Football coaches have a knack for viewing the glass as half full. Even when the glass is nearly empty.
A day after the worst home loss for the Cowboys in Jerry Jones’s 36 years as owner of the team, coach Mike McCarthy tried to find a silver lining in the “proverbial shit hole.”
“At the end of the day if we totally don’t believe it’s about us, it’ll always be about us and play to who we are, what we do, how we do it, then we’re not going to get to where we want to go,” McCarthy said, via Todd Archer of ESPN.com. “And I believe we will. I think this is an opportunity that we relish. I know I relish it. And I think they do too.
“So this is a place that a lot of good can come out of it. Been here before. And I think this is a really good opportunity for our leadership. I think it’s an excellent opportunity for our young guys to continue to play. It’s an excellent opportunity for those guys to build off some of the things they have done well. Because this will pay forward. In my experience it always has. When you play young players this much and play this many different players this much, I think the long game definitely has a chance to be very bright.”
That’s one way to look at it.
The other way is that the Cowboys are all too often overmatched, in every respect. They’ve lost three games at home, falling behind 21-6, 28-6, and 27-6 against the Saints, Ravens, and Lions, respectively.
Obviously, he’s not going to give up. There are still 11 games to play, and they’re 3-3. But there’s no reason to think they’re about to go on a run.
McCarthy has to say something — and he has to hope his players can do something during the bye week.
After that, they face the 49ers, the Falcons, the Eagles, the Texans, and the Commanders, before the Thanksgiving rematch against the Giants.
The best news for the Cowboys, and for their paying customers, is that the Cowboys don’t play another home game for four weeks. Based on the first three home games of 2024, they might be willing to play all of them on the road.
