Brett Favre Says Cowboys Lack Leadership from Players Under Mike McCarthy

Pro Football Hall of Famer Brett Favre thinks that "there's something missing" from the Dallas Cowboys this season.

Appearing on SiriusXM NFL Radio on Wednesday, Favre said he suspected that the team is "lacking from a player leadership perspective" (h/t Jon Machota of The Athletic). 

Anonymous criticism from players about the coaching staff surfaced after a 2-4 start, and the team went on to lose its Week 7 game against the Washington Football Team.

After the Cowboys dropped their fourth game, NFL Network's Jane Slater reported that one player said the coaching staff was "totally unprepared," while another said "they just aren't good at their jobs."

McCarthy coached Favre multiple times—beginning in 1999, when McCarthy joined the Green Bay Packers as a quarterbacks coach for one year. He reunited with Favre in Green Bay in 2006 during his first stint as an NFL head coach. Favre was traded to the New York Jets prior to the 2008 campaign.  

"I'm a little bit baffled because Mike's pretty good at handling players and dealing with problems," Favre said. "Is he perfect? No one is. I think maybe, part of the problem is he's pretty stubborn and strong-minded and a disciplinarian, but not in a way, it's not like going to the principal." 

Favre added:

"Maybe the group of guys that they have, the core group that you count on, maybe are not guys that take coaching very well. ... And I'm not defending the coaching staff necessarily, but you got to take ownership as a player, and as a group of guys to get the thing righted and get the ship back afloat, regardless of who your coach is. That's a lame excuse to not want to get it back on course because the coaches are whatever." 

The Cowboys lost quarterback Dak Prescott to a season-ending ankle injury in Week 5, and he has consistently been lauded as a leader in the clubhouse. Dallas will hope it finds leadership elsewhere and that it is able to retain Prescott for 2021 and beyond with the fifth-year quarterback set to enter free agency.