3 NFL head coaches already on the hot seat after Week 1
By Randy Gurzi
1. Mike McCarthy, Dallas Cowboys
Another hire that made no sense was when the Dallas Cowboys took Mike McCarthy on as the replacement to Jason Garrett. While other teams were finding success by targeting young coaches who favored analytics and accepted new-age football, Jerry Jones interviewed two old dogs who don’t have new tricks.
First, it was Marvin Lewis — but he apparently never had a chance. That’s because Jones was already head over heels for Mike McCarthy, mainly because he’s an old-school “tough guy” that won a Super Bowl back in 2010 in AT&T Stadium. They also reportedly had a great time at their slumber party, which helped seal the deal.
After being hired, McCarthy started spouting off about how he’s accepted analytics, but then the team talks about running the ball through Ezekiel Elliott — which might be the least analytical thing ever. To make it worse, McCarthy and offensive coordinator Kellen Moore continued to “feed Zeke” throughout 2021 despite him having a bad knee injury which resulted in a tough campaign. Then when Zeke was going for more than five yards per attempt against the Bucs in Week 1, they decided to give him just 10 carries and air it out in a game that was close for about three quarters.
It’s hard to know what all goes into a coach’s game plan, but McCarthy seems to always do the opposite of what he should. He’s also to blame for their offensive line issues since he allowed Tyler Smith to work at guard instead of tackle and didn’t go to the front office screaming for a real swing tackle until Tyron Smith was (predictably) lost for the season. And by then, they needed two tackles.
So, in addition to terrible game-planning, McCarthy does nothing to plan for injuries despite constantly having them derail his campaigns — which is happening again now that Dak Prescott needs surgery.
Throw in the fact that they were penalized 12 times during the writing of this article and it’s clear he’s not the guy for the job. And one of these days, Jerry Jones is going to realize this. Maybe.