'The Drama of It!' Cowboys Coach Mike McCarthy Reacts to Packers Playoff Showdown
The Dallas Cowboys are NFC East champions, but there is no rest for the weary. Not when you haven't reached the NFC title game since the 1995 season.
The Cowboys will host the Green Bay Packers in the opening round of the NFL postseason next week, and they have a 4-4 record all-time against the Pack in playoff games, having lost the last two. In fact, the last time these two franchises met in the postseason (2017), Dallas head coach Mike McCarthy was on the other sideline.
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McCarthy is obviously no stranger to Green Bay, having served as the team's head coach from 2006-18. Now, however, he will be preparing the other team for success in this postseason matchup, but that storyline isn't a focus for him after Dallas' 38-10 win over the Washington Commanders on Sunday.
Instead, it's just about winning.
"The drama of it, I'm sure you guys will love," McCarthy said postgame. "I will not participate in it. ... It's playoff time. It doesn't matter who we play, to be honest with you."
What does matter (at least on paper), however, is where the Cowboys play, and fortunately for them, this game will come at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. Dallas has won 16 straight games at home, including a perfect 8-0 mark this season, and they secured home field advantage for the first round with Sunday's dominant win over Washington, earning the division title and No. 2 seed in the NFC in the process.
The only scenario where Dallas would have to travel in the playoffs is if they meet the San Francisco 49ers in the title game, and reaching that mark is the supreme goal for McCarthy and the 'Boys entering next week. Facing Green Bay will bring its fair share of headlines, but don't expect the Cowboys head coach to participate in the pomp and circumstance and the "drama.''
As he told his team afterward, McCarthy and the Cowboys are "right where we're supposed to be.''
At home. Where Dallas has won 16 straight. As a seven-point favorite. And as the No. 2 seed in the NFL, all of that regardless of the critics or the foe or anything else.
No McCarthy drama. He just wants to win next week.
