What McCarthy & Moore Say About Cowboys Play-Calling
FRISCO - The right answer is usually the most obvious one, and the right answer to the question, "Who is the best offensive play-caller on the Dallas Cowboys staff? seems ... obvious.
But the 2020 Cowboys are doing it a certain way, with Kellen Moore as the play-caller, and they have their reasons.
Until and unless, those reasons change.
“I think the most important thing coming from the head coach position is you have to do what’s best for the football team,” McCarthy said Wednesday on NFL Network, as transcribed by Jon Machota of The Athletic. “Personally, I know I’ll miss it. ... (But) it’s the best decision for this football team.''
That is the result, I'm told, of yet another "we'' decision from here inside The Star. Cowboys ownership had a voice in the decision, wishing for Jason Garrett carryover staffer Kellen Moore to maintain his duties. McCarthy, who once upon a time in Green Bay said his giving up those dual duties (as a head coach and play-caller) was a mistake he'd never again make ...
Allowed himself to be convinced.
McCarthy's justification for the decision is valid. He said, "There is so much more that I want to and need to focus on as far as building the program the way I see it needs to be done. There’s a lot of energy that goes through it, and I just didn’t want to short the offense. I felt like I did that at times in Green Bay.”
That's sensible. McCarthy's responsibilities here are expansive, and if he's got capable lieutenants (the other two coordinator newcomers, Mike Nolan on defense and John Fassel on special teams certainly qualify), McCarthy is freed to be an overseer. A "walk-around coach,'' as the Cowboys like to call it.
Also in play: McCarthy is sleeved-rolled-up-involved in the QB room. Yes, that's also the domain of Moore, and of course of QB coach Doug Nussmeier. It's the NFL and it's Dak Prescott and yeah, that's a "need-to-build-the-program'' priority.
Moore, on that QB room: "Certainly there’s a system to it. Nuss really runs the quarterback meetings. I obviously do the installs so we kind of install the plays as a whole group ... Mike’s a part of them obviously when he can be in there.
"The goal is just free-flowing. We want people talking, talking, going through stuff, giving experiences, asking questions. The more people talk, the better we’re going to be.''
Moore, who just turned 32, was a first-time play-caller last season, and the Cowboys finished atop most NFL categories offensively.
McCarthy raves, "(Moore) has a great mind. I’ve been extremely impressed with him every step of the way, from building the installs, the way he’s delivered it in the meetings to players, and his on-the-field coaching.''
And he means it. But McCarthy did tuck into that praise four other words: "He's young at it.''
He means that, too.
This doesn't have to be an issue beyond the "obvious.'' Moore contributing to the design of an offense that will have McCarthy's fingerprints all over it sounds like a winning combo.
Said Moore: "It’s been a fun process to go through, me being a younger guy, having an opportunity to learn from Mike and kind of build a 2020 Dallas Cowboys offense. Pull pieces from things we’ve done in the past, pull pieces from things he’s done in GB and pull stuff from all the rest of our coaching staff.''
But if it doesn't work over the course of 2020? Another "we'' decision will have to be considered.
And Mike McCarthy naming himself as the Cowboys coach in charge of play-calling will seem like a move that is "obvious,'' too.
