DEAL:I SIGNED 4YRS-CONTRACT WITH COLTS” Cowboys Michael John McCarthy Announced today
Gather the animals two-by-two, because it’s really, actually happening: The Dallas Cowboys have their best shot at winning a Super Bowl since Dez Caught It.
The team’s dismantling of the Eagles last week leaves them in a tier of two in the NFC: it’s the Cowboys, Niners and then a drop to the Eagles and Lions. If Dallas can secure home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, they should enter the postseason as the favorites to come out of the NFC, despite their thorny record v the Niners.
Don’t scoff or laugh just yet. McCarthy doesn’t have as strong a narrative to tell as Sean McVay. He isn’t as likeable as Mike McDaniel or Dan Campbell. He hasn’t engineered as stark a turnaround as DeMeco Ryans or Shane Steichen. But his case is just as solid.
McCarthy has long been cast as bozo, the Joey in the NFL’s production of Friends. And not just any old bozo: A lucky bozo. He’s the coach who lucked into Aaron Rodgers, and when that relationship frayed, he landed a plum job with the Cowboys, where he would work with one of the most gifted rosters in the league and function as some sort of puppet for Jerry Jones.
Dak Prescott is the league MVP. In fact, we can go further: Mike McCarthy should be at the forefront of any Coach of the Year conversation.
But that theory ignores a crucial fact: Everywhere McCarthy goes, he wins. McCarthy has averaged 10 wins a season, including 11 seasons with 10 or more wins in his 17 seasons as a head coach. He’s 11th all-time in win percentage among coaches who’ve won 100-plus games, ranking fifth among active coaches. He has a better winning percentage than John Harbaugh, Bill Walsh and Tom Landry. As the Cowboys coach, McCarthy is 38-23 and has a shot to become only the second coach in franchise history to win 12 games in three consecutive seasons. Before his arrival, Dallas hadn’t won 10 games in consecutive years since 1996.
