It would be easy to blame the slew of injuries to starting players for what’s gone wrong with the Dallas Cowboys’ 2020 season so far. But some players aren’t taking that route, openly criticizing the coaching staff in the wake of Dallas’ 2-4 start and a humiliating 38-10 loss last night to the Arizona Cardinals.
According to Jane Slater of NFL Network, some anonymous players didn’t sugarcoat their feelings about the Cowboys coaches and their performance so far this season.
#Cowboys players initially bought into keeping things internal. Now as they sit 2-4 the discontent is leaking out. On the coaching staff “totally unprepared. They don’t teach. They don’t have any sense of adjusting on the fly.” Another “they just aren’t good at their jobs”
— Jane Slater (@SlaterNFL) October 20, 2020
Now this report doesn’t say who made the comments so we can’t be sure exactly which coaches are being spoken about. Is this a shot at Mike McCarthy as the head man, Kellen Moore and the offensive staff, or Mike Nolan and the defense?
This isn’t the first critique of the coaches from a Cowboys player in 2020. Jaylon Smith recently said the new scheme was too complicated after weeks of struggling, but then had a big game last week against the Giants.
We don’t know if Jaylon was one of the talkers from Slater’s latest report, but that it was from the defensive side of things is a good bet.
The offense has had to deal with plenty even before losing Dak Prescott. The offensive line has been decimated, with Zack Martin’s exit last night leaving Connor Williams as the only original starter in play.
And if players should be mad at anyone on that side of the ball, it should be the starting running back with five fumbles already this season.
No, this feel much more like another shot at Mike Nolan and his defense. The questionable hiring of Nolan, a known buddy of McCarthy with a spotty NFL record, has been a talking point all year. And now it seems our worst fears are being fully validated.
We’ll see if this current unrest leads to anything bigger. You know Jerry Jones would love to make a statement move with the season’s current trajectory, and perhaps appeasing his players in the process would make it a win-win.
