Cowboys Today: Playing hard when playoffs are unlikely is great, but still the bare minimum

Arguably the biggest question looming over the rest of the Dallas Cowboys’ season will be: Who is the head coach in 2025?

One big fish — perhaps the biggest, Bill Belichick — is off to the college ranks. There are other quality options out there, but what are the names that overlap between coaches Dallas would want to pursue and coaches better than Mike McCarthy?

McCarthy is in the final year of his contract. He’s had successful regular seasons more often than not in his five years in Dallas, but very little postseason success. There are plenty of arguments to be made for or against McCarthy returning and we’ll get to all of that in due time.

But there’s one thing that’s been coming up a lot recently as criteria that I find sort of strange: The players haven’t quit on the coach.

Don’t get me wrong, players can tune out the coach. We see it happen all around the sports world, and even saw it in Dallas. Remember the Cowboys in 2010, after going 11-5 in 2009, then starting 1-7 under Wade Phillips? It led to Phillips’ midseason firing and Jason Garrett went 5-3 as the interim head coach. I understand players “quitting” on a coach happens, or at least there are glaring external signs of it.

But when you’re making big decisions about the direction of the franchise at such an important position, how hard players are playing for a coach after the season has gone off the rails shouldn’t be this major decisive factor. It’s merely the bare minimum.

We in the media are as guilty of it as anybody, asking coaches and players about the impressiveness of the “fight” players continue to show despite the playoffs being a mathematical long shot. So the Cowboys didn’t fold against a bad Carolina Panthers team after a demoralizing defeat to the Cincinnati Bengals the previous week. Great. Every player got a game check. Showing up and performing to the best of their ability is the expectation for every player at the most basic level.

Players checking out on a coach is a sign of things going wrong to an extreme level. To be above that line at the NFL level is merely the bare minimum.

There will be a lot of discussion in the coming weeks if McCarthy should be extended as the Cowboys’ head coach. There are arguments on both sides and plenty of factors to consider, from schematic X’s and O’s to game management to philosophy and, of course, the five-year sample size.

Players continuing to play hard, despite falling into a 3-7 hole to start the season, doesn’t need to be a major part of the dialogue.

Stray thoughts on Cowboys’ Forbes valuation

Last week, you saw that Forbes released its ranking of the most valuable sports franchises in the world. Once again, the Cowboys sat atop the list. Some of the language with which the news was delivered sent me down a few rabbit holes.

It was said the Cowboys retained the top spot for the ninth consecutive year, which begs the question: What was the last team to rank ahead of the Cowboys? The answer: Soccer club Real Madrid in 2015, the last year the Cowboys were in Valley Ranch before making the move to The Star in Frisco in 2016. That year, Real Madrid was valued at $3.26 billion while the Cowboys were tied with the New York Yankees for second at $3.2 billion.

The next rabbit hole finding out when was the last time the Cowboys weren’t the most valuable team in the NFL? The answer to that question is 2006. The Cowboys were No. 3 that year. The New England Patriots were the No. 2 team, which wasn’t surprising given they were a dynasty. But the No. 1 team made me do a double-take, as it was Daniel Snyder’s Washington Redskins.

Clearly, the Forbes rankings don’t have much to do with on-field success but it was just interesting to see those two NFC East franchises, which are the only two in the NFC to not reach a conference championship game since 1996, hovering at the top throughout their drought.

Faith in Aubrey

Brandon Aubrey’s 70-yard attempt was short and wide, but don’t expect that to detract the Cowboys from giving their star kicker another shot, if the opportunity presents itself.

“He’s got 70 yards in him, for sure,” Cowboys special teams coordinator John Fassel said.

McCarthy was nervous when Aubrey lined up for the attempt because he’s been on the wrong end of that situation. In 2005, McCarthy was the offensive coordinator in San Francisco and Chicago Bears cornerback Nathan Vasher took a missed deep kick before the half the other way 108 yards for a touchdown. The Cowboys did a great job of covering Aubrey’s miss when the Panthers tried to return it.

The conditions in Carolina on Sunday were not ideal for a 70-yard kick. If a similar distance presents itself but the circumstances are different, especially in the comfortable confines of AT&T Stadium, expect to see Aubrey line up for a shot at the record again.

(Top photo of Jourdan Lewis: Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)