ARLINGTON – Mike McCarthy, up to now, received some benefit of the doubt.
As he should have.
In January, the Cowboys coach assembled his staff while COVID-19 was a distant international news story. By mid-March, it developed into a pandemic that shut down every NFL facility. Since McCarthy lost valuable on-field instructional time afforded to new head coaches, any early-season stumbles deserved to be met with patience and understanding.
There are no excuses to this prolonged embarrassment.
Not anymore.
McCarthy was one of five hires made during the 2020 head coach cycle. So was the Cleveland Browns' Kevin Stefanski, who also brought in two new coordinators. On that equal footing, Dallas repeated errors from recent games while stumbling to a 41-14 deficit during a 49-38 home loss to the Browns.
The Cowboys (1-3) have a losing record after the first four games, something the franchise has not experienced since 2010 when Wade Phillips was fired as coach midseason. There is no mystery as to what is happening here in 2020.
That’s because it keeps happening.
McCarthy hired Mike Nolan as his defensive coordinator. Despite less on-field instruction time, Nolan ramped full steam ahead, implementing an exotic scheme whose collection of bells and whistles brought more sexiness to the Cowboys but not enough substance.
Nolan calls plays from a stadium box, so there are no face-to-face conversations between him and a player or position group on the sideline following a mishap. The hands-off arrangement physically removes Nolan from the unraveling of his own conceptual creation.
Toss in some injuries and turnovers — for a second straight game, the Cowboys turned the ball over on consecutive plays from scrimmage, and like in Seattle, both turnovers led to touchdowns — and voila, the team has allowed a franchise-record 146 points through four games.
Since 1970, Dallas is one of 12 teams to allow 140 or more points during the first four games.
It would become the first team to do so and still make the playoffs.
McCarthy highlighted some of the issues on Sunday. Right tackle Terence Steele, an undrafted rookie, was questionably chosen to start in favor of Brandon Knight. That is despite Knight having more experience and seeming to have outperformed Steele of late.
McCarthy acknowledged that Browns' defensive end Myles Garrett was disruptive, totaling two sacks while attracting protection help from tight ends and running backs for much of the afternoon. Steele was benched for Knight in the second quarter.
“If ifs and buts are nuts, it would be Christmas all of the time,” McCarthy said. “I get it. We gave the ball up three times. But other than that, we went up and down the field. We need to play better complementary football. Right now, it’s not happening. It hasn’t happened in any of the four games. We’re a come-from-behind team as I stand in front of you, and that’s not the way you win consistently. That will not be our approach. That’s for sure.”
After the loss, Cowboys defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence avoided direct criticism of the defense. That is not his position to judge, he said. And he has plenty enough on his plate, areas of his own game that he is focused on elevating.
But when calling the group “soft” and saying that the unit is not attacking opponents “at all,” there seemed to be acknowledgment that the Cowboys' problems on defense are deeper than simple poor angles or missed tackles. There is a larger issue is of identity.
Addressing that goes beyond the players on the field.
“When your team performs and makes similar mistakes,” McCarthy said, “four weeks is a pattern. So, this pattern needs to stop. That starts with leadership. That will be the focus come tomorrow.”
McCarthy and his staff deserved some slack for unconventional circumstances.
Not anymore.
How the Cowboys look to begin October is beyond defense.
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