Cowboys' Stephen Jones Backs Mike McCarthy: 'There Will Be Absolutely No Change'

Dallas Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones dismissed the notion head coach Mike McCarthy could be on the hot seat after less than one year with the organization.

Jones said on 105.3 The Fan:

"There will be absolutely no change with coach McCarthy. I am surprised someone would question these unprecedented situations that everybody's been in. On top of that, no one's making excuses, but we've had some challenges in the injury category. If you look at his track record, and his pedigree, he's consistently won year-in-and-year out. We have the utmost confidence this ship is going to be righted quickly. Mike's going to be the leader of this group. He's, certainly, a great head coach. I think we're going to see that going forward. He's accomplished a lot, and he's going to accomplish a lot more before it's all said and done."

The Cowboys scored a 30-7 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday. It improved their record to 4-9, which keeps them mathematically alive in the playoff race thanks to the divisionwide struggles of the NFC East. The Washington Football Team holds the top spot at 6-7.

Dallas sits in last place, however, and Washington won both head-to-head meetings, so McCarthy's group is actually more than the officially two games behind with three weeks to play and would need to leapfrog three teams.

The Cowboys' struggles can't be entirely placed on the coaching staff's shoulders, though. Injuries have been a major factor in the team's underperformance.

They lost franchise quarterback Dak Prescott to a season-ending ankle injury after a Week 5 win over the New York Giants that had improved their record to 2-3. They've gone 2-6 during his absence.

Three members of the team's vaunted offensive line—La'el Collins, Tyron Smith and Zack Martin—are on injured reserve, and several other players have missed time because of injuries.

Nevertheless, the arrival of McCarthy brought renewed expectations for a talented Cowboys roster that missed the playoffs two of the previous three years. The fact that hasn't happened raised early questions about the coach's future despite the factors outside of his control.

Jones, the son of team owner Jerry Jones, quickly shot down the idea there could be another coaching change before the 2021 season.

For his part, McCarthy told reporters after beating the Bengals he's been pointing players toward his 2006 season leading the Green Bay Packers when they won their final four games to finish 8-8:

"I made reference to it in a team meeting earlier this week. I thought that it was one of the foundation blocks for my time in Green Bay, those last four wins, because it was something that we built on, talked about and emphasized throughout the whole offseason. Then in [2007], we were an overtime loss away from being in the Super Bowl. So, I definitely do believe that success at the end of the season catapults you into your offseason program and can very well factor into next year because, let's be honest, if you start fast in this league you're at such an advantage as the season moves on. So, to accomplish [finishing 4-0], would say a lot about our football team, especially what we've gone through."

He eventually led the Packers to the Super Bowl XLV at the end of the 2010 season.

The Cowboys have a chance to mirror McCarthy's first season in Green Bay with a four-game winning streak to end the year and perhaps set the foundation for future title contention.

They have home games against the San Francisco 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles over the next two weeks before finishing the regular season with a road clash against the Giants. All of them currently have sub-.500 records.