Mike McCarthy deserves credit for the Cowboys' early-season success

By Ralph Vacchiano
FOX Sports NFC East Writer

Mike McCarthy has been on the hot seat since his first day in Dallas, no matter how many times Jerry Jones has showered him with praise. The general assumption around the league is McCarthy won’t survive anything short of a deep run in the playoffs, no matter what Jones says now.

But maybe it’s time everyone starts listening to what Jones is saying, and takes a good look at the job McCarthy is doing in Dallas. Because in the first four games of this season, McCarthy has put on a Coach of the Year-worthy performance.

And Jones has noticed that, too.

“I don’t know how you could say enough about how he’s handled this team initially,” Jones told reporters on Sunday after the Cowboys moved to 3-1 with a 25-10 win over the Commanders. “It’s like a … boxer, a fighter, walking out and just getting hit with the best shot you absolutely could right on the chin. First step out. How do you get that all back together?

“Give him his due. He has managed to right the ship, steady it and then progressively get this team in shape to play without Dak. … I think it would be an injustice not to give him the kind of credit as head coach for getting this thing right and getting it to this point.”

Jones is absolutely right about that. McCarthy deserves the credit he’s rarely received in a coaching career that has included 146 wins, seven division titles, 10 trips to the playoffs, four runs to the NFC championship game and a Super Bowl title through 15 seasons in Green Bay and Dallas. He’s always been a better coach than he’s gotten credit for being, mostly because someone else has generally received the credit. Epectations have also been very high wherever he’s been.

Jones’ analogy about what McCarthy has done this season is perfect — except that McCarthy hasn’t just taken one shot to the chin. He’s taken about a dozen. The Cowboys traded away his best receiver, Amari Cooper, in the offseason. He lost his left tackle, Tyron Smith, to a torn hamstring and fractured knee in August. Then in Week 1, the Cowboys lost left guard Connor McGovern to a sprained ankle and safety Jayron Kearse to a sprained knee — before absorbing a right hook to the face when quarterback Dak Prescott went down with a fractured thumb in a bad loss to the Buccaneers. Not many teams could survive losing their starting quarterback for a month, and only a handful of coaches could figure out a way to win in those conditions.

Yet somehow, with Cooper Rush at quarterback, McCarthy’s Cowboys are on a 3-0 run.

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Rush has received plenty of credit for that. So has Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, since his sixth-ranked defense is probably the biggest reason for that success. But Jones rightfully didn’t overlook McCarthy’s steady hand in guiding his team through the adversity. He is the leader who showed them the way and made the big decisions that got them through.

What’s most remarkable about that is McCarthy’s done it in the long shadows of his presumed successors. Let’s face it; many assumed McCarthy was doomed the minute Prescott hurt his thumb. After all, promoting Quinn would be an easy move for Jones, especially since he’s been viewed as the head-coach-in-waiting ever since he passed up potential jobs around the league last January to return to Dallas.

And everyone sure took notice two weeks ago when former Saints coach and FOX Sports analyst Sean Payton expressed his desire to return to coach on the New Orleans Football Podcast, saying “If the right situation presented itself, I would definitely be interested.’ Payton has been a presumed future Cowboys coach — and Jones dream candidate — ever since he left Bill Belichick’s Dallas staff.

That speculation may never end as long as Jerry Jones, a true wild card, owns the Cowboys. But maybe he was telling the truth back in July when he said he already had the right guy coaching his team.

“I want to be real clear,” Jones said back then. “He wouldn’t be sitting here today if I didn’t think he was the man to lead this team to a Super Bowl. He would not be. And I have choices.”

It sure seems, for the moment, that he’s chosen wisely. McCarthy, in case anyone has forgotten, guided the Cowboys to a 12-5 record last season, albeit one spoiled by an ugly 23-17 loss at home to San Francisco in the NFC wild-card game. And this season he’s managed to squeeze just enough out of Rush at quarterback to beat the Bengals, Giants and Commanders.

No, that’s not exactly a murderer’s row of opponents. But the Bengals are the defending AFC champs and the Giants are 3-1.

And if that’s still not impressive enough, just consider what would’ve happened if the Cowboys had lost those games — if they were 1-3 or worse in the absence of Prescott. With the Eagles (4-0) threatening to run away with the division, the Cowboys’ season would look all but over. They’d be rushing Prescott back.

And if McCarthy hadn’t already been fired, the countdown would surely be on.

ARLINGTON, TEXAS – SEPTEMBER 18: Dak Prescott of the Dallas Cowboys and head coach Mike McCarthy visit during warmups before the game against the Cincinnati Bengals at AT&T Stadium on September 18, 2022 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images)

Now it won’t be. At least not yet. It’s a long season, of course, and McCarthy could ruin everything if the Cowboys fall apart once Prescott returns. And who knows what Jones will do in the end, or what bar he’s set to bring back McCarthy in 2023?

But for the moment, McCarthy deserves all the praise and he should take advantage of a rare moment where his job security isn’t a pressing issue. Maybe he is. When told about the most recent praise he got from his boss, McCarthy said “Hey, I think you guys should listen to Jerry.”

Maybe everyone should. Maybe Jones really has found the coach he’s always needed and wanted. Maybe he’s telling the truth about how he feels about McCarthy this time.

If he is, it’s well-deserved. Because McCarthy has done one of the best coaching jobs in the NFL this season. Nothing, and no one, should overshadow that.

Ralph Vacchiano is the NFC East reporter for FOX Sports, covering the Washington Commanders, Philadelphia Eagles, New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys. He spent 22 years covering the Giants, Jets and NFL at large for SNY and the New York Daily News. He can be found on Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.