'Open Season' on Coach Mike McCarthy: Dallas Cowboys Week 1 'Hot Seat'?

The vultures are already circling. Unfairly, it is "Open Season'' on Dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy.

ARLINGTON - The NFL season is upon us.

Which means it is "Open Season'' on Dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy.

McCarthy has been in Dallas for two years and while last season was a relative success ("relative'' because Cowboys Nation and Cowboys critics crave Super Bowls, not just 12-5 records), he hasn't won a playoff game here yet.

Respect from his ownership, from his staff, from his locker room? That is in place.

Vultures in position to peck away in the event of a Week 1 loss here Sunday night to the visiting Bucaneers?

They are in place as well.

From Sports Illustrated colleague Conor Orr: “Let’s be honest, if (Cowboys owner) Jerry Jones has a crack at (Sean) Payton, he’s taking it.''

From Bleacher Report’s Tyler Dunne: “Mike has a low football IQ, and that used to bother Aaron (Rodgers in Green Bay). He’d say Mike has one of the lowest IQs, if not the lowest IQ, of any coach he’s ever had.”

From CBS Sports: "Jerry Jones has put the pressure on McCarthy to make a deep playoff run his season, especially since the man he wants to coach the Cowboys -- Sean Payton -- is currently unavailable. ... McCarthy may be set up for a disastrous season in 2022, even if the Cowboys do make the playoffs.''

None of this is fair. But McCarthy and the "hot seat,'' it has universally been decided, is "fair game.''

We don't have to regurgitate the Sean Payton junk here; We've covered it from every angle, including SI doing exclusive interviews with the semi-retired and Cowboys-connected coach. We don't have to completely believe Jones when he tells us that Payton "shouldn’t be a conversation piece. Mike is not only here, but he's in the best position, in my mind, to lead this team.”

Indeed, if we may insert some logic here: If Jones wanted someone other than McCarthy to coach the Dallas Cowboys in 2022 - if not Payton then Dan Quinn or Kellen Moore or whomever - why wouldn't he simply say goodbye to McCarthy and make his move?

The answer: Jerry Jones is just as hungry for success as any Cowboys fan and any Cowboys critic. But he's applied some logic here; McCarthy has done nothing "wrong,'' and as he speaks confidently in advance of Sunday, there is no such thing as a "Week 1 hot seat.''

Now, with the Bucs and the Bengals the first two teams on the schedule, we can argue that there might be such a thing as a "Week 3 hot seat.'' But in fairness to Mike McCarthy, for now, maybe it's the vultures who need to recline for a moment.

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