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By Jon Machota
4h ago
Less than a week after having their season end at San Francisco, the Cowboys received some of the best offseason news possible Thursday.
Despite head-coaching interest from several NFL teams for a second consecutive year, defensive coordinator Dan Quinn is remaining in Dallas for a third season.
Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy confirmed Quinn’s decision following an end-of-year news conference at The Star on Thursday.
“This is big for us,” McCarthy said. “It gives us continuity, definitely with what we accomplished the last two years, to build off of that. And frankly, on a personal note, I can’t tell you how thankful I am.
“He’s been a head coach. He understands at this point in his life how hard it is to win a Super Bowl. All those things play into that. Clearly, Dan is in a position to be selective. And I’m extremely excited about the decision.”
https://theathletic.com/4126273/2023/01/26/dallas-cowboys-season-dak-prescott-mike-mccarthy/
Quinn recently interviewed for head-coaching jobs with the Arizona Cardinals, Denver Broncos and Indianapolis Colts.
This is significant because since Quinn was hired to fix Dallas’ defense two years ago, the group has been elevated to one of the best in the league. The Cowboys have led the NFL in takeaways the past two seasons, something that hasn’t been done since the Pittsburgh Steelers in the early 1970s. The Cowboys have also finished top 10 in scoring defense each of the past two seasons after ranking 28th in 2020.
Many of Dallas’ key defensive pieces, like DE/LB Micah Parsons, CB Trevon Diggs, DE DeMarcus Lawrence and S Jayron Kearse are under contract for next season, so Quinn and company should be able to continue building on what has become the team’s greatest strength.
McCarthy had a much different tone Thursday when answering questions about some recent departures from his coaching staff.
Earlier in the day, the Cowboys announced that they were not renewing the contracts for assistant head coach Rob Davis, senior defensive assistant George Edwards, assistant defensive line coach Leon Lett, running backs coach Skip Peete, offensive line coach Joe Philbin and quality control coach Kyle Valero. Edwards and Philbin were the two biggest surprises, considering the work Edwards has done with Parsons, a two-time first-team All-Pro, and Philbin’s ability to develop starting offensive tackles Tyler Smith and Terence Steele. Peete was also not expected, considering how he has helped turn Tony Pollard into a Pro Bowl back.
“The longer I do this, it clearly gets harder,” McCarthy said. “There’s a personal component. Obviously, you’re talking about some relationships I’ve been involved with for a long time. That part is probably the toughest clearly for me.
“Frankly, a lot of different variables went into these decisions. Obviously the number of coaches. Variables that you usually don’t talk about in this space. But this was something that was really, really being discussed as early as last year and it has more to do with definition and design of your staff, philosophical beliefs, economic structure, all of those things that go into it. You’re just taking a step back.
“A lot of different variables went into this one and it’s something you’ll see, I don’t know if you’ll really recognize, but we’ll operate a little differently on staff.”
Kellen Moore and Dak Prescott (Robert Deutsch / USA Today)
McCarthy did not give a definitive answer when asked about the future of offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, who remains under contract for the 2023 season. Moore interviewed for the Carolina Panthers’ head-coaching position that was filled Thursday by Frank Reich.
Dallas has had a top-six scoring offense in three of Moore’s four seasons as OC. The Cowboys have also led the NFL in total offense twice during that time. However, following another early postseason exit when the offense struggled against the 49ers, more offensive coaching staff changes could be coming.
“I really don’t want to play this game today,” McCarthy said. “It’s been a long couple of days. Kellen Moore, just like the rest of the coaches, will be evaluated. Every coach will be evaluated. The evaluation, it takes more than one day.”
https://theathletic.com/4128166/2023/01/27/dallas-cowboys-offseason-dak-prescott-ezekiel-elliott/
Whoever is calling the Cowboys’ offense next season will have to find ways for Dak Prescott to be more consistent than he was in 2022. The franchise quarterback led the NFL in interceptions with a career-high 15 in 12 starts. He threw two more in Dallas’ season-ending loss at San Francisco. While Prescott had arguably the best game of his career in the wild-card win at Tampa Bay, he had two of his worst games in the regular-season finale at Washington and then two weeks later against the 49ers.
“Interceptions are very important plays in a game,” McCarthy said, “but there’s still another 30-32 balls he throws during a course of a game and the productivity that’s come off of that speaks for itself. Dak’s been through some things this year and last year, as far as injury. I think his ability to come back from injury is outstanding, his resilience is exactly what you’re looking for. I don’t think there’s a man more respected in that locker room, and we’re talking about a great locker room.
“There’s a lot to build off of. As far as the numbers and being in the zone, I think when you take a step back and take the emotion out of how our season ended, there’s an incredible amount of productivity there.”
One of the biggest reasons why McCarthy is excited about the team’s future is their previous three draft classes, which include WR CeeDee Lamb, Diggs, C Tyler Biadasz, Parsons, DT Osa Odighizuwa, Smith, DE Sam Williams, TE Jake Ferguson and CB DaRon Bland. McCarthy sees considerable room for those classes to continue improving and taking on bigger roles. He called the 2022 draft class “clearly the best of the three.”
McCarthy described that they’re building a “championship program” that has a “chance to take it to the next step.” When mentioning the outstanding support from Cowboys fans, he included the following message: “Please have confidence and clear understanding that we’re going to do everything we need to do to get this trophy.”
https://theathletic.com/4116463/2023/01/23/dallas-cowboys-playoff-loss-49ers-jerry-jones/
Near the end of the 32-minute news conference, McCarthy provided arguably his most interesting response when asked about conversations he’s had recently with Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones. He said they have mostly been about “design, philosophy, structure, and the advancement of the coaching staff.”
He categorized his relationship with Jones as “in an excellent spot.” Then he added that Jones has told him a number of times this week that he wants McCarthy to coach the Cowboys as long as Tom Landry did. Yes, the legendary Cowboys coach who in 29 seasons led Dallas to its first two Super Bowl titles, five Super Bowl appearances and 12 conference championship games during a 17-year stretch.
“I feel really good about our relationship,” McCarthy said. “I think our ability to discuss and disagree, we do a good job of that. And I think that’s important. Because when you get into these situations in free agency and these tough, tough decisions, you got to be able to have those conversations. But also his support and what he believes. I thought he was incredible with the team on Monday. Just his message to the team was outstanding.
“We have a lot to build off of, but we are in the mode of evaluation. With that, we’ll continue to have conversations about how we’re going to get this thing done.”