The following is a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.
Cowboys.
This is Mick Shot, streaming live on Dallascowboys dot Com and the official Dallas Cowboys At now here are Bill Jones, Everson Wolves, and Mickey Spagnola.
And as we look out over the frozen tundra here at the Star in Frosco, it's another week of podcasting inside the SWBC podcast studio, Bill Jones, Everson Walls, and the star of our show, star Vicky Spagnola.
You talk about coming a long way. Jeez, he's a star of his own podcast.
Mick Shots, No Comment, brought to you by Miller Lite. And the weight continues about to reach a breaking point here it appears. You think we'll see there's a deadline staring us in the face midnight tomorrow.
Right, what can happen in one day?
What can happen one hour?
And it always take it never does? It only happens after our one hour?
Oh yeah, that's what's right. Yes, I thought of that today. Yeah, it's like at one o'clock we'll get a we'll know something, we'll get a press conference call.
Oh okay, you're confident there will be a press call.
I didn't say that, just judging from history.
What kind of press conference would it be? Who would be in attendance at this press conference?
Well, if they're calling a press conference, they're resigning Mike McCarthy.
Guy, all right, just like in New England right now, they're not re signing their head coach, but they've got a new coach they're introducing to the media as we speak. Mike Vrabel is now the head coach of the New England Patriots.
And that didn't just happen a tie a sport suit on.
Oh so you're telling me that he didn't wake up like this, right, they just announced it.
So do you think Mike McCarthy has his tie a suit ready to get for Prescott?
When's the last time we saw him in a tie in a suit?
Well since before he was calling plays.
I'm trying to think, well, maybe his introductory that's what I was introductory news conference right?
All right, Well, we've got well, got so much to ask while we await what happens behind the scenes here at the Star in Frisco.
By the way, since you brought that up, so the reports on Friday and Saturday that they had begun discussions were inaccurate.
Okay, well, let us get everybody briefed on the latest report out there, which was forty five minutes ago posted on x by Adam Schefter.
Okay, complements of Don Yee the agent.
Okay, let's just get it straight right.
With Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy eligible to talk to other teams after midnight Tuesday, there still haven't been any negotiations on a new deal with Dallas. Per sources, it's now looking like McCarthy will indeed become a coaching free agent, with Chicago and New Orleans both expected to be interested in speaking with him. That was posted at ten fourteen this morning.
So what's with the I don't know. It seems a little bit inconsistent that.
If you're going to let coach go out into free agency, why wouldn't you just allow the Bears to talk to him initially?
Hey, Bill, let me give you another I've got streaking news. We've got breaking news from producers. Supreme Tom Pelisara, I'm just looking at it. I get this, I've got it in front of me right now. You want me to do it?
Go ahead? All right.
Bills Sero just tweeted this or posted on x. The Cowboys and Mike McCarthy had positive discussions last week about the twenty twenty four season in the future, but McCarthy's contract was set to expire Tuesday and the sides couldn't work out a deal. Now Dallas needs a new coach and McCarthy is expected to have interest helps so negotiations.
So there were talks, right, There were talks, and which tells me that they couldn't agree compensation.
Yeah, that's what those words just said. Yeah, yeah, and that they want to see.
Well, he already knows, right, Mike can't talk to these teams, but the agent can.
Right.
There's nothing against the agent doing his homework. And obviously those teams might be willing to offer him more money than or a longer contract than what the Cowboys are. That's what it comes down to. I said it last week. Somebody said, well, what's the hold up? I said, money always always right, money talks.
And Nepela Sero prior to that four minutes ago, said sources. Mike McCarthy is out as Cowboys coach. The sides couldn't agree on length of contract and McCarthy will pursue other opportunities. He leaves Dallas with a winning record in three playoffs.
I didn't need a source to tell you that. And by the way, he's a really good source with McCarthy. He gets everything first from McCarthy.
Oh right, did we have a developing situation.
Yeah, we didn't have to wait till one o'clock.
We did not. I like this breaking news, Go ahead, Bill, Do I need just a good thing? This shows out eleven and not ten yep. Yeah, yeah, I wouldn't be here.
On time and it's still they still have how many hours till midnight?
Yes? It out? Yeah.
That's the other thing is this kind of goes back to what I was talking about last week when I had very good sources who told me that Wade Phillips was out at mid season, and there was but I was you went with it that. I went with it until it became official official. I was nervous as could be because things can change.
So this is not your first time being involved and on the front end of breaking news.
And we went over my situation with Jimmy and Jerry that it all changed in the morning.
Well, here's the difference that evening. Here is a difference, But here is a difference in it. What once it got to this point and thirty six hours away from the head coach becoming a coaching free agent, the coach has some options as well in this deal. Right. So, and by the way, the owner, president and general manager well aware of that.
You've got a lot of other titles, right.
And knew that this was a possibility.
No, Bill's getting inside information.
I may have to go take this phone call and y'all may have to continue without me.
All right, Well, we'll try.
That means we'll try.
To do that.
You want to take an early break, and you gotta change something. I've got to take a phone call.
Okay, okay, let's take an early break, an.
Break you in just a moment.
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We continue on mix shots Everson Walls, Mickey Spagnola, and Bill our investigative reporter. Investigator is on it right now, got a phone call that he couldn't refuse, so he stepped away.
For a second.
After Tom Pelosero NFL Network is reporting that Mike McCarthy's contract set to expire midnight tomorrow. Looks like what he's reporting is that the Cowboys McCarthy have not come to a contractual agreement and that it looks like that he will be a head coaching free agent come Wednesday morning at twelve oh one, that they couldn't get together on a contract, and we were just discussing that since we heard there were talks going on end of last week, that this thing probably came down to years in money, and maybe Jerry Jones was not willing to make a long term commitment to Mike McCarthy or pay him what some of the top head coaches in the league are making. And there's a couple that are up in the fifteen to twenty million a year range, and I don't think Jerry's ever paid that that much for a head coach before. So we'll have to see how this ends up developing, and hopefully Bill Jones can bring some clarity to all this reporting because one report said they have not had any discussions, and I think Thursday or Friday we had reports that they were talking. So this is why I just love the off season, because everybody's got an opportunity to throw mashed potatoes at the wall and hope something sticks, and if it doesn't, twenty four hours later, it all disappears. So we'll see you can always right, yeah, or there's plenty of potatoes, right, I just got to mash him up. So we'll wait for Bill see if he was able to confirm anything stronger from inside these walls here as we continue on mixed shots and so ever, since we saw a lot of games over the last three days.
And only one of them was really worth my time.
Yesterday the Commanders, the Commanders and Tampa Bay. I am going to probably now I can't. I was going to say people out there should put money on the Commanders because something fishy is going on with them. Really, I mean, think about how they got to where they are right now going into the wild card weekend. If you consider one win with a tipped hail Mary Gas, another win when New Orleans decided, no, we're not going into overtime, We're going to go for two and it failed.
And another win.
And there's a couple more there that need to be documented because they've had I think I heard on the broadcast yesterday like seven games that went down to the last possession yep.
And then the Cowboys.
Leading them nineteen sixteen with six seconds to go and they throw a touchdown pass to win that game, which solidified their sixth seed, and why they were playing Tampa Bay, the lowest seated division champion yesterday, And then we can go through that game, I guess we can go backwards because they're lined up to kick the winning field goal with two seconds to left left, and I'm watching the trajectory of the kick, and I'm going, no.
I thought it was going I thought this was hit it head on.
Gonzales is gonna miss this field goal?
What was it like thirty one? Yeah or nothing?
And it was a float there, right, So it wasn't like he put his foot into it and drove it in like that nice golf shot, right, you know, he just kind of like hit it fat seemed like, and it seemed to just kind.
Of it was fading, and it looked like it did not want to go over the ball. It hits the upright right on the inside, bounces in right on the inside, bounces in.
I'm sitting there going, oh my lord, this this team is charmed. And not only that, if we look at how they got to twenty twenty. They get a stop at the goal line early in the fourth quarter and they have a misconnection on an end a round to I think.
It's Jalen Jalen mcmilling.
And he hits them in the hip, just like the Cooper rest play right, same thing. How they had nothing to do with that, nothing to do And the ball is not only fumbled, but it it looked like Tampa Bay was going to recover it, and it hits somebody's foot and kind of moved to the side.
And that's where Baker was trying to reach his hand in. Yeah, but Wagner.
Wagner came and recovered the ball, covered it on them. I mean he was alert because he was on it before Baker Mayfield was able to.
And if it didn't hit that guy's foot, Baker might have It's coming to him right, and they recover, and whether they end up doing getting the go ahead touchdown it because at that point they had only scored thirteen points. Right, they were owning the time of possession, but they weren't scoring, gambling on fourth downs, and then.
They go ahead.
Tampa Bay's coming back. They're gonna take the lead. It looked like they got second and one at the twelve yard line and they get a no gain third and one at the twelve.
Did they lose?
I think, oh no, no, this is the one they lost cartage because it ended up third and one and the center, Graham Barton, screws up the snap count he did everybody nobody moved except he snapped the ball.
He tried to give the ball to the running back. Running back really didn't want the ball. Yeah, the defensive line was all on the other side. They moved in the backfield.
There in the backfield, nobody in Tampa Bay moves and they lose two yards and got to kick a field goal to tie again. Now Washington had nothing to do with either one of those.
That's what Washington does. It's something about that team and order, and it has of course a lot to do with this rookie quarterback.
Now he made plays to capitalize on some of those mistakes, but they had to be handed these two mistakes to get in position to kick the winning field goal that goes off the upright and bounces in. Because when you hear that thing thunk, whatever you want.
That's ago one. That's a good one. It's a thunk. It's like, Okay, he missed it.
I think.
I think it's a thunk if you miss it, right, But if you make it, it's a team the How about that? That's it's a little bit more upbeat, a little bit more positive. It bounced in and you don't really see that every time it hits the goalpost. You usually get the thunk going. It's going to come back onto the field, right. This went through the upright.
So there's something about them.
And you know, it has a lot to do with the quarterback, of course, and dan Quinn. You know, I like the way the defense plays. His defense still just like it was when it was here in Dallas. And what I like about it is it's an opportunistic defense, just like we were accustomed to for the last three two years or so under dan Quinn. You saw where guys are there opportunistic defense because their eyes are always where the ball is. That if you're in the secondary, their secondary is always looking back at the quarterback looking for the ball, just like when they were here looking for the ball in the air somewhere. We're not necessarily worried about the running back or the wide receiver. We're worried about where is that ball going to be because we want the ball. It's kind of like the thermostives were. They they're they're accustomed to looking back in the backfield waiting for that quarterback to put that ball in the air and give us a chance to make it on defense.
All right, Our investigative reporter Bill Jones has turned.
And did you hear their reports out there that McCarthy's out. Yeah, that's what That's what I can say right now, according to work under that assumption.
Okay, oh yeah, we've always I know you have.
And uh I'm awaiting a confirmation, confirmation, confirmation.
All right.
See double confirmation gets double checks, not just the first.
A measure measure twice cut once.
Yeah, there you go. So what are y'all thinking?
Well, we we were, we were biting some time on how charmed existence the commanders have okay, uh yeah, and we were waiting to play.
They play in Baltimore. No wash Mail. I was trying to trying to get the chill charm. I was trying to get the chilling thing off, and it didn't work. Now it went right past quick.
Uh.
No, they're going to play in Detroit. So I am warning the Lions right now.
Beware. Don't let them be close in the fourth court. No, don't let it.
Be close, because something will land in their lap.
Yes, I have season long.
You know what I had to give above too, kind of like Bill, You've always got this ancillary information. I like the fact that Doug Williams is really enjoying watching this young black quarterback do well in the Washington area just as much as he did. And yesterday was even more special because he played against the team that actually drafted him out of Gramling State University in the first round.
Bay So that was very cool on his part.
I texted him this morning and said, you must have felt pretty weird about that.
He said, it was a great day. He really said, it was a great day.
So, by the way, since you brought up the black quarterback and you gaze gave me hell for the black running back.
Right, hey, your boy, at the end of your boy, I meant to tell you about at your white running back came through.
Okay, right there at the end of training camp, Oxnard, California.
I am darker than he is. And you want to know number two? What's number two? His mother is a beautiful blonde. Okay, so he's half.
Why don't Yes, it does, I said one drop, just the way it is about Marcus Freeman.
Who Marcus Freeman, the Notre Dame coach. Oh yeah, he's black, yeah and Asian.
Yes see no, no, no, see that he's black.
When he if something happens to him and he gets stopped and they gave a little confrontation, he's going to be the black.
I get stocked.
I'm a black driver.
I'm not darker than it doesn't have anything. It's it's the blood. The blood. It's only half. It's the blood, but only half. Okay, I like next time I get in trouble, Hey man, I'm irish. No, that don't work. Like I was only half wrong.
Okay, give you that.
I just wanted to make sure you challenge flag.
You lost that challenge. No, only to you guys.
Look, my brother Greg is like, there will be a new sheriff in town. Mike McCarthy is out. He's always been that guy. He hates the Cowboys. I'm not listening to him, my baby brother.
So you got to sheriff, you want to hire Mike Tomlin, Well he's still got a job. He's no, he can't. He can't win a playoff game, you know, he can't.
I'm amused by the talk about how it's Mike Commlin's fault in Pittsburgh, you know, right, yeah, it's DoD gm have anything to do with it there. It's all Mark Comers, by the way.
He just what they give him.
He's going up He's going up against Lamar Jackson, you know, Joe Burrow, you know, in his own division. I mean, and if you look at the Steelers schedule this year, it was so predictable that they were going to be about seven and two the first nine games, and then they were going to struggle the last half of the season. That was as easy to predict a season as any team in the league, just based on who they played the first half of the year versus the second half of the year. Not to mention They had a three game stretch over Christmas where they played three games in eleven days, all against top teams.
I'm watching and I'm going, Okay, these sorry Cowboys beat that team. They're in the playoffs. I'm watching the game last night. They beat both of those teams, and one of them's going in something and the other one is done.
I agree with it. I was thinking that last night.
I was going to bring that up and and and guess what happened to Tampa Bay? They lost their cornerbacks. How does that?
How does that fall in your lap? In your lap?
They couldn't cover Terry McLaurin if life depended on it.
And it seems as if Washington gets those breaks and they take advantage of those breaks. It seems like every game it all comes into fruition in the fourth quarter. Right, that kind of information right there, that that led to them winning that game, because you it was it was chaos in that secondary at the end of that game.
How about the how about the.
Was it the fourth down conversion there at the end they had to whatever they needed to pick up? Uh, the defensive tackles got to tackle for the loss.
At all he does is grabbed the towel.
He grabbed the towel.
That's how quick this kid is.
Man, he thought he had it and then it just took that little bit of stiff on right and it allowed him to turn the corner.
And boy, when that play was over, did you see him? He was so upset? Oh yeah he was. I think he did. He lay down. I think he went to his knees. I mean that was an injury.
That was just.
Frustration, absolutely amazing.
I loved I loved watching the game, but I hated the fact that we beat both of those teams.
I mean we beat them.
We beat one of them in Washington, and we beat Tampa when they were on the road. Right came in here and we stopped all of that. So you know, that's the frustrating part.
There's no rhyme or reason. Nope.
And and I was and continue to watch those games and the teams that were beating.
I don't know about what Mayfield did.
But Saturday quarterback stunk Herbert four interceptions. Now, one of them was a tip ball off his own guy's hands, but the other quarterbacks, Jordan loved kidding me interceptions.
One of them he just threw right too.
Now, these were all the quarterbacks I've seen written about that they're so far ahead of Dak Prescott.
Right, and they they were picking Green Bay to make the Super Bowl.
Yeah, in the offseason, and they talked about how Jordan Love was just going to be so amazing looking forward to catapulting from what he did against the Cowboys in the playoffs last year. That's all they talked about, is how he whipped the Cowboys and that's going to be the springboard to them going to the Super Bowl this year. There were those that thought that that was going to happen. Smart people too, They said they were smart. They said they were They told us they were smart.
I was.
I was trying to so that.
Yeah, the Chargers that just stunk it up, and Buffalo didn't exactly get off to wonderful start, and they won.
They hung in there.
But really when you look at how Buffalo won, you look at how Philadelphia won, that's really how you play playoff football. You know, it'd be nice to come out there and just be like we were against Minnesota right back in the regular season game, or the way we were going against Tampa when we whipped them in the first round that time. I think that was when Brady was leading them. You know those are that's unrealistic playoff football.
This is really everybody's still mad about that.
But when you look at games like yesterday, that's how playoffs should be.
You shouldn't come in everything working. You should have to grind for it.
That's why your team should be already preparing for the grind throughout the entire season.
That's why you like having a running back. That's why you like having a good quarterback.
Offensive line, defense, because that's the grind that you want in the playoffs. Defensive line playing the way they're playing, running back getting off in there, finding the holes, getting the hard yards, and quarterback's been a little bit inconsistent. But then when by the time the game is done, the defense has settled everything down and the quarterback comes out spelling. Michael Rose, I'll be back again, very good, because I was going to point out nice Avenue Bell even.
After the first what four or five plays, Yeah, Bo Knicks looked like a rookie quarterback. Yes he did, right, got it, got at one pass and then nothing.
And then that If you're not ready, that's the way the playoffs are supposed to treat you right, if you're not ready. These teams come in and they did a good job coming in, but your weaknesses are gonna show.
It's just the way it is.
Your weaknesses are gonna come, They're gonna come out, and who has the fewest weaknesses, I think, is how the was.
It's amazing how it seems like during the regular season you can kind of disguise your weakness and then when you get to play the best teams that made it in the playoffs, your weaknesses get exposed.
It's the way the Cowboys were at the end of the season, right Our weaknesses became exposed because we really didn't we once showed up personalel wise at all.
We were playing well. They say spit in glue.
That's how we were putting things together out there and doing a damn good job of it. But because we were so behind in regards to our talent, our playoffs started before the end of the season. At the end of the season was approaching, and that's when we started playing like a team that was in the playoffs that did not deserve to be there. That's why we got blown out by Philadelphia the second time as well, when we were really playing well before that, all of a sudden, it just all starts to come down on you and you can't hide it anymore.
And as I think I pointed out last week, and if I didn't, then I waited too long. But all fourteen teams in the playoffs had their quarterbacks and running backs right and the quarterbacks. The only team that went into the playoffs that their starting quarterback didn't play at least fifteen games was Pittsburgh and that was because Russell Wilson was hurt at the beginning of the season and he started. He nearly played one hundred percent of the snaps the last eleven games when they kind of sprinted into the playoffs.
So I wouldn't say sprinted, well.
Drove, but but you got to have your quarterback. There was no one in there playing with a backup quarterback. And that's just and or a quarterback who missed a bunch of snaps during the season. Jalen Hurts ended up fifteen starts, right, and then he missed two because of the concussion. The rest of those guys like Kansas City, Mahomes and Stafford, yes, they missed the last game of the year because they had nothing to play for of course, so they sat him. So having a quarterback really really matters. And I went back and looked. And we may excuse me if we talked about it last Monday, but from nineteen ninety seven on, every season since that the Cowboys had a losing record, they didn't have their starting quarterback.
Yeah, we talked about that.
Unbelievable. And so my bottom line is quarterbacks matter that less. You know, that's why they make all the money.
No, but also that's why I had to give my boy Berline some love right when I saw him at the Bill Bates event, right, And I had never really talked to Steve, but I have always admired the way he helped the Cowboy. I wasn't even the Cowboy fan at the time because they had just gotten rid of me and I was going to New York and all of that and just retired. But watching him take over the way he did for a hell of a starting quarterback, Hall of Fame quarterback, and he came in and they did not lose a beat.
Or a game until the second round on Moto Man.
I mean, that's just that's something that you know is special. And I let him know, I say, hey, man, I always want to tell you I liked your game, you know, And he's like, he didn't know what I was coming from. It's just some opportunity to tell you because I've never really met you. But man, what you did because we talk about it on the podcast all the time, and I reminded him of how we bring up the old old school days. And man, he was extremely important to the Cowboys culture. A guy that was just here, not long at all, but I thought he made a big difference. Even though they lost in that second round, it helped the Cowboys continue their ascension because even though they they could have gone to the Super Bowl that year, at least to the championship game, that season could have been a throwaway season.
Well think about it.
So you got talking about nineteen ninety one and they were six and five and he had to come in in the third quarter Troy Aikman sprained his knee and he led him to win over Washington at Washington, which would have that that game spoiled their undefeated season because they lost the last one when they didn't play. They finished fourteen and two, but the Cowboys beat him twenty four to twenty one, and they went on to win. So they got to seven and five and they won the last four straight.
With Berlin as quarterback.
And I remember when they went to Philadelphia with an opportunity if they beat the Eagles at Philadelphia, they were going to clinch a wild card, and Jimmy Johnson basically told Steve Burline, I don't care if you finished the first half three for seventeen, do not take a snap a sack, and do not turn the ball over it. And I think he was like four of twelve or something like that. But they ended up winning that game with Berline at quarterback. Okay, investigative reporter, any.
Updates, sattus is basically quo. But I think it's well, I know that there's a parting of the ways, okay, and so we can turn our conversation.
To who's the next head coach?
That's right, Yep, that's what I'm thinking. Do you want to do that when we come back here?
Yes, we'll get our thoughts together, all.
Right, and mix shots continues in a moment.
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All right, we continue on here on mix Shots and Edwarder reports Mike McCarthy has informed his coaching staff that he will not be returning Cowboys head coaches his contract expires. My ed sources indicate there was conflicting dialogue between McCarthy and Jerry Jones and no contract was ever offered. Bears have confirmed interest in McCarthy and is expected the Saints will as well. And of course McCarthy worked for the Saints and worked with GM Mickey Loomis before. It was his first offensive ordinator going back there two thousands or so. Uh, and Loomis has been with the Saints ever since. So anyway, that's where that stands right now. And uh, now we move on to see who the next coach of the Cowboys will be.
Mm hmm.
Thoughts I want to head coach, suggestions I want to head coach, You want to head coach.
We talked about that last week. Head coaches versus coordinator. Yes, elevated coach. You want to you want the analytics guy, you want a gut punch guy.
I want a gut punch You want an offensive play caller guy? Or you're talking to when you say a head coach, I'll walk around head.
Coach if that's if that's available.
Yes, and if not, many of those are left unless that.
A former head coach, UH with an expiring kind track on the staff. Now, who's the defensive coordinator this year? And Mike Zimmer that's right?
Or if I have to dip into college, okay there, I just want somebody that has stood before. Seventy guys in the team meeting room.
Tell you what? That not half the easy choice.
If your Jerry would be Zimmer, right, it would Yes, that would be the easy, safe choice.
Keep your defense in place then, and then you got to.
Find an offensive coordinator because you're not just moving on from the head coach, you're moving on from the offensive coordinator.
So coordinators to me, they could be you know, gut guys, or they could be analytic guys. But if I'm going to have a true head coach like Zimmer, then I wouldn't mind one of those analytic guys coming around, and they could mix it up and have the best.
Of both world.
You can throw names out there. In fact, there are two who are offensive play callers in the NFC East who are now moving on to the divisional round of the playoffs, and that would be one with past experience on this coaching staff and as a player here Kellen Moore, and there would be Cliff Kingsbury and Washington as well who has passed NFL head coaching experience.
This is Cliff Kingsbury's most successful road that he's traveled so far. Because as a head coach, they always seem.
To start fast, finished man, and fade fast.
Saved fast. This particular time, they have done the opposite. Every fourth quarter. They're making all the right moves and all the right plays, so all the way till the end of the season was landed them in the playoffs.
It's amazing when one person reports something, then everybody else has something.
NFL Network mm hmmm, we were first.
Yeah, we confirmed it.
I want a leader of men, and I'll tell you who would interest me as a coordinator to fit that description would be Aaron Glenn. He's been here, he has some leadership qualities in his personality.
He's tough and no nonsense. But yeah, he's tough. That's what I mean. He's tough.
He was one of the better cowboy free agent signings UH in their history, and he understands the game, not just defense, and he understands people. He's going to get a job. I'm not saying that's what's going to happen here. I'm just saying somebody with that type of personality.
Yeah, he said, leading candidate in New Orleans, I would imagine.
Yeah, Campbell knows he's losing it. Yeah. Yeah.
And Ben Johnson, the offensive coordinator who does not have head coaching experience too, And.
I don't know anything about his personality. I know that he devises a pretty good offense.
But you got to be a leader. You know what I remember most about Aaron Glenn He would do this.
His his locker was over there at Valley ranch By near where Darren Woodson's was, on that side of the building, and he'd sit there and talk to the big media. All the cameras were there, and then I would hang back, and he looked at me and go, Okay, what do you want because he knew I was gonna ask one more question?
Right?
Speaking of Aaron Glenn last week, he was real busy. You want to hear his schedule last week?
Yeah?
I know.
Go.
So, Thursday he had an interview with the for the New York Jets job. Friday in the am he had he did the Saints interview. Friday in the PM, he did the Vegas Raiders interview, Saturday morning he did the Jacksonville Jaguars interview, and Saturday afternoon he did the Bears interview. He was also asked to interview with the Patriots, and he rejected that one.
So he must have known Vrabel was getting, right, he didn't want to compete against that.
Well, I mean that was that was I mean, he got that last week early, so I'm assuming that he probably rejected that one because of what happened to the last guy.
So Tella Sero added to his report saying they couldn't agree on length of contract.
Yeah, we said that.
Yeah, well so that and that was very predictable, right, because, I mean, when you look at it, especially since McCarthy was about to become a coaching free agent, and usually a first time head coach gets a five year deal, right, we've already gone through this even after three straight twelve win seasons. I'm not saying this was true, but there was speculation that he could be let go after a third straight twelve win season and an early playoff exit a year ago, but he had one year left. Well, now you're down to no year's left, and are you going to give a five year contract to someone who speculation has was on the hot seat the last couple of years. Well, it was very doubtful.
I was thinking at best he was going to get a two year extension because you and if.
You compare that with the five five or that the Bears or the Saints or somebody else might offer him. And I think that's why when Jerry was talking with the media for a good forty minutes or so after the game a week ago, he started talking about incentives and that sort of thing, and fans would love to see to see a contract that is incentive based, you know, and that's probably the best way to do it. It's okay, you make the playoffs, you get your next year, you get X amount of money, an increase whatever, uh, you might go to the super Bowl, you get and so you're basically betting on yourself, you know.
And think about this, you mentioned length of contract. If you only get one or two years, your assistants are going to go follow a new head coach that just got five right. It happened last year the coaches that left here Joe Joe, he goes well, Dan five years so I'm going there instead of staying here for one year. Aiden Derby went to Seattle. He had a chance to be the defensive coordinator, which that that's a no given. But again, it's going somewhere where the new coach just got hired. He's got five years. I stay here, it's only one year. There was another guy on the assistant that went with Quinn.
I mentioned Joe Whitt Jr.
Yeah, I thought it was somebody else other than him. Maybe maybe not.
And so yeah, that factors in two because if you're a head coach and your entire staff is up, he's going to be hired to put press to put together the staff you had, if that's what you wanted to do. Now, there's a lot of assistant coaches out there. Uh, since there's what five five openings?
Now is that what you said, Chris?
Now there's six. Now there's the Cowboys, but there's six was hired and right, we got it down to five.
Now we're back up to so you would have.
Had five staffs probably to pick over.
Do you think Jerry knew this was going to happen.
I think he knew possibility existed, the possibility.
But yeah, no, he if he was going to roll the dice. I think he thought he had it in the bag that he wouldn't leave, that he wouldn't leave. No, I don't believe that. You don't believe that.
No.
I think I think he's not surprised it ended like this.
Well, he should have someone else in his back pocket, a couple of people, because things are moving real fast.
Well, and the other thing about it is the way the you don't want to interview, well by the way the interview process happens in the NFL is like that's why Aaron Glenn was and Ben Johnson had so many interviews last week. That was the window to interview assistants on teams that had a first round by and No, because he was talking with Mark McCarthy last But I don't think he looks at it that there's any great time frame.
It's not like those kids.
It's not like those guys are going to get hired by some other team before their season ends.
Now.
They just those were zoom interviews, their introductory that's why Chicago's doing twenty five interviews or what ever. They're all zooms. It's not like they're now. Some of them came maybe on campus that had their season over. I think Brabel may have come there, but most of them are like two or three hour zoom interviews where you get to know what the guy, what makes the guy tick, and whether it would be a fit or not, and whether you want to put him on your short list once their season ends. So it's not like the Cowboys are behind as far as any of those guys if they want to hire them, and they've got a working knowledge of Kellen Moore obviously, if they if that was a guy that interested them. I think the intriguing uh McCarthy. I mean, Jerry has seen what's happened with Dan Campbell and Detroit Patriots. I think the reason that Gerrod Mayo was let go after one year was they decided that let's bring Mike Brabel, right, it was obvious that there was going to be there. Yes, and and I think the end.
Well, Bob Kraft came and apologize.
There. Here's what I think the intriguing guy in this, and it may shock people because he's been coaching high school football. I know, I don't know where you were going, but the intriguing guy in this is Jason Witten, and I know how Jerry feels about Jason Witten, and with sixteen seventeen years experience in the NFL, he wasn't just a player in the NFL as far as being in front of a room talking to a team. I mean, Jason Garrett would rave about that sort of stuff. Now, he's been coaching at the coaching his kids at the high school level the last three or four years, and a couple of state championships the last couple of years. But Witten is a guy that would be It would shock the world because it would shock it would shock the world the hell out of me. But I think it's an interesting candidate.
And when he finished and all this talk came up about him potentially being a head coach at some point, and I remember somebody inside this organization, I said, well, the tough thing he would have if he jumped right into the NFL is putting together a staff. And a person looked at me and goes, you would be surprised that he knows a lot of people that he could put a staff together. And it's somebody I trust. And so with that opinion, yes, not that he was sitting there thinking.
Right, I'm going to hire this obviously, he'd be a walk around head coach. He hires offensive coordinator, hires defensive coordinator. It might be the defensive coordinator that was here, that's r this year in Mike Zimmer. Then you've got a veteran former head coach who helps him along to and then you have a senior assistant as well. Anyway, and then you have to find a offensive coordinator. But what you're doing, if you do that, you're and I guarantee you Jerry has thought of him in terms of being a head coach at some point. The only different the biggest difference obviously between him and a Dan Campbell, as Dan Campbell was an assistant coach and actually was an interim head coach with the Dolphins going back twenty fifteen or so, I think when Sperano may had been let go whatever, and then he was under Sean Payton and so he's been mentored along. But I think Jerry could count his sixteen seventeen years playing in the NFL as experienced becoming a coach.
In the NFL, and he can do like Dan Campbell did and just hire former players to coach for which Campbell did initially, right.
Right, right, So anyway, just a name to keep an eye on.
Isure is. I would be extremely surprised if this happened. Here's your thunk. There it goes.
It's Fadal distractable player. Mickey Spagnola is now describing weird winning field goal by zing Gonzalez.
Get to hear me talk about it. I called it a thunk, saying good sound.
That's their fourth kicker.
Uh huh, that's right.
Uh, he survived by the skin of his chin.
All right, What else, So let's say a little something about Mike McCarthy in our last four minutes his time here. What do you think?
Well, when you walked out, But it was something you had brought up, and I went and did my research on it. About teams in the playoffs having their quarterbacks. Uh. And I pointed out ever since that, since nineteen ninety seven, when the Cowboys went what seven in nine with Troy Aikman starting all sixteen games, all the rest of the losing seasons involved quarterback injuries or getting benched, every one of them. And so Mike McCarthy has three of five winning seasons here in the two he didn't he lost Troy Aikman. I mean, Dak Prescott for the season. So when you look back at his history here, I guess it would be remembered as two out of three division titles, three playoff appearances, and the fact that he didn't win enough playoff game.
No, that's gonna be the first narrative, right, Yeah, the lack of playoff games. That's just the way it is when you're coaching the Cowboys. I can see McCarthy coming into that negotiation coming from a place of strength, just like you just pointed out divisional winner, twelve wins three years in a row, three years.
And you know something like that just doesn't happen around here.
The number one narrative, though, will definitely be that he couldn't win playoff games. He's going he went into that negotiation. I'm sure he's went in there thinking, you know, this is what I'm this is what I'm going to tout. You know, I'm going to talk to you about how many other coaches have you had that have done something like what I've done here in the last four years.
So, as far as I'm concerned, I understand why he came in that way.
I'm sure Jerry was not surprised that he did come in that way. But I'm also surprised that if Jerry wants to go through this process based on what happened is past offseason and everything just kind of got pushed into the last minute, I would really feel comfortable going into this offseason with a little bit more security.
I don't want to go into too deep into the off season. I know what you was saying.
I understand that, but I don't want to go too deep into the off season without having my team ready coach wise for next year.
Think about what Jerry has done in the past when he's made coaching changes. Now the rules have changed where you've got to enter review a number of candidates. Now you can't do what Jerry did when he and Jimmy parted ways and thirty years ago, twenty four hours later, twenty four hours off his couch in Norman, Oklahoma, here comes Barry Switzer to the Cowboys.
But hold that thought until McCarthy. These last three years are going to the playoffs. Switzerland would have been the last Cowboys head coach to go to the playoffs three years in a row, and before that, Jimmy three years and right before that. You have to go back to Landry's twenty consecutive winning seasons. And guess what I pointed out about losing. Look at what happened to Tom eighty six, lost his quarterback eighty seven the strike and then they facilitated between vacillin.
Yeah, you could just say quarterbacks and the messed up everything.
Eighty eight.
That Danny White was done and Lure wasn't ready.
So but if you look back at his coach searches, now the McCarthy one, it was spreading in net. But he pretty quickly came upon McCarthy as the guy. I think he had an idea. Yeah, prior to that, he knew Jason Garrett was going to be the guy. In fact, he was promoted in the middle of the season. He did a complete search with Wade Phillips where there was a parade of candidates that came into Valley Ranch.
And I think a lot of that you say, it's different and now, a lot of that had to do with he was picking everybody's brain and.
That was a situation. But that was also a situation from this standpoint with Parcels was at the end of his four years. He could he could have stayed, and he decided it was too much.
Right, that lost in Seattle, That's right, and so.
So he didn't have someone that was he had really did. He didn't have someone in his pocket at that point when he hired weight Okay, part when Campo was let go, Parcells was the guy.
He had him for the season, even right right they.
Were interviewing the Campo from chan Gaily to Campo chan Gaily. How quickly was it that he went with Campo?
I want to say it happened during the super.
Bowl, okay, and then the transition from Switzer to Gaileen took a while because there's been a mix. He thought whether he's got a hand picked successor.
Or not any bad I think John Gruden would be a good choice.
Gruden is another one.
That fits that mold of being a head and coach by the way, hasn't.
Coached, by the way. Woulden played for Gruden in Vegas?
Interesting? Thank you? Ever?
Said?
Ever said?
Did you play for Nick Saban? I? Did?
He was? Was he the coach?
The answer to that? What you know about Nick Saban? Could Nick Saban?
I said?
I said Nick Saban about a couple of weeks ago. If I'm not mistaken, if that was going to put my choice in that not my choice, but who I think would fit here, someone that could with Jerry Jones.
You know, Nick is the kind of guy.
First of all, he's gonna be short with the media, so he's not gonna whatever you guys do with with Jerry, He's not going to give a damn. He's gonna be stead you know, forward and straightforward and just you know, thinking about winning games. And he's very stubborn in regards to how he does his business. But I also think he's one of those guys just like Belichick was, and just like he treated Belichick when he was under built. Whatever my boss says, I'm going to adhere to it. And that's what Jerry wants. A guy that thinks just like that.
And as we said, don't think that commercial on TV that Saban's acting, the one about Yeah.
He said, you know that barbecue pit outside, it's a nice barbecue pitch.
You don't touch it, right, right, He's not acting.
Yahoo's here.
This ain't We're not out here to have fun. That's him, and I promise you guys he he would fit in here. Even with Jerry being chirping over his shoulder. I don't think it would bother him one bit?
How much attention would that bring?
It'd be something did you happen to see? And we got to wrap up here did you happen to see? The Athletic had a poll of coaches I think in the NFL, which one of the open positions would be or potentially open positions? So the Cowboys were included. Would be the most desirable head coaching job available out there this year? Here? Yeah, and Cowboys were number one on the list.
Because think about one though. We'll go where we started this quarterbacks. Yeah, Usually those teams that don't have a head coach now, they didn't have a proven quarterback, right, yeah, and that's why they all job, uh, you know, jockeying for a position in the draft.
So we didn't even Chicago does have Caleb Williams. They do approven number one overall.
He got somebody to work with, right, Maybe New England has somebody to work with.
Hey, Chris, are you hungry? Yeah?
All right, are you buying or something?
I welcome to overtime. I was just going over the coaching over time.
Nicky is going to continue with his podcast, ever Sin and I we're going to all right, So there's much to talk about, much to talk about.
We didn't even get to talk about the Cotton Bowl.
Oh okay, and we got to wait a week By the way, Yes, that was the worst thing I saw this weekend, the play call on second and goal of the one.
Wow.
You know what was worse than that? I was defending the play call after the game in the postgame press conference and putting it on his players for not blocking it.
Hey, they didn't execute. That was bad.
Well on the on the sack, fumble, the right tackle, execute right, but they I kept reading about how yours he he? He didn't protect the ball, he fumbled, looks.
Like he got.
And it was fourth down. He yes, he had to he had to hold on forever.
All right?
That does it? And uh coach Sar can add to the list too.
Yes, right, all right.
We'll talk to you next time here on mix Shots, Oh Cowboys.
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