Mike McCarthy will get another chance to end a nearly three-decade stretch without a deep playoff run for the Dallas Cowboys, a decision that ends three days of intense speculation over the coach’s future.
Owner and General Manager Jerry Jones said Wednesday night that McCarthy will be back for a fifth season after a stunning 48-32 wild-card loss to Green Bay.
The Cowboys were the first No. 2 seed to lose to the last team to get in since the 14-team format was adopted in 2020. Dallas surged to the NFC East title in the final two weeks and had a chance to host at least two playoff games.
Instead, McCarthy’s team is the first not to reach a conference title game after three consecutive 12-win playoff seasons.
“There is great benefit to continuing the team’s progress under Mike’s leadership as our head coach,” Jones said in a statement with several references to the disappointment of the playoff loss. “Mike has the highest regular-season winning percentage of any head coach in Cowboys history, and we will dedicate ourselves, in partnership with him, to translating that into reaching our postseason goals.”
McCarthy was hired to get Dallas past the divisional round for the first time since the 1995 season, the last of the storied franchise’s five Super Bowl titles.
COLTS: Owner Jim Irsay is believed to have suffered an overdose early last month when local authorities found him unresponsive.
The 64-year-old businessman, who spoke candidly the month prior about battling addictions to alcohol and pain pills, was struggling to breathe and had a weak pulse when Carmel (Indiana) Police found him in his bed at around 4:30 a.m. on Dec. 8, according to documents obtained by TMZ Sports.
Authorities responded to the residence after they were called about an unconscious Irsay being found on the bathroom floor, at which time, his skin was said to be blue, the outlet reports.
“He responded slightly” after he was given a dosage of Narcan, which “rapidly reverses an opioid overdose,” per the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The drug was administered after authorities tried other methods to rouse Irsay, including an unsuccessful sternum rub.
Paramedics then “took over lifesaving efforts,” before an ambulance transported Irsay to the hospital, per TMZ.
“At this time, it is unknown what Mr. Irsay had ingested prior to our arrival,” officers reportedly wrote in the documents, after a caretaker detailed Irsay’s medications. Authorities classified the incident as an “overdose” as well as “overdose/poisoning,” according to TMZ.
Irsay has a history of addiction to pain killers and has publicly addressed the problems he has faced, most recently in November when he told HBO Sports he had sought treatment at least 15 times.
Earlier this month, Irsay canceled a performance in Los Angeles with the Jim Irsay Band because of what team officials described as a severe respiratory illness. When asked for an update on Irsay’s condition last week, GM Chris Ballard said he was stable and he was getting through it.
On Wednesday, the Colts issued another statement.
“Mr. Irsay continues to recover from his respiratory illness,” it read. “We will have no further comment on his personal health and we continue to ask that Jim and his family’s privacy be respected.”
The 64-year-old Irsay received a six-game suspension and was fined $500,000 by the NFL after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor count of operating a vehicle while intoxicated in September 2014. He was arrested six months earlier when Carmel officers spotted him driving unusually near his home. During a search of the car, police found a variety of prescription drugs and $29,000 in cash.
BROWNS: For the second straight year, Coach Kevin Stefanski has made a major offseason change to his staff.
Offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt has parted ways with the team, leaving just days after Cleveland was blown out in the wild-card round by Houston and following a season in which the Browns were ravaged by injuries.
Also, Stefanski fired running backs coach Stump Mitchell and tight ends coach T.C. McCartney was not retained after his contract expired.
The shakeup might not be over as the Browns continue to hold staff evaluations.
They’ve quickly moved on from Mitchell and are interviewing Duce Staley to be his replacement. The 48-year-old Staley was most recently an assistant head coach and running backs coach with Carolina before being fired.
Following a 7-10 season in 2022, Stefanski fired defensive coordinator Joe Woods and special teams coordinator Mike Priefer. Those moves led to the hiring of Jim Schwartz, who turned Cleveland’s defense into one of the NFL’s best this season, and Bubba Ventrone, who dramatically improved special teams.
Van Pelt’s departure is a surprise. It was immediately known if he was fired or resigned.
He and Stefanski appeared to have a strong relationship, and just last week Van Pelt praised his boss for the job he did during a challenging season.
CHIEFS: The manufacturer of the helmet that Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes shattered during their AFC wild-card game with Miami says it “did its job” by protecting the league MVP “during a head-to-head impact in unprecedented cold temperatures.”
The game Saturday night was the fourth-coldest in NFL history. The temperature at kickoff was minus-4 degrees, and winds gusting to more than 25 mph made the wind chill approach minus-30 during the game.
“Extreme conditions like those are bound to test the limits of even the highest-performing products,” Certor Sports, which makes the VICIS ZERO2 helmet that Mahomes was wearing, said in a statement.
Mahomes was scrambling toward the end zone in the second half of the Chiefs’ 26-7 victory when he was hit by Dolphins safety DeShon Elliott. Their helmets clashed and, likely because of the extreme cold that made the outer shell brittle, a fist-sized chunk went flying from Mahomes’ helmet just above the facemask covering his left eye.
“They’re testing it right now,” Mahomes said, “but I’m adamant on getting the helmet after. It’s something that’s cool, I’ll be able to keep for a long time. Like they said, it did its job. I was perfectly fine after.”
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