Mike McCarthy Faces Shannon Sharpe’s Wrath For Attempting to Change Cowboys’ Playoff Struggle Narrative

Head coach Mike McCarthy is in the eye of the storm after he hit back at criticisms about the lack of postseason success for the Cowboys. He highlighted the Cowboys’ regular season success, and detailed the team’s approach to the new season as “winning week in and week out.”  Many analysts, including Shannon Sharpe, were left displeased with McCarthy’s approach.

While Sharpe agreed that winning at the top level is not easy, he highlighted that the ultimate test for any NFL team at the top of its game is the playoffs. Talking to Stephen A. Smith on First Take, he said:

“Once you get to the playoffs, that’s ultimately how you’re judged, that’s how we judge those quarterbacks, that’s how we judge the coaches.”

McCarthy’s troubles started when he decided to hit back at the criticism that has been following the Cowboys for the past few seasons: the inability to perform in the playoffs. The Cowboys HC had said during a presser:

“We keep talking about playoffs and things like that but I don’t know when the hell it became easy to win 12 games in a season. So we really got to get back to winning week in and week out.”

While the Cowboys’ regular season run has indeed been impressive, they have repeatedly choked in the playoffs, and fans are getting impatient.

However, despite the media and fans calling out McCarthy, it would seem that one person has full trust in his abilities as head coach.

Jerry Jones feels ‘angst’ will bring out the best in McCarthy

The man in McCarthy’s corner is none other than team owner and GM Jerry Jones. Jones believes in his team’s ability to respond to this “angst and pressure” on the field. With full trust in the coach and his team, he claims that they will come out on top:

“There’s no question in my mind that angst, pressure, competing will bring out the best in this game from coaches and players.”

The angst Jones is referring to is McCarthy being uncertain about his future with the Cowboys. The HC and his entire coaching staff are on the last year of their contracts, and Jones believes people work best “with their backs against the wall.” 

With his future up in the air, McCarthy will need to make a mark in the playoffs this time, or at least avoid the embarrassment reminiscent of last season’s 48-32 loss to the Packers. Will Jones’s strategy of holding back on the contracts work or will this be McCarthy’s last season coaching for the Cowboys?