Frustration mounts for McCarthy’s Cowboys: ‘We’re running out of time’

For Cowboys fans watching Sunday’s debacle in DC, it was a numbing feeling. Like watching a video compilation of slow-motion car wrecks. There’s no real question about what’s coming; the only uncertainty is how bad the next one will be.

Even head coach Mike McCarthy acknowledged the familiar sense of despair that had seeped into the Dallas locker room by intermission of the 25-3 embarrassment.

“Frankly, we talked at halftime about the ‘here-we-go-again’ mode on the sidelines,” McCarthy admitted to reporters during his postgame press conference. “We’ve got to move past that. That’s part of making progress throughout the season. We need to learn from our mistakes. We can’t keep letting our mistakes hold us down and hold us back.”

And yet, that’s precisely what happened once again. Another costly turnover deep in the red zone. Six sacks allowed. Abysmal third-down efficiency. Only 142 yards of total offense, to Washington’s 397. Less than three yards per offensive play. Half a dozen penalties. No rushing attack to speak of. Only one wide receiver with any receptions. Another starter escorted off the field by medical staff.

“I’ve stood in front of this camera too many times this year and spoke about the basics that we just haven’t put together yet,” McCarthy told the media Sunday via videoconference call.

The Cowboys have managed to get worse with every week. While the historically-bad defense managed to hold their opponent to under 34 points for the first time in six games, the offense- formerly the strength of the roster- was held to three. The unit that was nicknamed ‘Team Fortyburger’ for its expected points-per-game prowess before the season has recorded one touchdown and two field goals over their last eight quarters of play.

“It’s not what we’re looking for,” McCarthy said. “We need to be much better, and we’re running out of time.”

The 2020 season is slipping away, to be sure. It’s already a lost cause for players like Dak Prescott, Tyron Smith, and La’el Collins, out for the remainder of the campaign. The players left are trying to stop the bleeding, but the carnage has been relentless.

When backup quarterback Andy Dalton was knocked cold by an illegal hit from Washington linebacker Jon Bostic, the cumulative gut punch of watching yet another teammate go down was the first thing to cross Ezekiel Elliott’s mind.

“Just how [expletive] this year’s been,” the running back relayed to reporters. “Yeah. Just how bad this year has been. But we’ve still got a lot of time left. We’ve got a big division game next week, so we’ve got to go out there and find a way to win.”

Dallas’s two wins have come more from luck than anything the Cowboys have actively made happen. Despite weekly assurances from the coaching staff that practice sessions have been encouraging, something is getting lost in translation between the practice field on Thursdays and actual games on Sundays.

“Obviously, you want to practice good and you want it to translate to the field, and it’s very disappointing when it doesn’t. We put our all into this. This is our craft, our livelihood. It’s disappointing when it doesn’t [translate],” wideout Amari Cooper said in his postgame remarks. “It’s pretty surprising, too, when it doesn’t happen. You don’t go out there and practice and even think that it won’t translate. So when it doesn’t, yeah, it’s a surprise.”

Elliott was just as lost for an answer.

“I’m not sure,” the two-time rushing champ said. “I’m not sure why it’s not translating. But we’ve got to figure out a way to get this thing together, get this thing going.”

Frustration has had hold of the defense for an even longer stretch this year. Early questions about defensive coordinator Mike Nolan’s system being too complex have turned to doubts about certain players’ hustle and effort.

“It’s got nothing to do with scheme,” linebacker Leighton Vander Esch shot back when asked on Sunday.

But even fundamental building blocks like how the defensive players communicate with one another on the field has been up for debate.

“I don’t think it’s a communication issue,” Vander Esch said after Sunday’s loss. “I think we communicate well. I think everybody just needs to do their job on every single play. I think it comes down to that. Just focusing in, relaxing, and doing your job every play.”

Defensive tackle Everson Griffen agrees with that assessment.

“We’re ticked off. Everybody’s tired of it. I feel like in order to do something about it, we have to do it as a team,” Griffen offered.

“I think at the end of the day, it’s up to the players on the Dallas Cowboys to be able to go out there and execute our assignments. It never has to do with the other team. I feel like we have to go out there and play better, and that’s the end of it.”

That, of course, is proving to be easier said than done. Especially considering the Cowboys have been saying it every week.

Edge rusher DeMarcus Lawrence suggested the problems go well beyond scheme or communications or even how well the squad practices. He’s using words like belief, fight, and backbone.

Those things speak to deeper issues. Something internal. The-makeup-of-the-man kind of stuff.

The coach responsible for cultivating a winning makeup out of these men knows they’re in the middle of a rough patch. He vows he’ll respond the only way he knows how: by continuing to work with his players on the basics… and letting things happen from there.

“Obviously, there’s a high level of frustration and emotion from them,” McCarthy allowed. “I’ve been in this league and been a part of sports long enough to understand that you have to trust the evaluation process. At the end of the day, until everybody plays together as a team, keeps pushing forward together… We’re not doing the basics. Let’s quit candy-coating it. I can’t stand up here and keep talking about talking care of the football, taking the ball away, just the fundamentals.

“We’ll continue to work, and I do believe we will turn this in the right direction.”

What McCarthy says he won’t do is make a broad, sweeping change based on a disappointing 2-5 run.

“We’ve had so much change, just in our everyday functions. I think the important thing is to stay the course.”

And that includes sticking with Mike Nolan. Despite growing calls for his removal, McCarthy says a change at defensive coordinator is not part of the plan.

“It hasn’t crossed my mind. I’m focused on getting better each and every day. That’s where we are.”

Adversity has been the story of the Cowboys’ first seven weeks. But McCarthy maintains that it won’t be the determining factor of the season by the time 2020 is said and done.

“I would say that there’s adverse moments we didn’t respond to,” he said. “I clearly feel we’ll overcome the adversity of the experiences we’ve had in our season. I do believe that.”

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