Cowboys at the Combine: Coach Mike McCarthy Reveals 2 Dallas Goals

McCarthy, in short, one, wants the Cowboys to be more disciplined next season, and two, McCarthy wants his Dallas locker room to be better at handling adversity.

INDIANAPOLIS - At the conclusion of the postseason, Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy revealed his team’s No. 1 offseason priority.

On Tuesday, given some time to think it through, McCarthy now has two.

Jerry Jones, Mike McCarthy

Jerry Jones, Mike McCarthy

Mike McCarthy

Mike McCarthy

Mike McCarthy

Mike McCarthy

“Our No. 1 focus going forward is the penalties,” McCarthy said while speaking at the NFL Scouting Combine here in Indianapolis. “There were far too many.”

McCarthy, in short, one, wants the Cowboys to be more disciplined next season, and two, McCarthy wants his Dallas locker room to be better at handling adversity.

It could be argued that those two issues are sort of tied together, and of course, if Dallas really only has this sort of thing to fix? Maybe the 12-5 from 2021 can be improved upon.

Again, this is the second time that McCarthy has mentioned cleaning up penalties as the Cowboys’ top priority this offseason. And if we count his earlier mention of the team's high level of "nervousness'' before the playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers? Maybe "overcoming adversity'' comes under that same general heading.

It is also worth noting that a month ago, when McCarthy talked about offseason fixes, owner Jerry Jones remarked that he views cleaning up penalties as something that should have been done long before Dallas became the NFL leader in that unfortunate department.

Mike McCarthy, ref

Mike McCarthy, ref

Dak Prescott

Dak Prescott

Jerry Jones

Jerry Jones

“One of the pet peeves I have is that I don’t like this, ‘Well we’ve got to work on this in the offseason, we got to work on this.’ I don’t go for that,” Jones said. “I want those things recognized and addressed after we play Tampa after the first game ... I don’t want to wait until we’re sitting here with no season left to address these things we’re doing or not doing.''

Alas, that is where Dallas is now: With McCarthy working to figure out how to steer his team away from penalties and through adversity.

Can they reach championship mettle? The Cowboys appear to have everything on paper to contend again in 2022. Once again expectations are high; Dallas is tied with the 49ers and Green Bay Packers for the fourth-best odds (+1300) to win Super Bowl LVII. 

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