Mike McCarthy vs. Kellen Moore? Troy Aikman Reveals Truth of Cowboys Coach Change
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FRISCO - There are always going to be those who portray the Dallas Cowboys goodbye to Kellen Moore as some sort of soap-opera episode filled with "conflict'' and "hatred'' and "violent disagreement over option routes'' ...
Oh, and "Kellen sucks.'' ... and similar malarkey.
Please allow Troy Aikman to offer some actual insight and some confirmation of the realities that CowboysSI.com has reported on.
“I think ... a lot of people feel like maybe Mike is scapegoating Kellen Moore,'' Aikman said of head coach Mike McCarthy's overseeing of his coordinator's departure. "I don’t feel that’s the case.''
Aikman, speaking on Sportsradio 96.7 FM, insisted that “Kellen did a really nice job, which is indicated by the fact that he was able to get the Chargers job just right away.''
Indeed, even in what some critics call an up-and-down 2022 season, Dallas went 12-5 and ranked at fourth in points per game with a 27.5 average.
So what does Aikman believe went down here?
Simple - and true: McCarthy wanted to be “hands-on” with his offense, to install concepts that he's long believed in (that aren't necessarily Moore's beliefs), to take QB Dak Prescott and the attack to another level ...
A "comfort level.''
“There’s probably a comfort level for Mike that he just never quite had coming in and not running his offense,” Aikman said. “Because even in Green Bay when he was not calling the plays, it was still his offense. Now I’m sure there were concepts, there were things that were installed in the offense here. But at the end of the day, it wasn’t the offense that he came here with, that he would have put in.''
The "Green Bay Cowboys''? Not quite. But West Coast Offense concepts, installed with the help of new top aide Brian Schottenheimer? That's the deal.
COO Stephen Jones has used the phrase "philosophical differences'' to describe the "mutual parting'' of McCarthy and Moore. Unfortunately, that has created the impression of some dramatic in-house conflict. There is no indication of that; indeed, the chronology of movement that allowed Moore to arrange his soft landing with the Chargers in a way that kept him from appearing to some to have been "fired'' speaks to the respect all parties have for one another.
“You almost expected (it),'' Aikman said, "knowing Mike and how he wants to be hands-on ... (so) I’m not surprised by it, quite honestly.”
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