The Dallas Cowboys' 2024 season has been nothing but a rollercoaster with way more downs than ups through 17 weeks of play.
Just a week ago, Dallas (7-9) celebrated a 26-24 upset victory over the then-NFC South-leading Tampa Bay Buccaneers despite being eliminated from postseason contention. In the immediate aftermath of that win, Cowboys owner and Jerry Jones gushed about head coach Mike McCarthy keeping his players locked in even though reaching the postseason was no longer possible.
"They wouldn't give it up out there, so I'm real, real proud of them. Mike McCarthy, he just won't let them not think that they're not playing for a Super Bowl out there," Jones said last week. "He won't let them do it. I'm proud of them. Proud of the coach."
However, the Cowboys' Week 17 performance was the total opposite of their Week 16 triumph: They were dominated in all phases in their 41-7 faceplant against the Philadelphia Eagles (13-3). That will, in all likelihood, put McCarthy's future back in doubt in Jones' mind. In Dallas' first game without 2023 first-team All-Pro wide receiver CeeDee Lamb this season, the offense didn't have any consistent answers. The Cowboys started the game with the football, and quarterback Cooper Rush threw a pick six. After he bounced back with a 4-yard touchdown pass on a goal-line fade to wide receiver Jalen Tolbert, McCarthy's offense crumbled. Dallas' final eight drives involved four punts, a second interception by Rush, two lost fumbles and a missed 61-yard field goal.
It's worth noting the Cowboys offense was without quarterback Dak Prescott (hamstring tear), right guard Zack Martin (ankle) and wide receiver CeeDee Lamb (AC joint sprain in shoulder), but Dallas wide receiver/return man KaVontae Turpin had some pointed critiques of McCarthy's playbook with Lamb sidelined on Sunday.
"Man, I just feel like, at the end of the day, with CeeDee gone, we weren't really calling no pass plays," Turpin said, via The Athletic, postgame on Sunday. "We just run the ball, throwing checkdowns ... that's the plan in the receiving room. We thought we're going to go out there and show people, it ain't all about CeeDee. At the end of the day, we wasn't getting no down-the-field routes being called. We just had to see what we could do. When CeeDee's here, it's easy. We just tried to find ways to show people what we could do in the receiving room since our butter was gone."
Here's the issue in Dallas with McCarthy having one regular-season game left before he and his coaching staff's five-year Cowboys coaching contract expires: Where does the blame lie for the 2024 season after three consecutive 12-5 regular seasons? Sure, McCarthy's playbook may have been vanilla on Sunday, but it's also worth asking what could the Cowboys have realistically accomplished against a vastly superior Eagles roster in a year that Jerry Jones labeled "get it done with less?" He also went on the radio with 105.3 The Fan pregame, via The Athletic, on Sunday and said an Eagles fan told him, "Keep doing the job you're doing this year."
When it's clear to fans of other teams around the NFL that Jones set up McCarthy and his squad up for a tough year, it's obvious the 2024 season isn't exclusively McCarthy's fault. However, with Jones acting as the team's general manager in perpetuity, the blame will always fall on the head coach in Dallas. The Cowboys' coaching situation will certainly be one to follow because should Jones use Dallas being outscored 75-13 in two games against the Eagles in 2024 as a reason to fire McCarthy, he'll have to reckon with a locker room who didn't see McCarthy as the sole problem.
Prescott told CBS Sports in a one-on-one interview on Dec. 3 that he would make the case to Jones for McCarthy to receive a second Cowboys coaching contract because of the injuries and roster attrition Dallas has had to fight through. He doubled down on that stance on Sunday.
"Credit to [McCarthy], credit to his professionalism, and really, Coach has been able to get guys ready to play and go out there and finish and take pride in what we finish and what we put on tape," Prescott said, via the Dallas Morning News, postgame on Sunday.
The Cowboys' franchise quarterback isn't the only one with this school of thought, either.
"One thing I can definitely say is nobody on our sideline quit," Cowboys Pro Bowl left guard Tyler Smith said, via 105.3 The Fan, postgame on Sunday. "Not one person threw in the towel, folded, started pointing fingers or any of that. So I can definitely say our guys, just one-of-a-kind guys. We're going to come in. We're going to work. The result wasn't nearly what we wanted today, but at the end of the day, we got one more opportunity next week. That's all we can focus on, so that's what we got to do."
If Jones wants to let go of McCarthy after the team's Week 18 home game against the Washington Commanders, he'll also need to look inward about what needs to change going forward. Jones indicated he's already done some soul searching after they defeated the Buccaneers on a day that their 2024 playoff hopes died.
"There's many things that have gone into us sitting here not in the playoffs," Jones said. "You can start with me. I'm not trying to be any way other than a lot of people contribute to it when you win. A lot of people contribute to it when you don't."
How will Dallas return to the top of the NFC East, a place it was sitting just last season? Three-time All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons has a few ideas, one of which includes being much more active in free agency this offseason. That makes sense given Dallas' sole dependance to build its team exclusively through the draft didn't work in 2024. Attacking the offseason with a similar mindset likely will yield similar, negative results, especially since Jones traded away the Cowboys' fourth-round pick for the second year in a row. Especially since cornerback Trevon Diggs (knee) and linebacker DeMarvion Overshown (knee) likely won't return to action until after the 2025 season begins.
"One, we're gonna have to get healthy," Parsons said, via The Athletic, postgame on Sunday. "I mean, we got three or four starters who aren't coming back until mid-next season. We got to plan for that. We got to get healthy. We got to keep coming together."
To be clear, there are real reasons Jones could cite to validate a decision to move on from McCarthy. The lack of offensive scheme innovation that Turpin brought up is valid point as McCarthy's 1-3 postseason record, but should Jones decide to move on from McCarthy following Dallas' second demolition at the hands of Philadelphia, he'll need to ask himself how much will really change, no matter who will be his next head coach hire.
As for McCarthy, he's going to keep his head in the sand for one more week before addressing his future. Will that focus yield a second upset win over the Commanders in Week 18? How much will that matter to Jones? Stay tuned to find out.
"I'm here to finish the race," McCarthy said, via The Athletic, postgame on Sunday. "That's my mindset and that the team's mindset."
