Getty Mike McCarthy, coach of the Cowboys and former Packers coach
When last the Dallas Cowboys saw the Packers, more than a year before their upcoming showdown in the NFL playoffs, Mike McCarthy committed what he now sees as a cardinal sin for coaches: He made the game about himself. McCarthy took the Cowboys to Green Bay in Week 10 of the 2022 season and did not want to ignore the elephant in the room, his lengthy history with the Packers.
McCarthy had coached in Green Bay for 12 seasons, leading the team to a Super Bowl championship in 2010, but was fired midway through his 13th year, in 2018. The game had extra meaning for him, and he felt he ought to explain that to his Cowboys.
After blowing a 28-14 lead to lose, 31-28, McCarthy confessed he wished he had not done so.
“Last year, I thought it was important for me to talk about Green Bay at the beginning of the week. I did with the team. I regretted it,” McCarthy said in his press conference on Monday. “I don’t think that, that doesn’t even need to come into our energy base. So, you live and learn.”
Mike McCarthy Focused on Playoffs
Now, with the Packers set to travel to Dallas to face the Cowboys in the opening week of the NFL playoffs, McCarthy said he is shutting down all talk of his history with the Green Bay organization. He wants to keep the focus on Sunday’s game, and no more.
“This game’s about our commitment. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing, and it really doesn’t,” McCarthy said, indicating he was not rooting for or against the Packers. “I had no stake, I didn’t watch one game prior to yesterday’s contest in preparation. I started last night on the plane. That’s where I am.”
McCarthy has been a head coach in the NFL for nearly two decades, which means he is not foolish enough to think that his facing his old team won’t be a storyline this year. But he just knows he does not have to participate.
“There’s no time for that,” he said. “I answered the questions honestly in here last year about my experience up there. It just will not help us win. So if it doesn’t help us win a game, I’m not interested in it.”
Packers Have Changed Since Cowboys Saw Them in 2022
The reality, too, is that the Packers team the Cowboys will face in the NFL playoffs is a much different version of the team, just as Mike McCarthy is a different version of himself. Green Bay is the youngest team in the NFL, and has overhauled its lineup in the wake of the trade of Aaron Rodgers to the Jets.
Nine of the 22 starters for Green Bay in last year’s game against the Cowboys are gone, 10 if you count injured tackle David Bakhtiari.
“They’ve got some new faces, particularly they played a lot of guys in their secondary throughout the year. Obviously, they’ve gotten healthy of late. But last night and this morning was just getting tied into their personnel,” McCarthy said.
The big change has been at quarterback, where Jordan Love replaces Rodgers. “Had seen Jordan Love a few times in the breakdowns,” McCarthy said. “Obviously, he has great command of the offense, you can see he is comfortable. He has made some excellent time-clock-plus throws, so I have noticed that. But, I mean, it is early. We are early in the preparation right now.”