Cowboys Firing McCarthy In-Season? Jerry Makes Decision Perfectly Clear

FRISCO - The Dallas Cowboys will likely be coached by someone other than Mike McCarthy in 2025. But based on a series of remarks from owner Jerry Jones, the coach is "safe'' - if that's the right word - for the rest of this season.

On Sunday, after a "soft'' 47-9 home loss to the Lions , Jones was quizzed about the possibility of an in-season dismissal of the lame-duck McCarthy, who is already playing on the final year of his five-year contract.

"I’m not considering that," Jones said as he spoke near the locker room after the game, as is his custom.

On Tuesday came a follow-up, as buried in Jones' "unhinged rant'' on 105.3 The Fan - with a focus on the hosts' job security - was a remark about the job security of McCarthy .

“I won’t be making any (coaching changes) during the season,” Jones said.

Hosts "Shan & RJ'' noted that Jones did dismiss Wade Phillips in 2010, replacing him with Jason Garrett.

“We were 1-7 at that time. 1-7,” Jones said. “We got beat and so I made the change, and we had one win. Little bit of difference there, man.”

The owner also added that he believes such changes generally "aren't good. ... They usually are ineffective and they just aren’t good. At that particular time, I did think it was the thing to do. I think it did produce a positive effect, but we’ll never know, will we?''

So what are we left with? McCarthy and staff, all of whom figure to be on their last coaching legs here at The Star, working to dig their way out of this. And one drill-down area? The pitiful running back,

They are averaging a league-worst 77.2 rush yards per game with a group consisting of Rico Dowdle and Ezekiel Elliott, along Hunter Luepke, with Deuce Vaughn, who has been a healthy scratch in back-to-back games, and Dalvin Cook, who is still on the practice squad.

Running back coach Jeff Blasko says that while the unit got rolling against the Pittsburgh Steelers, they know work has to be done to improve.

“I think the best illustration of it was really the second half in that Pittsburgh game,” Blasko said. “We really dove into just a few different concepts that we felt good about going into the game and you see the benefits of those repeat runs, you just got to get into that rhythm. ...

"There's nobody ducking for cover, we got to do a better job just fine-tuning the details and bringing the things to life.”

While, yes, Dallas' run game has been poor, the coaching decisions haven't helped, either.

Dowdle, fresh off an 87-yard game against the Steelers along with a receiving touchdown, had just two carries for six yards in the first half against the Detroit Lions. Meanwhile, Ezekiel Elliott, who sought clarification on his role midweek, suddenly had five carries for the same yardage. Make it make sense.

Related: Dak Prescott Moves To Bench After Another Interception in Cowboys Embarrassing Blowout by Lions

One would have thought that after his performance in the Steelers game, Dowdle deserved to take the majority of the snaps. Add in that Elliott hasn't had more than 19 rushing yards since Week 1, and the decision becomes even more baffling.

But now, with the bye week here, the Cowboys have a chance to "fine-tune" things, as Blasko said. And in the bigger picture? The coaches now have some assurance from Jerry Jones that they will get the entirety of 2024 to do so.