FRISCO – In a “new report” on the job security of Mike McCarthy, ESPN both regurgitates old news and puts a weirdly positive spin on a Dallas Cowboys decision that by any measure is a “jury-is-out” situation. In response to one of the one of the most shocking and disappointing ends to a season in the franchise’s storied 64-year history, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones on Wednesday night chose to retain McCarthy as his head coach. As we wrote that night: “By deciding to retain his head coach and make him work next season with no job security and on the final year his contract, Jones essentially is making McCarthy … coach the Cowboys as a lame duck.”
ESPN is trying to twist it into something else, Schefter noting that Jones’ view is that “the last year of a contract … can it often can bring out the best in people.” That’s true. But McCarthy isn’t a lame duck because it’s advantageous for him. He’s not getting an extension because an extension represents a reward that he did not earn.
That’s it. Because we know that Jones’ plan before the devastating loss to Green Bay was to give McCarthy a contract extension, and because we know the loss dried up that scheduled offer, this amounts to “punishment” for the coach.
