Cowboys Don’t Need 'Band-Aid' Belichick, Do Need ‘Locker-Room Police’: Drew Pearson
The Dallas Cowboys could've made quite the coaching catch with Bill Belichick, but legendary receiver Drew Pearson believes retaining possession of Mike McCarthy was the way to go.
In an interview with TMZ, Pearson came to the defense of the embattled Mike McCarthy, who is set to return for a fifth year at the helm of the Pokes despite a 12-win season giving way to yet another postseason disappointment.
With Belichick booted from New England after 24 seasons, some fingered him as the one capable of ending the team's streak of nearly three decades. Instead, Dallas re-established its commitment to McCarthy and Pearson feels it's for the best.
"This is not at the point where we need to blow things up," Pearson said. "You look at the rest of the NFC East: Washington's going to have a new coach, Philly might have a new coach, we don't know what's going on in New York. So the most stable team could be the Dallas Cowboys if they keep the same M.O., same head coach, and I think Jerry (Jones) saw it that way."
The most popular means of justifying McCarthy's continued North Texas prescience has been the idea of maintaining continuity within an organization that has had no issue winning games within the regular season. Pearson reiterated that argument, claiming that the issue of discipline and balance doesn't come from the head coach but rather from the players themselves.
"Who polices the locker room? We police the locker room," Pearson emphatically declared. "We made sure that the guy sitting next to me, whether it was Robert Newhouse, Walt Garrison, whoever it was, was ready to play that day, and guess what? They made sure I was ready."
"They do a lot of talking in the press and the media. Talk in the locker room!"
Pearson said he would've considered "breaking the bank" on current University of Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh among the potential new NFL headset wearers but once again reiterated his support for McCarthy, whom he referred to as a "proven winner."
With eight Super Bowl rings residing on Belichick's hands, it has taken little, if any, time for him to land job interviews, as he has reportedly gone through two sessions with the Atlanta Falcons. Belichick, of course, garnered a reputation as a strict disciplinarian during his storied tenure in New England and some felt he was the perfect name to take a stab at ending Dallas' postseason futility.
Pearson was not among them.
"Bill Belichick, much respect, but he is not the man for the Dallas Cowboys," Pearson said. "He would be a Band-Aid, not the solution. He would be a Band-Aid to overcome this, get the press, all of sudden, Belichick and all that, no."
