Following Dallas’ 23-17 loss to the 49ers in the NFC Wild Card, there was a lot of discussion about how frequently the Cowboys seemed to blame officiating after their losses in 2021.
During the course of the season the Cowboys had several players say that the
officials were as much their opponent on the field as the other team. Dak
Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, Michael Gallup, Leighton Vander Esch, and Randy
Gregory were just some of the Cowboys who made the claim.
Mike McCarthy told reporters during his final press conference of the season that, “officials don't lose games,” but with so many players repeating the line after losses in 2021, it seems like they must be hearing it somewhere in the locker room.
Today we’re going to take a look at Mike McCarthy’s long-documented history of tension with officials.
THE PETER KING INTERVIEW
The inspiration for this research came from RJ Ochoa over at Blogging the Boys. RJ published an article last Thursday titled, “Re-visiting Mike McCarthy’s sit-down interview from 2019 shows he has not done what he said he would”
As many recall, Mike McCarthy went on a bit of a media tour before being hired by the Cowboys. In late 2019, McCarthy with Tom Pelissero from NFL Network, and Peter King from NBC Sports in two separate interviews to discuss the ways he was reinventing himself ahead of the NFL hiring cycle.
RJ went back and looked at the interview with Peter King, and this is what I found to be the most fascinating excerpt from RJ’s article:
Many have taken issue with how McCarthy and his players have deflected
blame, particularly for the season-ending loss, and placed it at the hands of
officials and referees. Again we are talking about a lack of accountability.
Peter King asked McCarthy if he thought that the game was changing in any
way and Mike decided to note that he felt officials were impacting the
game too much. He did specify that he was saying this from an outsider’s
perspective.
When asked if the game was changing a lot every year over the last few
years or if he felt like it was just getting sort of tweaked and there was not a
lot of new under the sun:
“I would like to think it’s getting tweaked and a lot of it is new under the
sun. But I think we’ve got to recognize the fact that the challenges of
officiating have effected the game probably more than anything in recent
history.”
...
“I think what the officials are asked to do, their responsibilities are a lot
more, too. I think, like anything, the more responsibility an individual has,
the decision-making process is a bigger challenge. Being on the outside
looking in, you talk about trends, the definite trends of officiating has been
really different this year and it really stems from the pass interference rule
process. I think that has impacted the game as much as anything.”
Out of all the things McCarthy took away from his studies of how the game has evolved, he still made it about the officiating? And he did so practically
unprompted?
That sort of mindset from your head coach sounds like the exact way to create players who point the finger outwardly at officiating in the wake of tough losses.
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BLAMING THE REFEREES IN GREEN BAY
During McCarthy’s time with the Packers there were several instances of tension between referees and the team, or with McCarthy himself.
The most prominent example of this came during the early part of the 2012
season when the league was forced to use replacement officials during labor
dispute between the league and referees.
The Packers lost their week 3 game against the Seahawks on a play that became known as the “Fail Mary.” M.D. Jennings appeared to intercept Russell Wilson on the game’s final play, but replacement officials ruled that Golden Tate had caught the ball, ruling it a walk-off touchdown.
The league ultimately backed the touchdown call, but said Tate should have been flagged for interference, ending the game.
Following the game, McCarthy was critical of the officials, stating, “I’ve never seen anything like that in all my years.”
McCarthy eventually called the replacement official to apologize, after he had
been inundated with harassing phone calls from angry fans.
While McCarthy apologized and said he had moved past it, he made it clear in
2015 that he was still bitter about the call. Following his team’s Hail Mary victory over the Lions some three years after the Seattle game, McCarthy told reporters post-game, “At least our guy really caught the ball in this one", before adding, "You can quote that."
Even two games after full-time officials returned in 2012, the Packers still led the NFL in penalty yards. An anonymous Packers player told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “I think the refs are out to get us this year.”
Does that sound familiar?
Speaking of familiar, McCarthy continued to blame officials for his team’s issues all the way until the end of the 2012 season when the Packers had a problem with an official spotting the ball.
Green Bay trailed 20-7 just before halftime of their week 17 game against the
Minnesota Vikings.
Aaron Rodgers had 2nd and 10 from the Minnesota 38 with 30 seconds remaining, and no timeouts left. Rodgers was sacked for a nine-yard loss with 25 seconds left. Green Bay wouldn’t get their next play off until 16 seconds later: a 14-yard pass to Jermichael Finley, who stepped out of bounds with a second left on the clock.
Mason Crosby would nail a 51-yard field goal to close the half, brining Green Bay to within 10 points of the Vikings before getting the ball back to start the third quarter.
Do you think Mike McCarthy was focused on the fact that his defense had allowed Minnesota to score on four of their five drives? Or how his offense averaged fewer than 3 yards per play on their first three drives of the game? Or how they had allowed Adrian Peterson to rush for almost 100 yards in the first half alone?
Nope. McCarthy was worried about the referees.
“Mike McCarthy, he didn’t address offense or defense first,” Fox’s Pam Oliver
reported from the sideline at the start of the third quarter. “His main thing was
spotting of the ball, and how long it takes to do that. He says the officials are just way too slow.”
Pam Oliver isn’t the only sideline reporter that McCarthy vented to about
officiating during his time in Green Bay.
Green Bay started off the 2015 season on fire, winning each of their first five
games. They welcomed the 2-3 Chargers to Lambeau Field for a week 6 match-up, and largely dominated them in the first half, jumping out to a 17-3 lead.
The Chargers scored just before the half to make it 17-10, and McCarthy was not pleased with the officials when he spoke with CBS’ Tracy Wolfson going to the locker room.
“I thought the right tackle moved, but hey, that’s football,” McCarthy bemoaned before taking it a step further and adding, “We’ve got to play above the officiating.”
Green Bay would win that game to move to 6-0, but would hit a slid in the weeks after, losing four of their next five, culminating in a 17-13 defeat to the Bears. During that loss to the Bears, the Packers had a particularly tough offensive pass interference call late in the second quarter. Randall Cobb had caught a four-yard pass to set up 3 rd and Goal from the 1-yard line, but Packers receiver James Jones was flagged for offensive pass interference on the play due to an illegal pick.
“The one play on Randall's (catch) is just a flat poor call,” McCarthy said. “(The referee) missed the call.” McCarthy would later correct course just slightly.
“We had some tough breaks from the officials, but that’s all part of the game theofficials, the weather, you can’t control that.”
Pick plays on a Randall Cobb reception were still a problem two years after the Chicago game, and they were still causing McCarthy to air his frustration with officials.
During Green Bay’s week 2 loss to the Falcons in 2017, Randall Cobb had a 36-yard reception erased due to an illegal pick from Martellus Bennett.
McCarthy was unhappy enough with the flag that he added to the penalty yards with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after berating an official over the call.
Davante Adams would later add that, “nobody gets called on that like we do,”
once more showing McCarthy’s team mirroring their coach’s anger with
officiating.
The unsportsmanlike conduct penalty wasn’t the first one from the Green Bay
coaching staff during McCarthy’s tenure. An unknown member of the Packers
coaching staff was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct in a 2014 game against the Jets as well. McCarthy assured the media afterwards that his bench wouldn’t be flagged again.
BEYOND THE FOOTBALL FIELD
Mike McCarthy’s frustration with officials has gone beyond the football field in
recent years. Back in February of 2019, almost three months after being fired by the Packers, McCarthy made headlines around Green Bay for berating an official at a high school basketball game.
McCarthy was seen on surveillance video following officials after his stepson’s team lost by one point in a regional tournament game, ending their season.
Janel Batten, the district athletic director said McCarthy, “chose to follow the
officials and berate them, which is clearly unacceptable. ”Batten added that she had not seen a parent go after an official like that in her
five years on the job.
McCarthy apologized following a formal complaint from the officials to the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.
IN THE END…
Mike McCarthy told reporters after the season that officials don’t lose games, but there is a lengthy track record of McCarthy and his teams placing the blame for losses at the feet of officiating.
For all of McCarthy’s re-education about the league during his time away in 2019, it appears he didn’t spend enough time educating himself on how to self-assess the role that he and his players have in losses. 2021 showed it was another year of looking outwardly when things go wrong.
If there’s something McCarthy wants to learn about during the offseason,
accountability might be a good start.