Dallas Cowboys: Mike McCarthy signed up for a revenge tour

Mike McCarthy is out for blood. In his words, it’s Super Bowl or nothing for his Dallas Cowboys. Frankly, can you blame the head coach?

For the first in 17 years, the Dallas Cowboys enlist a head coach with a Super Bowl pedigree. Bill Parcells was that man in 2003, and in 2020, Mike McCarthy serves as the only other head coach in Cowboys history to take the job as a Super Bowl-winning head coach.

High expectations? You bet. But isn’t that the journey America’s Team strikes year after year anyways?

Since Barry Switzer’s last game in 1997, the Dallas Cowboys have had six different head coaches, including McCarthy. The 56-year-old is the ninth coach in Cowboys history. Between the five coaches prior to McCarthy, the Dallas Cowboys played in 352 regular-season games and 12 playoff contests.

However, the Dallas Cowboys never punched the NFC Championship ticket during this span. You have to go back to 1995 when Barry Switzer led the Cowboys to the promised land and beyond.

Mike McCarthy, with 204 regular-season games and 18 playoff contests under his résumé, is betting on himself and his Dallas Cowboys to go big or go home.

Fancy that. Isn’t that how things are done in Big D anyways? Go big or go home.

Of course, head coaches before McCarthy have surely pronounced the same second coming of the Dallas Cowboys, a reiteration and throwback of the old 90’s team and their glory. New coaches are supposed to say this; it’s all lipstick on a pig to dress up consumer confidence for all the fans to gobble up.

I know Dave Campo preached it during his press conferences. I’m sure Jason Garrett thought about it a time or two, all between heavy claps. You bet Bill Parcells was thinking about it in 2006, right before quarterback Tony Romo fumbled away the football after a botched field goal attempt in Seattle.

So, is this chit-chat all just a bunch of phony-baloney, a cascade of pro football poppycock? I don’t know. You tell me.

Of his 13 seasons with the Green Bay Packers, McCarthy did not make the postseason four times. He’s coached the Packers in four NFC Championship games. He won a Lombardi title back in 2010.

In addition, the guy loves the NFC East. He owns a 7-3 overall record against the Dallas Cowboys. Against the New York Giants, the Washington Football Team, and the Philadelphia Eagles, he is 13-9.

In other words, the Dallas Cowboys could have hired worse. And for all those dressing McCarthy as a “safe” pick or a “boring” pick, the current 2020 training camp is saying otherwise. The ‘Boys are back, and yes, finally, the window dressing is different.

More importantly, the relationship between head coach and Jerry Jones and the rest of the top brass is off to a great start.

Back in 2018, the Green Bay Packers fired McCarthy after a 4-7-1 season. The Packers didn’t even let him finish out the year, leaving him to end the year with .375 winning percentage, a career-low. It’s a tough business.

In 2019, McCarthy declined the Cleveland Browns head coaching gig. He had big eyes for the Big Apple and the New York Jets, but the team went with Adam Gase. McCarthy spent the rest of the 2019 season at home.

For the entire year, McCarthy used the days to learn, to progress. The DNA of the NFL changed, and so with it, the head coach had to follow suit. He had to wipe the hard drive so he could lay down a new operating system.

His days in Green Bay are long gone. His overall head coaching record of 135-85-2 is set back to 0-0. Mike McCarthy starts again. Brand new. Like the new car smell.

Sporting new colors and a new team logo, McCarthy is rebooted for 2020. He’s out for a Super Bowl title. He’s out for some revenge.