2024-01-16 00:18:02
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Jerry Jones has seen his Dallas Cowboys capitulate early in the playoffs twice as the top seed in the NFC.
The club’s owner and general manager suffered Dez Bryant’s caught pass that was not in Green Bay when Dallas seemed poised to go far, but lost the divisional duel once morest the Packers because of that decision.
Still, it’s hard to imagine a postseason failure more painful than Sunday’s 48-32 wild-card loss to Green Bay in the 28 years since the Cowboys last reached the NFC Championship Game. .
“I don’t want to put it in a ranking,” Jones said outside the dejected Dallas clubhouse. “But I tell you, this is beyond my understanding.”
The Cowboys (12-6) had a chance to play two postseason games at home, preceded by a 16-game winning streak at AT&T Stadium. The Packers finished 6-2 to take the final berth to the NFC playoffs.
Dallas has seven players with a Pro Bowl poster, four of them as All-Pro. The Packers don’t have anyone as a Pro Bowler and inexperienced quarterback Jordan Love made the playoffs.
Dak Prescott ended up throwing costly interceptions, including one that resulted in a touchdown. The Dallas defense that shines by causing turnovers and tackles did nothing.
Even before the end of the game, with the Packers up 27-0 and 48-16, commentators began to speculate regarding the departure of head coach Mike McCarthy.
No immediate news on that front is expected from Jones. McCarthy completed the process of interviewing the players at the end of the season on Monday and will not speak to the press until it is over.
There is nothing strange regarding it, but if the meeting with the media does not take place in the next few days, it might be repeating something that has previously happened with a Dallas coach.
After the 2019 season, Jason Garrett spent a week in limbo with an expiring contract, and never spoke to the media. The Cowboys interviewed McCarthy even before acknowledging that Garrett was not going to continue.
McCarthy has one year left on his contract, and just completed his first season as Prescott’s play-caller following Dallas parted ways with Kellen Moore following last season’s divisional-round loss in San Francisco.
A Super Bowl champion and the architect of three other deep postseason campaigns with the Packers, McCarthy has led three straight 12-win seasons and the playoffs with the Cowboys.
But Dallas is the only team that has not reached the conference title game with such a pace in three seasons.
“It’s as recent for me as it is for everyone else, but I’m not going to get into any of it,” said Jones, who usually speaks on radio the Tuesday following the season ends. “Whether from the coaches to the players.”
Like McCarthy, Prescott is entering the final year of his contract. With eight years as a professional, Prescott’s contract will impact up to $59.45 million on the salary cap, an amount that might only be mitigated by an extension.
The Cowboys will have to ask themselves whether they should reinvest in a player who has been an NFL MVP candidate a couple of times in his career, including this season, but has failed to perform consistently in the playoffs.
Prescott is 2-5 in the postseason, with three of the losses opening the playoffs at home.
“It’s a tough blow, since it wasn’t something we thought we were going to encounter,” Prescott said. “It’s going to take some time to fully sink in, to be honest with you.”
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