Report: Mike McCarthy smashed watermelons to motivate Cowboys to Vikings win
In the world of NFL coaching, there are plenty of areas that one can draw from to motivate his team. For Mike Zimmer, late-night conversations with Bill Parcells are the norm and during his team's four-game winning streak, the Vikings reportedly blasted DMX tunes into every corner of TCO Performance Center.
For Mike McCarthy, he turned to another great mind in...Gallagher?
The Dallas Cowboys coach needed to find a way to motivate his 2-7 team coming into Sunday's game with the Vikings. In the thick of the race for the NFC East division title, McCarthy reportedly showed up to Saturday's team meeting with a sledgehammer and a crate of watermelons.
#Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy pulled out a sledgehammer during Saturday night’s team meeting and smashed watermelons like Gallagher to emphasize their objectives. Players roared, then responded with an inspired win in Minnesota. @nflnetwork pic.twitter.com/oiUThTYuYJ
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) November 23, 2020
According to NFL Network's Tom Pellissero, McCarthy wrote down an objective on each watermelon. As he read the objectives, he took the sledgehammer and smashed the melons to drive the point home.
When getting to the last one, which had a picture of Dalvin Cook's face on it, Demarcus Lawrence jumped up to grab the hammer to smash it himself.
This led the Cowboys to smash the Vikings' playoff hopes on Sunday afternoon. With a crushing hit that forced fumbles from Cook and Kirk Cousins, the Cowboys blasted the Vikings' playoff hopes with a 31-28 victory at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Although the loss stings for Vikings fans, they can at least hope that video of this act surfaces somewhere on the internet.
