{"id":3563,"date":"2024-11-23T00:53:20","date_gmt":"2024-11-23T00:53:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=3563"},"modified":"2024-11-23T00:53:20","modified_gmt":"2024-11-23T00:53:20","slug":"breaking-cowboys-mike-mccarthy-makes-final-decision-on-starting-qb-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=3563","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Cowboys\u2019 Mike McCarthy Makes Final Decision on Starting QB &#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<article><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/GettyImages-2184055863-e1732119015100.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" alt=\"BREAKING: Cowboys\u2019 Mike McCarthy Makes Final Decision on Starting QB -binh123\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" \/>Getty<\/p>\n<p>Cowboys QB Trey Lance<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0Cowboys\u00a0are now 3-7 following the Monday night blowout loss at the hands of the Houston Texans. They are tied for 14th in the 16-team NFC, with only the 2-8 New York Giants below them. A seven-game winning streak to close out the 2024 season could, technically, rescue their playoff hopes, but that is a pretty big pipe dream.<\/p>\n<p>According to NFL.com, they have the second-worst odds at earning a playoff spot in the conference, and even if they beat the Commanders on the road on Sunday, their postseason odds would sit at just 4%. A loss knocks them to well below 1%.<\/p>\n<p>And yet, Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy keeps plugging along as though there is no choice in Dallas but to try to win out and get to the playoffs. Or, at least, to win out and spare his reputation, should he go seeking another job. Remember, McCarthy is in the final year of his contract and while it might make sense for Dallas to lose some games and boost the team\u2019s draft spot for next April, that matters little to McCarthy.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s not going to be in Dallas in April. The Cowboys are all but certain to have a new coach then. So, expect McCarthy to be gung-ho about winning all he can before he gets the boot.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Cooper Rush Back as Cowboys Starter<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>With that in mind, it makes sense that McCarthy will turn back yet again to veteran\u00a0Cooper Rush\u00a0at quarterback, despite the fact that it makes oodles of sense for him to put untested 2021 No. 3 overall pick\u00a0Trey Lance\u00a0on the field. Star QB1\u00a0Dak Prescott\u00a0is out for the year with a hamstring injury.<\/p>\n<p>The Athletic reporter\u00a0Jon Machota wrote\u00a0on Twitter\/X this week: \u201cCowboys coach Mike McCarthy said Cooper Rush will again be the starter this week. But there will be a package for Trey Lance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lance was acquired before the 2023 season for a fourth-round pick, but has made only one garbage-time appearance in two seasons for Dallas.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Cowboys \u2018Deserve to Win\u2019: Mike McCarthy<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, McCarthy was clearly trying to rally his troops, though the question of whether the troops want to be rallied is a valid one.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is it, man,\u201d\u00a0McCarthy said, via ESPN. \u201cWe\u2019ve got seven losses. We gotta go. Backs against the wall. Gotta fight, claw, scratch. Gotta do everything we can to go win the next game. That\u2019s where my mind\u2019s at. That\u2019s the way we coach and that\u2019s the expectation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe gotta win. We deserve to win. We deserve the opportunity to win and that\u2019s about putting the best people out there. Right now they\u2019re young. Those guys, our young guys are getting a lot of experience. But we need to do whatever the [expletive] we need to do to win.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getty<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3563","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\u2019 Mike McCarthy Makes Final Decision on Starting QB ... - 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=3563\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING: Cowboys\u2019 Mike McCarthy Makes Final Decision on Starting QB ... - 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