'Program-Changer!' How Mike McCarthy Continues Cowboys Turnaround

The Dallas Cowboys were an inconsistent team prior to Mike McCarthy coming in as head coach and now, according to one of his former players, are a stable organization in the Super Bowl sweet spot, with the coach a big reason why.

Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy hasn't been getting a lot of love from the media and fans since arriving at The Star.

But while there have been detractors to McCarthy being head coach and now play-caller, he does have skins on the wall. After Jason Garrett was let go, McCarthy jumped into the hot seat, and one could argue that it has been for the better.

One person who believes that is former Green Bay Packers receiver James Jones, who has credited the turnaround of the Cowboys' franchise to his former boss.

“Mike McCarthy came over to the Dallas Cowboys, and the Dallas Cowboys weren’t doing nothing,” Jones said on FS1’s Speak. “He said, 'You know what, this is the way, we’re going to change this thing around,' and they have had winning seasons back-to-back.

Jones is not saying that McCarthy is the "sole" reason why Dallas is where it is, but if we delve a little deeper, credit is surely due.

Prior to McCarthy becoming head coach, Dallas since 2009 only had four double-digit winning seasons. McCarthy has two in three seasons.

He has also been front and center in the franchise achieving something not done since the Cowboys teams of 1995 and 1996 in securing back-to-back double-digit winning seasons.

Under Jason Garrett, Dallas has four 8-8 seasons and three double-digit winning seasons in nine years as the full-time head coach. It is not a dig at Garrett to say the Cowboys of today have been consistently closer to title contention than was the case pre-McCarthy.

For Jones, what McCarthy has done in Dallas is eerily similar to his work in Green Bay and, as such, has the Cowboys primed for a Super Bowl tilt.

“Same thing he did when he came to Green Bay," Jones said. "Terrible season, coach (Mike Sherman) fired, coach Mike (McCarthy) comes in there, in 2007 (goes) 13-3 with Brett Favre, and the rest is history with Aaron Rodgers, changing programs around.

"Mike has come into the Dallas Cowboys, whether you like it or not, the Dallas Cowboys (are) one of the best teams in the NFC, with a chance to be in the NFC Championship competing for a Super Bowl, and coach Mike has a lot to do with that. Period.”

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