DALLAS — Maybe it’s the dreaded vote of confidence, or maybe Jerry Jones has had a chance to reflect on the status of his coaching staff, but count the eye-raising comments regarding head coach Mike McCarthy following the season finale as officially walked back.
McCarthy, sporting a record of 42-25 in his four seasons with Dallas with the first ever streak of three consecutive double-digit win seasons in franchise history, is fresh off coaching the team to a second NFC East championship in three years.
But when asked about the future for his coach following the division-clinching 38-10 victory over the Washington Commanders in Week 18, all owner, president, and general manager Jones managed was a lukewarm answer that potentially fanned the flames of the hot seat.
"We'll see how each game goes in the playoffs," Jones told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Speaking during his weekly visit on the Shan & RJ show on105.3 The Fan on Tuesday, Jones was more effusive with his praise of the job that McCarthy has done than he was on Sunday.
“I couldn’t be more pleased with what he’s done, and how he's coached,” said Jones.
Furthermore, Jones called his head coach "the big difference" in the unlikely march to overtake the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC East after Philadelphia began the season 10-1.
However, even with three consecutive 12-win seasons for McCarthy’s Cowboys, Dallas still hasn’t found much success in the playoffs, something that has plagued the organization for going on 30 years.
After seeing their season end at the hands of the hated San Francisco 49ers in each of the last two seasons without reaching the NFC Championship round of the playoffs for the first time since 1995, there is a sense that McCarthy will need to parlay this opportunity, where the Cowboys have the NFC’s No. 2 seed and homefield through at least the divisional round should they win, if he wants to keep his job, despite being under contract for next season.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Saturday on the possibility for the Cowboys to move on from McCarthy should the team bomb out of the playoffs again.
“There continues to be a feeling from people around the league, and even some within the Cowboys organization, that coach Mike McCarthy will be measured by how Dallas' final game goes,” Schefter wrote.
Jones, however, took the opportunity on Tuesday to try to put those thoughts to rest.
“Coach McCarthy is under contract for next year, so that's not an issue," Jones said. “I certainly haven't sat down here right in the middle of the playoffs and started talking to him about a contract. Why would you do that? The last thing that I want to do is spend any time talking with him about these kinds of things, on agreements, extension of agreements, especially when I’ve got one. So, that’s it.”
McCarthy can help Jones keep his word with success in the playoffs and that begins on Sunday in Arlington with a 3:30 p.m. kickoff at AT&T Stadium against a familiar foe for the former Super Bowl winning coach. McCarthy and the Cowboys will take on the Green Bay Packers, the franchise that McCarthy led to a Super Bowl XLV victory in the only Super Bowl played at AT&T Stadium at the conclusion of the 2010 season.
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