Dallas Cowboys Coach Mike McCarthy Reveals: Mom's Fault for Play-Sheet Mishap

Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy saw his play sheet revealed on Monday Night Football. The culprit, he claims, was closer to home than most imagined.

If you had a nickel for each time a prime-time broadcast revealed a little-too-clear glimpse of a head coach’s play sheet this season … you’d have two nickels!

As the Denver Broncos showed after head coach Sean Payton saw his play sheet exposed, it is indeed possible to win after the camera catches something it shouldn’t. Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy’s play sheet was caught on camera during the Week 6 win over the Los Angeles Chargers.

It doesn’t seem that Dallas made pressing changes to its language during the bye week. McCarthy went as far as to deny that the state secrets were actually lost.

Mike McCarthy, call sheet in hand / © Raymond Carlin III-USA TODAY Sports

However, on 105.3 The Fan, McCarthy did reveal whose fault it was.

“The irony of it is I always speak to my parents before the game, and my mother was pretty adamant that I need to cover my mouth,” McCarthy joked. She was at church that day and five different people commented that Mike isn’t covering his mouth when he’s calling plays. So I kind of blame this on her a little bit, I was trying to be really conscientious of keeping my call sheet up over my mouth.”

McCarthy didn’t make things any easier on himself, though. If the text was smaller, perhaps it would have been less visible! Instead, McCarthy, 59, and his old eyes demand some technical adjustments.

“And now I’ve got an issue with my font being too big because my eyes aren’t as good as they were 15-20 years ago,” McCarthy said. “I really don’t know what the hell to do about it.”

The Cowboys (4-2) will look to make McCarthy’s calls the right ones on Sunday. Coming off the bye, they host the Los Angeles Rams (3-4). Despite their record, the Rams are a competitive team that matches up concerningly well with Dallas. Making the necessary adjustments to the “Texas Coast” offense will be key to staying afloat in the second half of the season.