{"id":16277,"date":"2025-01-01T09:29:56","date_gmt":"2025-01-01T09:29:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=16277"},"modified":"2025-01-01T09:29:56","modified_gmt":"2025-01-01T09:29:56","slug":"breaking-cowboys-hc-mike-mccarthy-makes-surprising-qb-statement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=16277","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Cowboys HC Mike McCarthy Makes Surprising QB Statement.."},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\" class=\"wp-caption \">\n<div class=\"h-responsive\">\n<figure class=\"h-responsive__inner\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/GettyImages-2190092440-2.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/GettyImages-2190092440-2.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/GettyImages-2190092440-2.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/GettyImages-2190092440-2.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" data-img-load-time=\"752\" data-dom-ready-time=\"1241\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"caption-credit\">Getty<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-post-image-caption-text\">Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy is talking about the team&#8217;s quarterback position ahead of their final game of the season.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nfl\/dallas-cowboys\/\">Dallas Cowboys<\/a>\u00a0are heading into their final game of the season on\u00a0Sunday, January 5,\u00a0against the\u00a0Washington Commanders\u00a0at AT&amp;T Stadium. While the Cowboys won\u2019t be in the playoffs this year, they\u2019re still playing for their dignity, so head coach Mike McCarthy is taking their quarterback decision seriously when it comes to who will play in the final game.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking after the Cowboys\u2019 loss to the Eagles on December 29, McCarthy talked about the team\u2019s current quarterback situation and indicated that he may make a change.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>\u2018This is the Time\u201d to Think About \u2018All the Positions\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Dallas Cowboys franchise quarterback\u00a0Dak Prescott\u00a0is out for the season with an injury. In lieu of Prescott, backup quarterback\u00a0Cooper Rush\u00a0has been playing. But, that could change for the final game.<\/p>\n<p>When asked if former third-overall pick\u00a0Trey Lance could get playing time in the final matchup, McCarthy responded with some praise for Cooper but sounded like he was open to Lance playing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI really like what Cooper has done and I think we all have to recognize the job he\u2019s done to this point,\u201d\u00a0McCarthy told reporters\u00a0on Monday, December 30. \u201cBut, this is the time where you do think about not just the quarterback position, but all the positions. Making sure we do have information on our younger players. Frankly, we probably have a lot based on how much [the non-quarterbacks] have played.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He basically said the decision was still up in the air but that it wasn\u2019t his focus at the moment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re not looking to answer those kinds of questions right now,\u201d\u00a0he said. \u201cWe\u2019ll talk about that moving forward but I\u2019d like to be in a position where everybody plays but, being practical as far as how we make that happen, we\u2019ll put together a gameplan over the next 36 hours.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"embed-youtube-com\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Play\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/b9yBMEBbm6U?autoplay=1\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-youtube-com\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Play\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/g9E2DtS_KU0?autoplay=1\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Dak Prescott Talks Cowboys Missing the Playoffs<\/h2>\n<p>Prescott has spent\u00a0most of the season on injury reserve\u00a0with an injured ankle. He had surgery on his hamstring on November 13 and says he\u2019s improving.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking about this season\u2019s record for the Cowboys,\u00a0Prescott said, \u201cNobody plans to lose.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNobody plans to have a losing season, to be in this position. You expect the playoffs every year,\u201d Prescott said. \u201cYou expect to win the division and then to be in this place or whether it\u2019s at home, playing against this team usually for the division. That\u2019s not the case. Yeah it\u2019s frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Prescott also sounded sympathetic of McCarthy when it comes to the criticism he\u2019s gotten this season, stating that \u201ccredit to him, credit to his professionalism and really his coaching style of being able to get guys ready to play and go out there and finish and take pride in what we finish and what we put on tape.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Switching gears to his health, Prescott had a positive update that he\u2019s getting closer to being able to run again. That, of course, comes in handy in the quarterback position.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGained some strength in it \u2026 started to use it a little bit,\u201d\u00a0Prescott stated. \u201cYeah, I\u2019m probably a few weeks, maybe a month, from running, running. But got on the bike, so I\u2019m definitely doing some things, moving more.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getty Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy is talking about the team&#8217;s quarterback position ahead of their final game of the season. The\u00a0Dallas Cowboys\u00a0are heading into their&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16278,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hot-news","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BREAKING: Cowboys HC Mike McCarthy Makes Surprising QB Statement.. - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=16277\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING: Cowboys HC Mike McCarthy Makes Surprising QB Statement.. - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Getty Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy is talking about the team&#8217;s quarterback position ahead of their final game of the season. 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