Cowboys’ Mike McCarthy: ‘I Want to Run the Damn Ball’ After Replacing OC Kellen Moore | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors
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Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy has a new vision for the offense, and it’s one that might not align with that of the fanbase.
The Cowboys changed offensive coordinators this offseason, swapping Kellen Moore for Brian Schottenheimer.
Speaking at the NFL Scouting Combine, McCarthy alluded to the reasoning behind the move. He made it clear he prefers to lean on the running game more, saying he “want(s) to run the damn ball so I can rest my defense.”
Jon Machota @jonmachota
Mike McCarthy spoke highly of his time with Kellen Moore. He said the Cowboys former OC did a hell of a job and continued to improve over the last three years. But it’s clear they had their differences. This quote from today explains some of that <a href=”https://t.co/GXueydVzTA”>pic.twitter.com/GXueydVzTA</a>
Based on those comments, you might get the impression Dallas was running some version of the air raid offense in 2022.
Instead, the offense logged the sixth-most carries in the NFL (531). ESPN’s Ed Werder also noted how the unit had a relatively high percentage of runs for a McCarthy team:
Ed Werder @WerderEdESPN
At 45%, the <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cowboys?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#Cowboys</a>’ designed rush rate in 2022 was the highest for a Mike McCarthy-coached team and the first time one of his teams has been top-10 in design rush pct. <a href=”https://t.co/3rmIZ8htlo”>https://t.co/3rmIZ8htlo</a>
McCarthy also said how he doesn’t want his quarterback throwing the ball 45 times a game, but that’s a threshold Dak Prescott exceeded just once in 2022. For his entire pro career, Prescott has finished with at least 45 attempts in 14 of his 97 games.
The Cowboys did run a more uptempo offense. According to Football Outsiders, their 26.4 seconds per play were the fourth-fewest in the NFL. That coincided with them finishing 25th in average time of possession (29:18).
And McCarthy is right, in theory, that shorter offensive drives, even if they end up in points, can be detrimental to a degree because if tire out your defense the longer a game goes on.
His comments writ large might be raising some alarms within the fanbase, though.
When his time with the Green Bay Packers ended in 2018, one of the more common criticisms directed at McCarthy was that his offenses became far too unimaginative. He didn’t seem to be up on the latest analytics, either, something he attempted to address by visiting Pro Football Focus’ office for one day when he was out of a job.
Maybe the end product will be different for the Cowboys in 2023. For now, it looks like McCarthy might embrace his worst habits now that he’s running the offense.
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