Dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy back at work after surgery. Will he coach vs. Eagles?
Dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy underwent an emergency appendectomy on Wednesday.
And while he was at home on Thursday, he was hardly resting.
After the surgery he was immediately on the phone and on Zoom calls to prepare for Sunday’s showdown against the Philadelphia Eagles (10-2). With a win, the Cowboys (9-3) would move into a tie for first place in the NFC East.
So the grumpy Cowboys coach was hardly in the mood for well wishes and being treated with kid gloves, just as quarterback Dak Prescott predicted.
This week and this game are too important.
And more important, McCarthy is too important to the process.
As much as Prescott gets praised for his MVP-level play, sparking the Cowboys to six wins in their last seven games, McCarthy has been driving the bus as the offensive play caller.
The Cowboys have the No. 1 ranked scoring offense and Prescott has 21 touchdowns and two interceptions in the last seven games. They have won four straight since a loss to the Eagles on Nov. 5.
Will he be available on Sunday as expected?
Will he be able to call plays from the sideline?
Offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, who stood in for McCarthy at his scheduled press conference Thursday, answered in the affirmative on both.
“Like I said, full steam ahead,” Schottenheimer said. “We don’t anticipate anything different. Again, he’s involved in all the things. We’ll have a long conversation again this afternoon. He’s watching the practices and yeah, full steam ahead.”
Said Prescott: “I kind of figured that from the jump knowing that guy, knowing how tough he is, how tough he says he is. What a great chance to prove it. So, yeah, I figured he was.”
Schottenheimer talked to McCarthy after his surgery Wednesday and spoke with him Thursday morning.
“Oh yeah. Hey, you can’t have a conversation with Mike without. ... He’s going to talk about two things, football or Pittsburgh,” Schottenheimer said. “I don’t know if Pittsburgh came up, but football definitely came up. Had I talked to him long enough — I got off because I had things to do — Pittsburgh would have come up.”
Prescott also talked McCarthy Wednesday after the surgery and Thursday morning.
“He actually caught me earlier today,” Prescott said. “I had a missed call before I went to practice. I called him back and he was already watching yesterday’s film and giving me some feedback on that. That was a good moment there. I know he’s locked in.”
Schottenheimer made it clear that while McCarthy can be gruff and has a temper, he feels good. He appreciates his situation and is thankful he listened to his body.
“We’ve all been there, like in this profession I know I’ve been around coaches, I’ve probably done it myself, right? ‘Ah, I feel off,’ and then you don’t do anything,” he said. “But he’s in good spirits. He’s excited.”
As far as the game and game plan is concerned, Schottenheimer said most of the hard work was done on Monday and Tuesday.
The biggest thing now is the Thursday night meeting with Prescott to decide what he likes best and develop the opening script.
McCarthy will be on the call for that.
“The way we game plan, we do a lot of things early,” Schottenheimer said. “We front load stuff. We get to first and second down, third down, really on Monday and Tuesday, which is great. He’s been very involved. He’s in good spirits. It’s always good when he has a lot of suggestions when you talk to him on the phone. Well, what do you think of this? That’s when I know he’s feeling good.
“We’re going to do the same process. Nothing is going to change. We are full speed ahead.”
Prescott said he was looking forward to getting on the phone with McCarthy for Thursday night’s meeting.
“I mean, it’s huge,’’ Prescott said. “It’s going through the starts, the way we’re going to start this game out, how we want to attack these guys, going to go over situationals, favorite plays, favorite third downs, red zones, all of that. All of that good stuff.
“I guess the only difference is maybe he wasn’t here in person to watch the practice and maybe talk to me as plays came up but that’s what tonight will be about. And it will really be no different, as we normally do, tell him why I like the play.”
He acknowledged that McCarthy’s play calling his been a key to his success over the last seven games.
No quarterback/play caller combo in the league has been hotter than Prescott and McCarthy.
“Yeah, his play calling has been great,” Prescott said. “Mike’s definitely, as people say, in his bag. You know what I mean? He’s firing them off. He’s confident about it and we’re confident when it comes in.”
With McCarthy set to return to the office Friday, Prescott made a point to credit Schottenheimer and the coaches for how they handled things and conducted practices.
He said practice on Thursday may been one of the best for the team all season, which should be comforting to a recuperating but grumpy McCarthy.
“It’s actually been great,” Prescott said. “Kudos to all the other coaches honestly, stepping in at different parts, team meetings, doing jobs that Mike would normally do and then the guys and the leaders practicing. Had a great practice today. Honestly I’d say it was maybe one of our best practices all year in a sense that it was to take some stress off of Mike.
“Make sure we coming in, handle this business and not only that everybody knows what this week’s about, who we’re playing and the focus that needs to be done.”
