Cowboys Country

Inside Cowboys' McCarthy 'Scary' 10-Word Reaction to Win at Giants

"There are always gonna be things I wanna do better,'' Dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy announced to the world after the 40-0 drubbing at New York ...a thought that must frighten the rest of the NFL.

Mike Fisher

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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - The Dallas Cowboys under head coach Mike McCarthy pushed so many right buttons in the Week 1 "Sunday Night Football'' 40-0 win at the New York Giants that the demands on "Texas Coast Offense'' and its new play-caller - McCarthy himself were few.

But he capped off a full "saying-the-right-thing'' weekend, which started with his "Carpe Omnia'' ("seize everything'') team theme, continued in the pregame with his "call-your-loved-ones'' command, and was punctuated by the scariest 10 words in the NFL right now ...

"There are always gonna be things I wanna do better,'' McCarthy announced to the world after the drubbing.

"Better''? Sure, we suppose. Dallas' offense totaled 265 yards and was harmed by three drops from the tight ends. Oh, an an early extra point was missed. But Prescott used six different receivers, Tony Pollard rushed for 70 yards on 14 carries and two scores, and the Cowboys, following up on Dak's NFL-leading 15 interceptions a year ago, didn't commit a turnover.

“You got playmakers around, let them do what they gotta do,” CeeDee Lamb said. “Mike did a great job of keeping them guessing and did a great job of making plays and executing.”

There was one play in particular that Prescott and Lamb might want to use as  a McCarthy sampler. Lamb lined up bunch formation, confusing the Giants defense, and was wide-open 49-yard reception ... on a third-and-3 play that might have, given the lopsided score and the rainy conditions, called for conservatism.

“That’s something we’re looking for,” Prescott said of the play “That goes into the preparation, understanding what they’re going to give us on third down. Great timing by coach (McCarthy) getting in at that time and getting the look we wanted and getting to that play.”

Another example of clever preparation? The use of little KaVontae Turpin in the backfield, where he lined up in the backfield to score a late fourth-quarter touchdown from seven yards out. ... on third-and-goal, making the score 40-0.

Said Lamb of the go-for-the-jugular mindset: “Every drive that we step on the field we take it personal. You always want to end it with seven or six and Mike did a great job of coming in here at halftime and giving us a pep talk: 'This game is not over.' We came out (in the second half) and did what we had to do.”

Ah, another pep talk? Sure, we suppose. ... with more button-pushing and speech-giving to come.

“It was good,” McCarthy said. “Like anything, because of the weather, we had to adjust. There are always going to be things I want to do better.It’s no different tonight. We had a couple of things but I thought it was a relatively clean game.”

Yeah. It was 40-0. But "relatively'' clean. Cowboys Nation can only imagine what will happen when Mike McCarthy does some additional cleaning.

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Mike Fisher
MIKE FISHER

Mike Fisher - as a newspaper beat writer and columnist and on radio and TV, where he is an Emmy winner - has covered the NFL since 1983 and the Dallas Cowboys since 1990, is the author of two best-selling books on the Cowboys.

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