McCarthy Meets With Team, Details '21-Game Plan'

FRISCO - After all of these years as an NFL head coach, there are some things that Mike McCarthy learns and upgrades and implements and changes as he goes along.

But as he enters Year 5 in Dallas - and yes, "Big Mike'' is very, very aware that it was Year 5 in Green Bay when he won his Super Bowl - some things are, for him, foundational.

For instance? Watch and see: Soon he will release his "Theme of the Year'' to the media after having explained it to his players. Remember this time last year? "Carpe Omnia''?

Brace yourself for the 2024 "theme'' ... as maybe this one will even be in English.

Another Week 1 staple for McCarthy with this team ramping up for a Sunday visit the Cleveland Browns? His "21-Game Plan'' speech.

We will all make a big deal of this, and that's OK;  the "21-Game Plan'' is meant to instill confidence and emphasize focus, and these "lame-duck Cowboys'' (with so many involved slated to be unsigned after 2024) could probably use some of that.

Even McCarthy himself, along with all of his coaching staff, is working on a one-year deal. (It's not just Dak Prescott.) But he doesn't want contract talks getting in the way of football talk, which is why he dismissed a question about that issue on Monday here inside The Star. (See below.)

Related: Silent Strategy: Cowboys' Mike McCarthy Refuses Contract Talk Entering Week 1 vs. Browns

What he does want to discuss?

"My plan is for 21 games. We have a 21-game plan, and I laid it out today in the meeting," he said.

Do the math. The 21 games add up to participation in the Super Bowl ... just like he did it the last time he was a Year 5 coach.