'Pittsburgh Macho': Cowboys 'Punch,' 'Kick' & Bathroom Humor as Coach Mike McCarthy Talks Tough for Playoffs

"I think it’s like a lot of things in life,'' said Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy on some relative challenges, maybe relying on his gritty-side-of-the-street upbringing in Pittsburgh. "You get kicked in the ass or punched in the mouth, you have a chance to respond.''

FRISCO - Coach Mike McCarthy has taken to using some colorfully tough-guy phraseology to describe what his Dallas Cowboys are going through ... and how they intend to thrive as a result this weekend when the NFL Playoffs begin.

His reputation as being "Pittsburgh macho'' is about to come in handy.

"I think it’s like a lot of things in life,'' said McCarthy on Dallas' relative challenges, maybe relying on his gritty-side-of-the-street upbringing in the blue-collar neighborhood of Greenfield in Pittsburgh to explain. "You get kicked in the ass or punched in the mouth, you have a chance to respond. 

"And I have great confidence in our football team that we will respond.”

In the regular-season finale at Washington, McCarthy's Cowboys didn't get "kicked in the ass'' or "punched in the mouth.''

There was no "or'' about it.

The playoffs have arrived and the Cowboys are hardly peaking as they are coming off their worst performance of the season in Sunday's 26-6 loss at have-not Washington. Next up? A duel featuring a QB who Dallas insists is going to be fine in jittery Dak Prescott vs. a QB who history insists is going to be fine in legendary Tom Brady.

Brady has won more Super Bowls than anybody - seven.

And his number of wins in seven lifetime games against Dallas? That's also ... seven.

But McCarthy knows his way around the postseason as well, the former Green Bay coach boasting a Super Bowl win and four trips to the NFC Championship Game. That experience is part of what Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is banking on in his continued support of the third-year Dallas coach, who has 24 regular-season wins here in the last two years.

Said Jones when asked about a hot-seat situation for his coach pending the Monday night outcome in Tampa: "No. I don’t need to go into all the plusses or minuses. I’ve got a lot more to evaluate Mike McCarthy on than this playoff game.

"No. That's it.''

McCarthy is 59, as proud as ever of his Greenfield upbringing, where Ellen and Joe raised five children, all of whom ended up graduating college. Dad was a cop and a fireman and a handyman and the owner of "Joe McCarthy's Bar and Grill,'' where steel-mill workers made up the customer base.

"Pittsburgh macho'' is how the late Packers general manager Ted Thompson described McCarthy upon his hiring in 2006. 

"Pittsburgh macho'' came in handy for a teenager working in that bar.

"Pittsburgh macho'' comes in handy now.

“It was an expression (from Thompson) of personality, of growing up inner-city, of a blue-collar approach,” McCarthy told CowboysSI.com of the phrase. “How I approach it, how I prepare. … We all have backgrounds, starting points, starting lines. … You have to stick to that because that's at the core of who you are.

“Directness, the way I was raised, I think is very important part of leadership. … I think it points back to ‘be yourself.”

So the talk of "getting punched in the mouth'' fits. The talk of getting "kicked in the ass'' fits. McCarthy obviously has a warm side; his charitable work in Pittsburgh and Green Bay is legendary, and his Cowboys players rave about how he cares about them. But this seems the right time for "grit,'' so also fitting is McCarthy's explanation for how different it is for the great Tyron Smith to work quickly to adjust from a career as a left tackle to now playing on the right side.

“I don’t want to be crude here,'' warned McCarthy before explaining, "It’s like wiping your ass with your right hand, and then you gotta switch to your left. It’s a pain in the ass. It takes time.''

Maybe right about now, "crude'' works. Maybe frank talk helps. Maybe "Pittsburgh macho'' resonates.

“This is playoff time,” McCarthy said. “There’s no more guaranteed games. You’re guaranteed one game. And you’ve got to do whatever you need to do in playoff football to win. That will be our approach, and I have great confidence in this team. I have great confidence in the locker room …

"At the end of the day, it’s about one game: It’s about beating Tampa. That’s all we think about.”

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