Back in late January, when Sean Payton resigned as the longtime head coach of the New Orleans Saints, football analysts wasted no time speculating when he'll return to the sideline, and where new opportunities could arise. The most popular rumor has involved the title-starved Dallas Cowboys, and team owner Jerry Jones' relationship with Payton.
Mike McCarthy, the Cowboys' current head coach, addressed the speculation in March during the NFL Scouting Combine, simply telling reporters that it's "a narrative I don't want to be a part of." Whether or not Jones feels compelled to pursue Payton next offseason, McCarthy is undoubtedly on the hot seat. And in order for Dallas to snap its decades-long Super Bowl drought in 2022, team legend Emmitt Smith believes McCarthy must ignore the Payton conjecture.
"He should drop it. He shouldn't allow it to affect the way he approaches the game," the Hall of Fame running back explained to The DA Show on Monday. "You expect the players to do the same thing, and I should expect the same thing from our head coach. There's speculation around players all the time -- players being traded, cut, not performing well. The same thing for McCarthy. As a head coach, you can't worry about something that hasn't happened...
"You've got to focus on the things you actually have, and the things you have in your possession. The things you're in control of right now. Because that's all that matters, is now. Go out and get your team prepared to play disciplined football, something we haven't done. Play focused football for the duration of the entire season, as well as the postseason. Play hard for 20 weeks -- that's what you're asking of your players, and that's all a coach can ask for himself."
The Cowboys' championship drought extended to 27 years this past January, when they suffered a heartbreaking home loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC wild-card round. Trailing by six points with 14 seconds remaining and zero timeouts, quarterback Dak Prescott confoundingly ran up the middle of the field for 17 yards, and failed to kill the clock before time expired. With the loss, Dallas became just the second 500-point offense in NFL history to exit the playoffs in the wild-card round.
McCarthy defended the season-ending play call following the game, telling reporters that the QB-draw was the right decision, based on preparation for the crunchtime situation. Prescott also told reporters that the Cowboys had practiced the play, and it was "tough to accept" how the moment unfolded. The last time Dallas reached the Super Bowl, in 1995, Smith was the team's leading rusher. Since then, the franchise has made 11 playoff appearances, won only four games, and failed to reach one conference title game.
The entire Cowboys conversation between Smith and DA can be accessed in the audio player above.
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