Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy has already been under fire for his poor play – but add carelessness to his repertoire of errors after this week’s edition of Monday Night Football.
McCarthy was coaching the team against the in-state rival Houston Texans on Monday and failed to properly protect his master play sheet from the peeping cameras of ESPN.
The play sheet was seen multiple times on the broadcast of the game – with clearly marked plays in full view of the camera lens.
Football fans mocked McCarthy on social media – saying that even if people could read the plays, it’s not like they’re a secret.
‘He’s been using the same playbook for a decade, everybody knows the plays already,’ wrote one user on X, formerly Twitter.
‘Not like that makes a difference,’ said another user on the site.
Another joked, ‘Nobody wants these anyway.’
McCarthy is in the final year of his contract and at the current rate, it’s highly likely that he’ll be searching for new employment by the end of the season.
The much-maligned McCarthy saw his team fall 34-10 at home to Houston on a night where the Texans never trailed.
Running back Joe Mixon scored two touchdowns in the first quarter before Dallas responded with a massive 64-yard TD catch from KaVontae Turpin.
A pair of field goals from Houston’s Ka’imi Fairbairn and Dallas’ Brandon Aubrey made it 17-10 going into the half.
But Dallas wouldn’t score again. Fairbairn knocked through a field goal in the third quarter, defensive end Derek Barnett would return a fumble 23 yards, and Mixon would tack on his third touchdown of the night for us to arrive at our final score.
In a year where they were expected to make a playoff push, the Cowboys are languishing at the bottom of the NFL with the eighth worst record in the league.
That’s thanks, in part, to their current five-game losing streak. Quarterback Dak Prescott being out for the season after needing surgery on a hamstring issue compounded things for McCarthy’s team as well.
He had the operation last Wednesday and is expected to make a full recovery for 2025.
‘His prognosis is wonderful, it just means we’re not going to have him the rest of the year,’ Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said last week.
Prescott watched his team from the sidelines on Monday night, arriving on crutches to support his teammates.
With Cooper Rush taking his place for the rest of the campaign, the Cowboys will hope to break that losing momentum on the road against NFC East rival Washington Commanders next Sunday.
