GM Notebook: Mike McCarthy Making Statement, Steelers ‘Must Take a Look at’ Coordinator

Getty Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy.

Randy Mueller, the 2000 NFL Executive of the Year, brings over 30 years of experience in the football business, including stints as the general manager of Seattle Seahawks, New Orleans Saints and Miami Dolphins. With Heavy, Mueller breaks down the NFL from a front office perspective. You can follow Randy on Twitter @RandyMueller_

Staff of the Year: The Dallas Cowboys?!

With all due respect to New York Giants coach Brian Daboll and the job that he and his staff have done through the quarter pole of the 2022 NFL regular season, the team that jumps out at me as having done the best job of coaching is Mike McCarthy and the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys have reeled off four straight wins through five weeks, mostly in a dominating fashion.

They’ve dealt with losing their starting quarterback Dak Prescott with the replacement part known as the artist Cooper Rush, who has been no less than spectacular. But when you include what defensive coordinator Dan Quinn has done on defense (3rd in points given up and 7th in yards allowed), and consider now the play of their special teams (including blocking a punt in Week 5 vs. the Rams), they are clicking in all three phases. 

Offensive coordinator Kellen Moore has created balance and flow better than any time in the last year and a half. They have finally found some defined roles for some talented players. And he is calling a game with a bit more purpose by doing what he has to do to win the game, not necessarily to win the stat sheet battle.

Quinn has struck a cord on defense that most find very hard to play. He is just complex enough to confuse offenses, yet his own group is not overloaded with overthinking and the baggage of decision-making that sometimes slows fast players down to a crawl. This defense is not only flying around at top speed, but Quinn’s rotations of players, alignments and personnel groupings are problematic for offenses to identify. I love it.

So as of Week 5, Sean Payton may have to find a different city to set up shop in for 2023.

I know it sounds crazy, but as of right now, McCarthy might just be the leading candidate for NFL Coach of the Year.

Steelers Offense: Who’s to Blame?

The benching of QB Mitch Trubisky by the Pittsburgh Steelers was supposed to fix all their issues on offense. For some of us, that, and what happened the following Week 5, were neither a surprise nor anything new. This offensive team has struggled for two years. It hasn’t worked with Ben Roethlisberger, Trubisky or Kenny Pickett to this point. Heck, it might not work with Terry Bradshaw.

Whether it’s the work in progress of this rebuilt offensive line or the health of a couple of skill position weapons, a true identity has not emerged. They can’t protect the passer, and they struggle to execute with any consistency. It looks like a grab bag of play calls that lack a rhyme or reason.

Some are trying to put the blame on head coach Mike Tomlin but most want to blame the QB, whoever it is. I happen to think it’s the system and scheme.

Matt Canada, their offensive coordinator charged with making it all go, has limited NFL experience and in his second year in his current role (one additional year as the QB coach), it’s something that Tomlin must take a look at.

They have a bigger downhill runner in the backfield in Najee Harris, who at times gets you excited. They have QBs who need a play-action passing game to complement their athletic and passing skills and neither has been matched with what they are doing, with any real consistency.

The Steelers need to protect their first-round investment in Pickett going forward. They must select a system for which he can develop and flourish in for the next four-to-six years. I don’t think they have that question answered at this time. They need to find answers over the next month.

Las Vegas Rolled the Dice

A lot of criticism is being tossed in the direction of Las Vegas Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels for his controversial call to go for two and not kick the more traditional game-tying extra point in the waning minutes of Monday night’s Week 5 game in Kansas City. As a result, the Raiders fell to the rival Chiefs, 30-29, while also falling to 1-4 in the standings.

Aggressive? Sure. Arrogant, maybe? I really don’t care about the result of that particular game. I think it’s a choice that, even though the analytics world applauds, the football purists shake their heads. But for me, it doesn’t matter. My take is a bit bigger picture in looking for answers for the leader of the franchise. It’s more about how McDaniels responds.

For him to move forward from his Denver debacle in 2009 and 2010, where he was the head coach at a young and immature age, I want to see some humility and some accountability when things go bad, as a person. He took no ownership of things gone bad in his first stint as an NFL head coach with the Broncos and came across as very condescending and as having all the answers.

I think he’s a very good football coach. I just want to see if he has improved as a leader and shows some contrition when things don’t go as planned, at least publically.  Things like the game in Kansas City are the first measuring stick, this year, with regard to his people skills and communication as an effective leader.

We are all waiting to see what version of McDaniels are we going to get.

Rhule Change: Panthers Pivot at Head Coach

The Carolina Panthers fired head coach Matt Rhule on Monday, October 10, in year three of a seven-year contract, and still owe him another $40 million (minus any offset money). Rhule struggled to turn around a franchise that showed positive signs, at times, of moving forward, but at the end of the day, just couldn’t get this roster over the hump with any consistency at all.

Rhule was set up to fail, in my opinion, by being named the head decision-maker of an NFL franchise with little to no experience doing so in his background.

Running a college program is nowhere near parallel to doing the same at the NFL level. He hired his own general manager, but make no mistake, Rhule was in charge and had final say on all football decisions. There is plenty of blame to go around. Rhule had $62 million reasons to take the job, but the on-the-job training that a move like this required is never a good thing at the most elite level of any industry, much less the NFL. It’s a league that is very unkind to those with limited experience.

So now Panthers owner David Tepper bites the bullet and pays the price for going the route of the college ranks. It will be interesting to see what kind of front office structure he turns to this time around.

Team building at the NFL level, despite what fans and some media think, is really complicated. And once again, as we saw with the Panthers, it is a fact: Education is expensive.