DALLAS — The Dallas Cowboys essentially fired play-caller Kellen Moore at the end of the season, even though they finished fourth in the NFL in scoring at 27.5 points a game.
It’s fair to say Moore became the scapegoat for a season that ended without a trip to the NFC Championship game for the 27th consecutive season. Only Detroit and Washington have longer streak.
With Moore gone — he’s now the Los Angeles Chargers’ offensive coordinator — it’s on coach Mike McCarthy and quarterback Dak Prescott to end the franchise’s embarrassing championship game drought. One of them will probably be the scapegoat at the end of the 2023 season if it doesn’t go the way owner Jerry Jones envisions — and it will probably be McCarthy. He’s easier to replace than Prescott.
McCarthy, entering his fourth season in Dallas, will call plays for the first time as the Cowboys’ coach. His primary task is to fix Dak Prescott. It’s not that Prescott is irreparably broken, considering he threw for 2,860 yards with 23 touchdowns in 12 games last season.
But he threw a league-leading, career-high 15 interceptions last season. Opponents returned three for touchdowns. He threw an interception in nine of his last 10 starts, including each of the last seven games. In the Cowboys’ 19-12 divisional round playoff loss to San Francisco, Prescott threw two more interceptions.
Understand, several of Dak Prescott’s interceptions bounced off receivers’ hands. Or they were the result of poor pass routes. Still, Prescott can play much better than he did last season. He knows it and has discussed it.
How Mike McCarthy’s offensive scheme will benefit Dak Prescott
The offensive scheme can also be better, which is where McCarthy can help. When he took the job, McCarthy didn’t bring his West Coast offense. Remember, he called plays when he coached Green Bay from 2006-18. He wanted Prescott to be comfortable, so he kept the Cowboys’ timing-based passing game, which is among the league’s most simplistic.
In that scheme, the Cowboys don’t use much motion. They rely on their players to win individual battles. McCarthy isn’t changing the base offense, but he’s adding more West Coast principles to the scheme, which should make Prescott’s life easier.
Thus, the Texas Coast offense was born. At least, that’s what Prescott and backups Cooper Rush and Will Grier decided the offense should be called last month during one of their minicamps.
“It’s definitely got some West Coast principles, but has a little bit of what we’ve done in the past and just marrying them together with a lot of detail and maybe, in a sense, creating a system that’s not out there,” Prescott said. “It’s not like we’re going to throw away our playbook and try to start over, anything like that.
“Obviously, we’ve had some success. There is good there. We had to take that and detail the hell out of everything we’re doing. Plays we’ve already had, new plays in, just understanding the purpose and just making sure everyone knows the why and what the purpose is in their play and their roles. All of that detail will make us play faster and be better.”
The scheme’s language won’t change, and the Cowboys are keeping about 70 percent of what they’ve done with Moore in the past. The most significant difference for Prescott is listening to McCarthy’s voice and his thick Pittsburgh accent in his ear before the play begins. That said, McCarthy is spending considerably more time with Prescott this offense, going over the nuance of the scheme.
“I love the way we’ve challenged Dak mentally, and more importantly, I love the way he’s attacked it. I wouldn’t say I didn’t know it about him. I just think it’s like all of us: You don’t really know until you really stress and push,” McCarthy said recently. “He’s really handled these changes and adjustments, the input, because, at the end of the day, the quarterback needs to own the offense.
“I have no interest in being known as some guru coach or a smart coach. I want smart, Hall of Fame-type quarterbacks. The only way to get there is you’ve gotta make them own the offense. You see it, he has the personality, but it’s just like anything. This is our first year of playing the way we want to play, and he’s done a really good job of taking ownership of that and, with that, the mental challenges. He’s knocked it out of the park.”
So how exactly does McCarthy want the Cowboys to play? Well, he wants to run the ball more effectively, and he wants to be more physical at the line of scrimmage. He also wants to emphasize pass protection, considering Dak Prescott has missed 16 games in the past two seasons.
“The plays aren’t going to change. We’re going to run our inside zone, outside zone,” Martin said. “I think it’s just the mindset and attitude we’re going to bring and that edge.”
Jean-Jacques Taylor is an NFL Insider for Sportsnaut and the author of the upcoming book “Coach Prime“, with Deion Sanders. Follow him on Twitter.