The Dallas Cowboys officially begin their season on Thursday night against the Philadelphia Eagles and everybody in the world is talking about the game. The NFL is back.
Among the “everyone” discussing the upcoming game is the former head coach of the Cowboys, Mike McCarthy. It will be Brian Schottenheimer leading Dallas out on Thursday night, the first time a non-McCarthy coach will run the team since the end of the 2019 season (although McCarthy missed a game in 2021 while being on the COVID list).
McCarthy is not in the NFL for the 2025 season and seems to be doing some commentating as he has appeared on the Pat McAfee Show a bit, notably around the NFL draft and on Thursday ahead of kickoff.
Obviously McCarthy touched on the game and noted that he is very high on this team. That makes sense given that he was just coaching them and on some level may have wanted to return, but water under the bridge.
McCarthy was asked for his thoughts on Dak Prescott and was quite complimentary. Interestingly, he revealed in his answer that the Cowboys dialed back Prescott’s rushing after his first big contract extension with the club.
“Number one stay healthy. He stays healthy he’ll reach every goal he has set out for his team and himself. I do believe that in heart of hearts.”
“I think Dak is clearly what I would call a full operational quarterback.”
“When you get into the post-season and you start building your offense for the upcoming year, the concepts you’re looking to build off of, the variations that you wanna change… he’s full operational. There’s nothing that you really get out.”
“Now he obviously ran more in his younger days. And frankly once he received a bigger contract we tried to be more selective with that. I’m not sure what direction they’re going here in the future here.”
“We increased the three-step emphasis. I thought he was excellent at that. The play-action, the keys, all that. Really liking the situations.”
“Everyone talks about his leadership and his hard work. But this man’s a hell of a football player. I just love the way he stands in there and makes those throws and doesn’t blink.”
This has been an assumption of many and runs chalk with the way this kind of thing works across all sports. The Cowboys are not the first team to be worried about something like rushing attempts after making a serious financial investment.
The reason this feels notable is because it is quite rare that you get such outright confirmation of the fact. Generally it becomes assumed knowledge, but it is never open fact.
In case you are curious, here are Dak Prescott’s rushing attempts by season. Recall that he received his first big contract extension from the Cowboys in 2021. He was, ironically, coming off of an ankle injury that he suffered in 2020 while on the run which may not be ironic at all in your opinion:
- 2016: 57
- 2017: 57
- 2018: 75
- 2019: 52
- 2020 (5 games): 18
- 2021: 48
- 2022: 45
- 2023: 55
- 2024 (8 games): 13
It should also be noted for full context that McCarthy never coached Dak while the quarterback was on his rookie contract. McCarthy took over the Cowboys in 2020 and it was that season that Dallas saw Prescott play on the franchise tag, but only for five games as noted.
Again, none of this information is shocking to anyone who has been paying even fractional attention. But perhaps as McCarthy continues to operate within the media we will pick up points of confirmation on other thoughts and theories we have had for a while.
