Cowboys face same questions after early playoff exit

ARLINGTON, TEXAS Mike McCarthy’s future as Dallas Cowboys coach wasn’t something Jerry Jones wanted to discuss after a wild-card loss that left the owner saying “I can’t remember,” when asked if he’d ever been more disappointed in defeat.

Questions about McCarthy come in part because the Cowboys could lose both co-ordinators to head coaching jobs in Kellen Moore on offence and Dan Quinn on defence. Moore is getting interviews for a second consecutive year, and Quinn took Atlanta to a Super Bowl in that role.

The 23-17 loss to San Francisco on Sunday was another uneven performance from franchise quarterback Dak Prescott and Moore’s offence. It was punctuated by the hotly debated decision to run Prescott up the middle without a timeout with 14 seconds remaining believing there was time to spike the ball and run one more play.

After it didn’t work and McCarthy, Prescott and other Dallas players criticized officials for the clock running out, Jones flatly rejected the supposed controversy with a dose of reality.

“I think this is a time that when you get this combination of players together, you need to have success, because we all know how it goes in the NFL,” Jones said after Sunday’s game.

“The whole thing is set up to take away from the best, and add to the ones that need improvement, and personnel-wise, I think we have one of the best (teams).”

The Cowboys haven’t even reached an NFC championship game since winning the last of the franchise’s five Super Bowl titles during the 1995 season. It’s quite a drought for Jones, also the club’s general manager, after Dallas won three championships in four years early in his ownership.

Dallas had the No. 1 offence and an opportunistic defence that led the NFL in take-aways. Now, Prescott has a 1-3 playoff record after the club’s first wild-card defeat since Tony Romo infamously flubbed the snap on a potential go-ahead field goal late in a loss at Seattle 15 years ago.

Add the frantic failure to get off a final snap to the growing list of playoff lowlights.

“In all my years I don’t know that I’ve had a better chance or a better full team than this,” Prescott said. “It’s hard to accept knowing every year that a team’s not going to be the same, some of those guys won’t be back. It’s just hard for me to accept right now.”

The popular star has created a rare public relations problem with comments about the officiating after the game. When asked about objects, including water bottles, being thrown at Dallas players as they left the field, Prescott said it was “sad” fans would do that.

After another reporter said it appeared officials were the targets, he said, “Credit to them then.”