Cowboys Head Coach Mike McCarthy (Post-Game Transcript)
On the turnover ratio:
“I mean, minus four, I think it’s obviously the telltale of the football game. Very disappointed. We all are. Felt like this was an excellent opportunity that we were prepared for. Minus three [turnovers] at halftime was a real, real kick in the [butt]. I thought our defense was put in a tough situation. Points off turnovers. The toughest part for us, you know, the giveaways were careless. I mean those are things that we have to be better at. Then we had to, obviously, go on the long drive there in the second half. So, then they got going with the run game, which they do best. I really felt like our guys had a chance to go win this today. And the game got away from them. Like you said, I think your question was answered. I mean, minus four [turnovers]. You can’t win games like that. We can’t even stay in games, you know, minus four. And if you look at the way we’ve played the last five weeks or so, that’s our formula to win, and it was the formula to lose today.”
On Cowboys QB Cooper Rush’s turnovers today after taking care of the football the past few games:
“I mean, definitely decisions. I mean, what you look at. And you know, it’s not where we want to be there, that’s for sure.”
On the interception on 3rd-and-1 to Cowboys WR Jonathan Mingo:
“It wasn’t picked off. It looked like the wind got it a little bit. It felt like we had an opportunity to get on top. You know, he did get on top. So, you know, it’s unfortunate.”
On Eagles RB Saquon Barkley surpassing 2,000 rushing yards today and what that means in terms of NFL history:
“I’d like to say that, you know, that’s the best thing to do. When you’re playing downhill like that, I think it’s definitely helpful. They really got going. I thought our defense did a good job in the first half. The run defense was where it needed to be because really the points were off of our giveaways. But yes, you know, the two long drives in the third quarter and in the fourth quarter. So, he’s obviously having a tremendous year.”
On how much more difficult the game was without Cowboys WR CeeDee Lamb:
“I mean, we knew that. We knew it was going to be a different game with the plan this week. To be honest with you, we didn’t really get to some of the things we’d hope to get to. The plan was to play with favorable sticks. I felt that the way they called the defense, they were going to try to make us go the long way. They didn’t play aggressively at all, and we gave them the ball. Obviously, it was a good plan for them, but we felt good about the run plan coming in here. I thought [Cowboys RB] Rico [Dowdle] had some really good runs there. The run blocking unit was productive. It’s hard to win games especially if you’re minus two. The first half was where it kind of got away from us, right there at the end. And then they got the run game going, and then we had the fourth turnover. So, passing game-wise, I wouldn’t really say that we stressed them a whole lot schematically but, you know, we really wanted to stand a healthy run-pass ratio, and once again, we got behind, and the game changed.”
On what he takes away from having a losing record this year after not having many in Green Bay and Dallas:
“I mean, that’s in eight days, you know. I’m here to finish the race. That’s my mindset and that’s the team’s mindset.”
On whether he heard Cowboys DE Micah Parsons was favoring something:
“Have not.”
On having depth issues at cornerback when the opposing team is targeting a guy like Cowboys CB Andrew Booth. From a coaching standpoint, does he reset him during the game or does it happen organically:
“I mean, there’s communication going on all the time, regardless of if it was a productive play or a negative play. So, yeah, there’s all this communication. I mean, they obviously got after him and you can’t cloud every single play, especially with the strength of their offense running the football. And the strength is, you know, [Eagles RB] Saquon [Barkley] the way he’s rolling. You’re going to have to play someone high and our guys know that they have to stay on the up-field shoulder, and we didn’t get that done.”
On whether he was surprised after they responded to the interception returned for touchdown and how it evolved into the game that it did:
“Was I surprised? No, I thought we responded exactly how you were supposed to respond to the pick-six. We got the ball and marched right down the field and scored. Those giveaways were avoidable. It’s just like every positive play, every negative play. You evaluate it, because that’s the only way you truly have a true evaluation. The result is what matters and that’s why we’re sitting here with the record that we have. But at the end of the day, you’re going to have those types of plays go against you, but they can’t be self-inflicted. Those giveaways are self-inflicted.”
On whether he thought about going to Cowboys QB Trey Lance sooner:
“I did the series before, yeah.”