Fair shake or raw deal? Why Mike McCarthy has had it easier than prior head coaches of the Cowboys

Things are not going all that well for the Dallas Cowboys. Their record is a mediocre 3-3, but their three wins come against teams with bad quarterbacks, while their three losses have come in a blowout fashion against teams with good quarterbacks. Coming out of their bye week, they are searching for better performances while finding themselves in a dogfight to keep their playoff hopes within reach. That’s a tough spot to be in.

The issues with this year’s Cowboys team are plentiful. The offense is sputtering, the defense is muddled, and they have the third-worst turnover differential in the league. And don’t even get us started on the penalties. Currently, the offense is ranked 20th in points scored while the defense ranks 31st in points allowed. This is the first time in the last 20 seasons that the offense and defense are ranked 20th or worse. Think about that for a moment.

Even when the Cowboys lost Tony Romo in 2010, Romo again in 2015, and Dak Prescott in 2020, they’ve never been this bad on both sides of the ball. That’s what makes this season so hard to understand. Prescott is healthy, but the offense is still having issues. The defense has been banged up, but to be fair, they were bad before players started getting hurt.

Unless the Cowboys turn a corner, this likely will be the last season with Mike McCarthy as their head coach. Some fans will say it’s long overdue and say good riddance, while others feel a little bad for the guy believing the front office set him up for failure. Which side of the fence do you stand on?

One could make a strong case that McCarthy has had it considerably better than many of the head coaches before him. He’s had a good quarterback and better defenses, and the overall roster talent has been better. Let’s examine.

A good quarterback
The Cowboys have been lucky to have a good quarterback for nearly 20 years. Tony Romo took over the starting QB job from Drew Bledsoe in 2006, and then Dak Prescott took over for Romo in 2016. Both quarterbacks can be considered blessings as Romo was an undrafted free agent and Prescott a late fourth-round compensatory pick.

People will debate which player was the better quarterback, but these two guys are comparable. You could argue that the early Romo years contained some cringeworthy moments as the former Cowboys quarterback had a flair for the dramatic. His play might have had a little more variation, but the overall body of work between these quarterbacks looks eerily similar.

QUARTERBACK
GAMES
RATING
COMP %
TD %
INT %
YARDS/GAME

Tony Romo
127
97.1
65.3%
5.7%
2.7 %
219

Dak Prescott
120
98.3
66.8 %
5.1 %
2.0 %
258

Romo finished third in MVP voting in 2014 with a 4% share while Prescott finished second in MVP voting last year with a 30% share. Honestly, it’s splitting hairs, but McCarthy has had an equal to slightly better quarterback than his predecessor.

A better defense
When Jason Garrett took over the team the Cowboys were a defensive mess. He was stuck with Rob Ryan for the first two seasons (a Jerry Jones hire) and then Monte Kiffin the following year. The Cowboys’ defense allowed the most total yards in the league in 2013. It wasn’t pretty.

Things improved when Rod Marinelli showed up. The defense finished in the top half in points allowed in each of Marinelli’s years as defensive coordinator. They even finished inside the top seven twice. They were good, but not great.

When McCarthy took over, he brought over Mike Nolan, who had been the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers the last year McCarthy was an offensive coordinator. Under Nolan the Cowboys’ defense was atrocious, allowing a franchise-most 473 points in 2020.

Nolan was quickly fired and the team received a godsend in Dan Quinn. The Cowboys’ defense finished in the top seven in points allowed in all three of Quinn’s seasons with the team. They led the league in turnovers twice. While it wasn’t perfect, Quinn created a legit defensive presence, which had been lacking in this team since the Jimmy Johnson era.

McCarthy had a huge advantage over Garrett in this area. In fact, there have been times in recent years when the defense has been the strength of the team which is crazy to think about considering how much of the heavy lifting the offense had to do in the Garrett era. The Cowboys had balance. In all three of Quinn’s seasons in Dallas, the Cowboys finished in the top 10 in both points scored and allowed. That happened just once with Garrett (2016) and not again until the ‘90s Cowboys.

Better overall talent
Quinn was a big part of the defensive improvement for the Cowboys, but they also had some stronger players. The team featured several All-Pro players spread out over all levels of the defense. The arrival of Micah Parsons has given the Cowboys one of the best defensive players in the league. DeMarcus Lawrence is also in the trenches which matches what the team had in that other DeMarcus, DeMarcus Ware during his final years in Dallas. The defense also has two All-Pro cornerbacks and a plethora of depth.

On offense, they’ve remained a talented group. Besides transitioning from one good quarterback to another, the team has gone from Dez Bryant to Amari Cooper to CeeDee Lamb at wide receiver. The offensive line isn’t always perfect, but they always seem to have a good group with core All-Pros. Except for this year, the offense has always had good running backs starting from DeMarco Murray, then Ezekiel Elliott, and then Tony Pollard.

Not only do the Cowboys have a good list of star players, but their depth in recent years has been miles better than what they’ve had in the past. As a whole, McCarthy has had a strong roster to work with.

While McCarthy’s repeated 12-5 seasons are something to hang a hat on, the Cowboys’ two best seasons based on winning percentage have been seasons under Garrett. McCarthy, like Garrett before him, can’t get the team past the divisional round of the playoffs, but even more frustrating is the Cowboys’ playoff exits under McCarthy have been very disappointing while Garrett’s squads have been really close a few times.

McCarthy has had a fair shake, and if the team comes up short again this season, it’s hard to feel like he wasn’t allowed to succeed.