'Number one thing you shouldn't have to talk about': Mike McCarthy addresses Dallas Cowboys' finishing effort
After the Dallas Cowboys ceded 49 points and 307 rushing yards to the Cleveland Browns on Oct. 4, the question lurked.
“We don’t have an effort issue,” head coach McCarthy said then as his team fell to 1-3. “You've got to be really careful when you start challenging professional athletes about effort, especially from a distance.”
Fast forward eight games and six more losses. The conversation has returned to The Star.
“Our finish was not good enough, clearly,” McCarthy said Wednesday of a 34-17 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. “We didn’t finish very well, that’s for sure.”
Players said McCarthy addressed the disappointing finish.
“It's unacceptable,” linebacker Jaylon Smith said. “I don't think the head coach should be having to come to talk to us about effort at the end of the game. … If there is a play where you could've gave more effort, you have to hold yourself accountable to that. And that goes for the player, it goes for all the players on the squad, including myself. And the same for coaches.
“It's a big reason why we are where we are.”
The 34 points and 294 rushing yards Dallas surrendered Tuesday to Baltimore marked the defense’s latest unraveling in a season full of them. The unit has been gashed for an average of 167.8 rushing yards per game, 16.9 more than the second-worst Texans. They’re allowing a league-worst 32.8 points per game, a full field goal beyond second-worst Detroit.
Linebacker Leighton Vander Esch took the blame for Lamar Jackson’s rushing touchdown on fourth-and-2 in the first quarter, Vander Esch biting on a fake handoff to running back J.K. Dobbins. Even so, no teammate managed to touch Jackson as he scurried a full 37 yards up the middle of the field. It was the longest rushing touchdown by a quarterback allowed in Cowboys history.
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Fast forward to 2:08 remaining in the game, and it was Dobbins’ turn to rush up the middle and score. None of 11 defenders stopped or even meaningfully slowed him. Ravens left tackle Orlando Brown emphasized that fact by exclaiming to the nationally televised broadcast: “Easy money!”
“At the end of the day, we can all give more effort,” Smith said. “The standard has to be effort to the ball, sprinting, making sure that you're protecting your brother. … The only real way to address it is for each individual to look in the mirror and watch each play. If there was a play where you could’ve gave more effort, you got to own up to that. That’s how that true accountability can come.”
On offense, the Cowboys moved the ball better vs. Baltimore than their 17 points suggested. An interception and three missed field goals made moot many of the 388 yards and 29 first downs the unit with quarterback Andy Dalton compiled.
Dalton acknowledged the gravity of the need to discuss effort.
“That’s one of those things you shouldn’t have to talk about,” Dalton said. “First, we got to make sure we’re doing everything we can each play we’re out there to make the most of every play and every series. All that stuff. Effort’s the No.1 thing you shouldn’t have to talk about.
“That’s between you and you as a player.”
Running back Ezekiel Elliott said McCarthy didn’t need to illustrate the finish issues in a teamwide meeting, film breakdown was sufficient in position group analyses. But “we know,” Elliott said. “We know what’s not a good finish and what is good finish. … That’s something he definitely told us he wasn’t happy about.”
All of which leads to frustration at The Star. Sure, 2020 hasn’t been easy for a Cowboys team with a first-year coach, a deep roster of players on injured reserve, COVID-19 and the Nov. 25 death of their strength and conditioning coordinator. None of that assuages players as the losses pile.
“You can’t not be frustrated,” Elliott said. “You have to be frustrated. I think if you aren’t frustrated, then you don’t give a [expletive]. So I mean I know everyone in this locker room, in this building is frustrated.”
Follow Paste BN Sports’ Jori Epstein on Twitter @JoriEpstein.
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