Jerry Jones Weighed In on J.J. McCarthy After Sunday Night
On Sunday, the Minnesota Vikings pretty much ended Dallas’ season in Sunday’s matchup. J.J. McCarthy’s strong performance against Jerry Jones’ squad helped spark the Vikings’ first back-to-back mini-winning streak of the season.
Jerry Jones on J.J. McCarthy
Unlike Minnesota’s ownership group, Cowboys boss Jerry Jones is the most outspoken owner in the NFL. Mark and Zygi Wilf rarely come into the spotlight, while Jones is talking to the media on a weekly basis.
Of course, he also addressed the recent defeat against Kevin O’Connell’s squad.
Jones told 105.3 The Fan, “We let their quarterback have a big day on us. That wasn’t the plan. We could have used more pressure, without question, at different times. The result was that we let him make some pretty significant plays out there. Plus, he played pretty well. It seems like we’re always saying that about these opposing quarterbacks. Some of them hadn’t played as well, but when they play us, they play better. I think that’s telling, too.”
He’s unhappy with his defense, and it’s understandable. The Vikings had been one of the league’s worst offensive units, featuring abysmal quarterback play. On Sunday, none of that was visible, as J.J. McCarthy delivered the best performance of his career.
Putting him under more pressure could’ve certainly changed some things, but the Vikings kept their sophomore relatively clean for the most part, even without Christian Darrisaw.
Perhaps Micah Parsons could’ve changed things? The star defender was shockingly traded to the Green Bay Packers days before the season opener and has haunted the NFC North ever since. He picked up a torn ACL on Sunday, ending his season prematurely.
But Jones is right: McCarthy entered the game with one full good game on his resume and managed to regain some of the respect he had lost, particularly over his first six outings. He had never looked this comfortable as in his three-touchdown performance.
“Candidly, just to be very up front about it. I think if we could have gotten this defense in better shape earlier, that we could be sitting here with the kind of wins that would’ve not had us in this tight spot,” Jones noted. “Bottom line, I’d say we’ve been pretty off-balance because of the way our defense has presented and the issues regarding our defense, which I didn’t expect.”
The Cowboys have one of the league’s top offenses that can put up 30 in any given week, captained by Dak Prescott and two explosive wideouts, CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens.
Following last season, Jones fired head coach Mike McCarthy and his defensive coordinator, Mike Zimmer. Yes, that Mike Zimmer. Brian Schottenheimer is the new head coach and is responsible for the offense, while former Bears coach Matt Eberflus was hired to fix the defense.
Jones is partially blaming the coaching carousel for the struggles: “We’ve had three different defensive coordinators in three years. And so while change creates a freshness, or new ideas, you also pay the price of giving up continuity. When you have a world like we have, where we sign players for long-term agreements — long term being three, four, five years in a row — and you change the way they’re coached or the philosophy of how they go play a certain position, then you see what you get into.”
In 2023, the current Commanders coach, Dan Quinn, was the defensive coordinator. The unit was good then, but dropped off significantly under Zimmer and Eberflus.
A move for Quinnen Williams at the trade deadline gave the defense a boost, but it wasn’t enough to slow down the Vikings.
Vikings fans should note that McCarthy’s breakout game came against a subpar defense, but he still produced better than most quarterbacks did against the Cowboys this year. He’ll hope to have a third consecutive promising outing on Sunday against the New York Giants.
Editor’s Note: Information from PFF, Over The Cap, and Pro Football Reference helped with this article.