3 strengths and 2 weaknesses of Mike McCarthy heading into 2023
- McCarthy has been on the mountaintop
- A strong coaching staff will constantly support McCarthy
- Dan Quinn could be next head coach in waiting
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Mike McCarthy weakness: Not getting the job done in the playoffs of late
No, I don't believe you can hold it against Mike McCarthy that he's "only" won one Super Bowl. But I think you can absolutely hold it against him that his teams aren't getting the job done in the playoffs as of late. His Cowboys teams have two playoff appearances in his three seasons on the job, and two disappointing losses to Kyle Shanahan and the San Francisco 49ers.
That's an especially tough pill to swallow because McCarthy's top coordinator -- Dan Quinn -- is extremely familiar with Kyle Shanahan. It's a chess match they should be able to win, on paper. You expect coaching to be a huge difference-maker come time for the playoffs. So far, McCarthy hasn't proven to be that for the Cowboys. Their lone playoff win in the last two seasons came against the ghost of Tom Brady and the Bucs, a team with a losing record.
Some standards are kind of impossible to live up to but as (relatively) healthy as the Cowboys have been in the playoffs the last couple of seasons, a great coach should be a much bigger edge in the postseason and McCarthy simply hasn't been.
We all saw that Kellen Moore was the "scapegoat" this year but perhaps a change in offensive philosophy will do the Dallas Cowboys some good. It's the devil you know vs. the devil you don't, isn't it?