollars in cap space and over 100 the following year. So, some teams are in this situation where maybe they need a quarterback and they don’t have the financial pieces or the draft resources. So, we are in good shape from that standpoint in terms of improving the roster via free agency, trades, or through the draft. I’ve got a lot of confidence in the people in the building, the process and I’ve got a lot of faith in the plan that we have

Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images There are a number of players who the Cowboys are going to have to make some decisions on soon. The 2024 NFL regular season has come to an end. For the Dallas Cowboys, the end could not come soon enough. A year that started so well with an easy win over the Cleveland Browns ended in dramatic fashion on Sunday afternoon. The Cowboys lost their tenth game of the season to the Washington Commanders, giving up a last-second touchdown to Terry McLaurin on their final defensive play of the season. For the Cowboys, the attention now turns to getting their team ready to compete for a playoff spot in 2025. Dallas has plenty of work to do if they want to return to the playoffs next season, and there figures to be plenty of change with some impactful players set to his free agency. With that in mind, today we take a look at three players who have likely played their last game as a Cowboy. Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images 1) WR Brandin Cooks 2024 was a difficult year for veteran wide receiver Brandin Cooks. The 31-year-old suffered a knee infection in early October, forcing him to miss a significant chunk of the regular season. Cooks ended up playing in just 10 games and did not look anything like the offensive difference maker he can be. On the year, Cooks recorded career lows in receptions (26), receiving yards (259), and receiving touchdowns (3). Cooks’ knee injury clearly affected his ability to gain separation, and the veteran finished with the fourth-worst average separation rate (2.2 yards) among qualified receivers. As pivotal as Cooks was to Dallas’ offensive success in 2023, it’s hard to see the performance he put on display this season and feel positive about his long-term future. The veteran just wrapped up his eleventh season in the NFL and there are certainly some signs his career may be headed for a steady decline. If Cooks agreed to come back on a one-year deal worth $5M or less the Cowboys may be interested in retaining his services for one more season. As good as that sounds, there will almost certainly be a team willing to gamble and bet on him bouncing back, offering more money than Dallas will. Acquiring Cooks will go down as one of the better trades in recent Cowboys’ history, but it’s hard to envision a world where this was not his last season as a Cowboy. Peter Casey-Imagn Images 2) DT Osa Odighizuwa You could make a solid argument that Osa Odighizuwa is Dallas’ most important impending free agent. The 26-year-old put together the most complete season of his career this year, sustaining consistently solid play throughout the eternity of the 17-game regular season. Odighizuwa finished the year playing some of the best football we’ve seen him play as a Cowboy. In Dallas’ final seven regular season games, the former third-round pick recorded 28 total pressures, 10 QB hits, and 2.5 sacks. Odighizuwa’s 6.5 sacks and 55 total pressures were by far the most in a single season during his four-year NFL career. Everything Odighizuwa did this season should make the Cowboys want to bring him back on a long-term deal. The only problem is his productive season is going to make the 26-year-old a hot commodity on the free agent market, should he get there. Last offseason, defensive tackles Grover Stewart and Justin Jones both signed three-year deals totaling $39 and $31M respectively. Odighizuwa is younger than either of those players and is as, if not more, productive of a player. There’s a real chance a team may offer him a three or four-year deal worth $11-13M a year, which is a deal it would be hard to see the Cowboys matching. With all the potential suitors they will need to compete with, if the Cowboys allow Osa Odighizuwa to hit free agency it’s almost a guarantee he will be wearing another logo on his helmet come next fall. Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images 3) QB Trey Lance I think it’s safe to say Sunday’s regular-season finale against the Washington Commanders could be the end of the Trey Lance experiment. When Dallas traded for Lance back before the start of the 2023 season the move did not make much sense. Flash forward two years later and it makes even less sense. Even with Dak Prescott suffering a season-ending injury back in Week 9, the Cowboys did not trust Lance enough to play him until the final game of the regular season. While he didn’t look horrible at times, completing 20 of 34 passes for 244 yards, it was made evidently clear Lance does not possess the accuracy to become a stating-caliber quarterback at the NFL level. A reunion in 2025 does not make much sense for either side. From the Cowboys’ perspective, with all the holes they need to fill on their roster paying Lance $5-6M to be maybe the backup quarterback is just not smart. Dallas could spend that money on a starting-caliber running back who would be able to help their team immediately. From Lance’s perspective, why would he want to return to an organization that did not trust him enough to play him even when it was clear the season was out of reach? The Trey Lance trade will always go down as a head-scratching move, and it seems like there’s a good chance both sides will move on this spring.

Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images Speculation continues to surround Mike McCarthy’s status as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. The season is over for the Dallas Cowboys. It would be nice if we could say it’s been fun, but everyone knows better. It was maddening before the season began thanks to an offseason that provided fans very little to feel good about. When it was time to play football, they struggled early, finding themselves on the wrong end of some lopsided blowouts. Then they lost Dak Prescott for the year. Any enthusiasm we had left was sucked right out of us. So, as you can see, it hasn’t been fun. The only good thing about the 2024 season is that it’s over. We can finally turn the page and look ahead to next year, which hopefully will offer more promising results, and at the very least, a cleaner bill of health. Before the Cowboys can move forward, they need to figure out what they want to do for a head coach. The decision on whether to bring Mike McCarthy back is not an easy one. It’s a topic that Jerry and Stephen Jones have been asked about non-stop over the last several weeks and each time they humor reporters with an answer that’s so ambiguous, it’s hard to figure out what direction they might go. It’s quite possible the Joneses aren’t saying much because they, themselves, aren’t sure what to do. After last season, McCarthy was coming off of three consecutive 12-win seasons. He was the first coach in Cowboys history to accomplish such yet that wasn’t enough for them to reward him with a contract extension. The Joneses still had doubts. Maybe those doubts stemmed from continuously underwhelming in the playoffs. Playing well during the regular season and then not even showing up against Green Bay will definitely put a sour taste in your mouth. The every-year frustration of another playoff letdown had to be eating at them and it created enough uncertainty that they let McCarthy play out his contract in what many believed was a “lame duck” season. Instead of giving him a ringing endorsement in the form of a new contract, the Joneses treated 2024 like a test. Unfortunately, injuries hit the team hard and have some slapping an asterisk on the season, making it challenging to determine how well McCarthy has done. Sometimes they played hard and fought out a win, other times they looked dreadful and were taken to the woodshed. What can we conclude from all this? The Joneses are right to have pause. Even though they have won plenty of games, when the rubber meets the road and they need good coaching, they don’t get it. As my colleague One Cool Customer has discussed – talent will win you games in the regular season, but coaching gets it done in the playoffs. The Cowboys are proof of that. They can beat teams with lesser talent, but when the postseason rolls around and they go against other teams with comparable talent, they get outcoached. And when it comes to McCarthy’s coaching, several things aren’t working for him. Ineffective play-calling The creativity of offensive plays has been under scrutiny during the McCarthy/Brian Schottenheimer seasons. And the plays get worse when they get into the red zone. The Cowboys finished the year with a red zone efficiency of 46%. That is second-worst in the league, trailing only the New York Giants. Even last year when Prescott was dealing and they led the league in points scored, they were still middle-of-the-road in the red zone at 58%. In contrast, the Cowboys offense was 71% in the red zone (best in the league) during Kellen Moore’s final season despite Prescott missing five games that year. The offense also struggles to come up with good plays when they really need them. The Cowboys finished with a fourth-down percentage of 36%, the worst in the NFL. They were fifth-best during Moore’s last season. If you don’t think much of Moore as an offensive coordinator, you can’t be too pleased to see that McCarthy’s offense is worse in these important categories. Never-ending lack of discipline The discipline under McCarthy’s supervision has also been frequently questioned because the Cowboys have always been one of the worst teams in the league in penalties under his watch. Since 2020 when McCarthy became the head coach, no team has been penalized more than the Cowboys. That’s crazy. What’s even crazier is that Dallas has finished with the fourth-most penalties in three of the last four seasons. They’re bad and they stay bad. Embarrassment on Sundays Last week, we talked about how the number of blowouts the Cowboys have had under McCarthy doesn’t paint a very favorable picture. Dallas has lost five games by 20 or more points this year, the most ever in the Jerry Jones era. The team finished the year with a -6.9 average margin of victory. That is the worst mark for this team in 20 years. It’s one thing to lose games, but it’s even worse when they can’t even stay in them. Not making the most of things One of the most impressive things about this Cowboys season is how so many players on defense stepped up and played up to or beyond expectations. You can create a long list of contributors and even though they were decimated with injuries, this group kept fighting. Whatever the situation, this group kept making the most of things. That didn’t happen on offense. Outside of CeeDee Lamb, the offense was mostly filled with disappointment. For reasons we might not ever understand, they didn’t allow Rico Dowdle to be the lead running back until the second half of the season, and before that, the run game was hot garbage. Once they went to Dowdle, things took off, but why did it take so long? And sometimes I forgot KaVontae Turpin was on the team. Turpin averaged 11 yards per touch, the

Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images It feels so freeing to be done with the 2024 season. There were only two surprises in the Dallas Cowboys’ season-ending loss to the Washington Commanders. One was that the game was even that competitive. The other was that Marcus Mariota, not Jayden Daniels, led Washington’s charge to victory. For Dallas, the key story in this one was finally ending this horrible season and moving on to new business. There were no big revelations or takeaways as the Cowboys’ closed the book on 2024. A full game of Trey Lance showed us the same good and bad that he’s shown since entering the league. The athleticism was obvious and some of his throws were lasers, but at times had the accuracy of an Imperial Stormtrooper. Washington didn’t make things too hard for him either, focusing on stopping the run and forcing the inexperienced QB to sink or swim. We already knew that Micah Parsons was a beast. We knew it’s been a rough year for Jake Ferguson. We knew DaRon Bland could hang with the league’s top receivers and that Brandon Aubrey doesn’t miss. We know Tyler Guyton desperately needs more offseason work. We know that this Mike McCarthy/Brian Schottenheimer offense has redzone problems and doesn’t have enough creativity to overcome talent deficiencies. Now, at last, the Cowboys can do something about what they know. Coaching staff changes could come as soon as this week. Decisions on re-signing some players or making others salary cap casualties could happen within the next two months. Free agency starts on March 10th and the draft won’t be far behind. The business of trying to make this team better, we hope, can finally begin after one of the more demoralizing seasons in modern franchise history. But “hope” is the problem these days among Cowboys fans. As Morgan Freeman’s character in “The Shawshank Redemption” said: “Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane.” Following this team has become increasingly maddening. Many have lost faith that any coaching staff can succeed given the failings of the front office. Now the offseason doesn’t come with the same enthusiasm of the past, especially after last year’s inactivity and the obvious consequences of it. If this spring comes with the same penny-pinching, minimalist approach of 2024, which Stephen Jones has already hinted at, the spirit of Cowboys Nation will only be more trampled on by next September. Comings and goings on the coaching staff and roster, which are typically overblown during the news-starved NFL offseason, won’t be met with the same fervor. Still, we’ve seen teams win it all without having the most talent. The “lightning in a bottle” seasons do happen. We saw one not long ago with the 2017 Eagles, who brought home the franchise’s only Super Bowl trophy with Nick Foles at quarterback. Sometimes, it’s just having the right mix of players, coaches, and good fortune to make a special one-year run. You won’t be a dynasty like the current Chiefs or past Patriots that way, but plenty of one-season wonders have won championships during their times on top. See, there I go again with the hopium. We all do it, even the more objective and pragmatic of fans. The enduring belief that “this is our year” is what keeps us coming back for more punishment. The wheels fell off the Cowboys’ bandwagon a long time ago and yet here so many of us still are, watching the team exemplify the definition of insanity and perhaps being even crazier for our enduring fandom. But this is what we do. We’ll be in our feelings for a bit until the first bit of offseason news to react to. This year, it will come fast with Mike McCarthy and other coaches either needing to be re-signed or replaced. Then will come the lull before roster moves, and by then we’ll be ready to scratch that football itch again. So while the 2024 season has finally come to a merciful end, we can only wait and see if the misery dies with it. How much does or doesn’t change with the Cowboys’ coaching staff and roster will now be our fodder, and ultimately we won’t know until at least nine months from now just how good or bad those choices will be. But like the loyal fans we are, we’ll spend the offseason getting ready to get hurt again. Or, maybe 2025 actually is our year? We don’t know. We hope so.

Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images An argument for the Cowboys keeping Mike McCarthy The Dallas Cowboys’ miserable 2024 season finally came to an end with a loss to the Commanders, dropping them to 7-10 on the year and officially beginning a stage where all that’s left to do is wonder whether or not Mike McCarthy will be granted a contract extension or if Jerry Jones will let it lapse and start over. Reports indicate that Jones will take his time making the decision, as McCarthy’s contract doesn’t actually expire for another week. That said, Jones sounded like someone who was getting ready to extend his coach after the game. Jerry Jones on Mike McCarthy: “Mike’s one of the best coaches that I think there is. He was made the coach here because I thought that and he’s done absolutely nothing to diminish my opinion of him as a coach.” — Joseph Hoyt (@JoeJHoyt) January 5, 2025 Cowboys owner Jerry Jones when asked about having regrets about the roster he provided Mike McCarthy and the coaching staff: “I think that’s fair. I think that’s very fair. I always provide the roster for the coaches. If you don’t get there then you’ve always got some… — Jon Machota (@jonmachota) January 5, 2025 Prior to the game being played on Sunday, there were also reports that the Cowboys were leaning in the direction of bringing McCarthy back. These reports suggested that Jones is on board with keeping his head coach, but that others in the organization might not feel the same way. While many fans want to see McCarthy gone, the reality is that he’s the best the team will do at head coach. Simply put, there is no clear upgrade over McCarthy right now. This is the typical nature of the coaching carousel, of course. Good coaches don’t get fired, so teams are left to hire a bunch of inexperienced coaches or retreads who have head coaching experience but are available for a reason. The apple of the coaching carousel eye right now is Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, but he’s been extremely selective in the past and is reportedly only accepting interview requests for teams he’s actually interested in. This has already led to the Jets not even requesting an interview, and Johnson’s reported criteria for a team makes it unlikely he’d be interested in Dallas either. Mike Vrabel is another hot name, and the former Titans head coach recently had a revealing expose in The Athletic. In it, Vrabel attempted to dispel the narrative that he’s too controlling and difficult to work with, which rose to the top as the accepted reason for his firing a year ago in Tennessee. Of course, Vrabel was also fired following back to back years with double-digit losses. He also had been one-and-done in the playoffs the last two years prior to that. The overall downward trend of the Titans over Vrabel’s final four years there is a big reason he failed to land any jobs last cycle. After Johnson and Vrabel, it’s a long list of names who have just as many question marks as they have appealing traits. Coaches like Brian Flores, Vance Joseph, and Arthur Smith all have head coaching experience and have turned in really good seasons as coordinators, but their previous tenure prompts plenty of questions about what they’d do next. Meanwhile, hot coordinators and position coaches like Joe Brady, Aaron Glenn, Liam Coen, Anthony Weaver, and Josh McCown are getting interview requests, but it takes a lot more projection to imagine how these individuals will successfully go from one job to an entirely different one in being the head coach. There’s a very streaky success rate for rookie head coaches. Therein lies the security of keeping someone like McCarthy. Johnson and Vrabel will be welcomed with open arms by whoever hires them, but their success is far from guaranteed. Both are going to want a heavy say in personnel as well. That won’t jive with the Cowboys, and Jones offered a fierce rebuke of any notion that he step down as general manager after Sunday’s game: Jerry Jones also made some concessions about the roster and some of the decisions but when I asked him if he would concede the role given the scrutiny of it this season the answer was, “ No. I bought the team and…somebody asked, ‘Did you buy this for your kids?’ And I said hell… — Jane Slater (@SlaterNFL) January 5, 2025 McCarthy already has a working relationship with ownership, enough to win certain battles – such as investing in the build-up of the analytics department last offseason – but also enough to know when to defer to the owner. Any new coach is going to have to figure out that relational aspect first and foremost, which takes time. More importantly, McCarthy has shown an ability to win with what Jones provides him. This season proved to be too much, but few coaches could’ve won with this roster. They finished with 15 players on the injured reserve and missed Micah Parsons, DaRon Bland, and Brandin Cooks for long stretches as well. Still, McCarthy managed to win four games in five tries with Cooper Rush at quarterback. Before that, though, we saw consistent winning on an unprecedented level. Three straight 12-win seasons and three straight playoff appearances are things that this franchise hasn’t done since the glory days of the 90’s. Fans balk at the lack of success after they made the playoffs in those years, but Andy Reid was 1-4 in the playoffs in his first five years with the Chiefs. McCarthy is currently 1-3. Both coaches had 10 postseason wins with their previous club. The final and most important factor to consider is the team itself. The players have publicly vouched for McCarthy (and Mike Zimmer) to remain. Dak Prescott has even said he’ll personally lobby Jones to bring his head coach and play-caller back. The roster fought hard for McCarthy

Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images 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