Cowboys Team Meeting: Inside McCarthy Message on 'Reputation'

Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy launches into "Giants Week'' and the opener with a speech to his team about "reputation'' - and why is doesn't matter much.

FRISCO - Week 1 is here, with the Dallas Cowboys on Monday intensifying their preparation for "Sunday Night Football'' at the New York Giants. ... in part by trying to strip down some predetermined notions on "reputation.''

Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy told his team that a Week 1 game - even one against the most common opponent possible in the Giants - brings with it the weight … or maybe the lightness … of the unknown.

“There’s reputation based on what you did last year,” McCarthy told his Cowboys right around breakfast time. “It doesn’t mean much.” 

The coach is talking about a turnover of rosters, of course; Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has noted that there is often a 30-percent change in a team’s roster from one year to the next.

But this can also be about the playbook, and McCarthy suggested that that same 30 percent number might apply to looks that each team will present to the other.

On defense on Sunday night vs. the Giants, coordinator Dan Quinn will surely unveil new wrinkles with his versatile “chess pieces” led by Micah Parsons.

And when Dallas has the ball? QB Dak Prescott keys the newly-installed “Texas Coast Offense” … surely featuring some out of the gate cleverness as Dallas takes on a Giants team that joined it in the NFC playoffs a year ago.

And how did the fellas receive the pep talk? Maybe an additional McCarthy comment is a reflection on that mood.

"I think,” McCarthy said as he enters his Year 4 here at The Star, “the competitive spirit is higher than it's ever been since I've been here."