Dallas Cowboys News

Home

Quizzes

Watch

Newsletter

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Former Cowboys QB Danny White defends Jerry Jones’ decision to keep Mike McCarthy

Originally posted on 5 GOATs | By Suzanne Halliburton | Last updated 2/21/24

If you’re a fan of the Cowboys, you no doubt read comments from some of the franchise’s best known players. They didn’t like the way the season finished, either, and wanted change at the top.

When the team collapses in the first round of the playoffs, the head coach and the quarterback are the easy targets. But former Cowboys quarterback Danny White is praising owner Jerry Jones for not over reacting.

“It would be real easy to panic a little bit, especially the way the fans have reacted and the media to some extent,” White said in an interview this week on The Hardline radio show in Dallas.

“The ‘here we go again’, ‘one and done’ and all of that. It’s really, really easy to play into that and react to it. I think Jerry’s done the right thing, in my opinion, and that’s just one opinion, but Mike McCarthy gives them the best chance of getting back there next year.

“Better than changing to somebody else and Dak [Prescott] — so, I applaud them for not overreacting.”

Of course, White probably still has some leftover PTSD from his time with the Cowboys. He had the misfortune of following Roger Staubach. In fact, his career was sandwiched in the middle of Staubach and Troy Aikman, the two best quarterbacks in Cowboys history. He led Dallas to three straight appearances in the NFC title game, but White never quarterbacked Dallas to the Super Bowl. He even was on the losing end to a Joe Montana rally. The play known as “The Catch” still gives fans heartburn four decades later.

White said he knew Packers would be problem for Cowboys

But because stakes were so high, White never received credit from Cowboys fans for being a really good quarterback. Maybe that makes him a good person to talk to about the Dallas issues. The Cowboys haven’t even been to the NFC title game, much less the NFL’s most high profile game, since Bill Clinton was president.

The Cowboys, despite being the No. 2 seed in the NFC this past season, still lost in the first round to the Packers, 48-32 at AT&T Stadium. And Dallas needed to rally to even make the game a 16-point defeat. White said he worried about the game before hand because he knew Green Bay would be playing pressure free. Jordan Love, in his first year as a starter, shredded the Dallas defense. And Dak Prescott and the Cowboys offense couldn’t do a thing against the Packers defense until the game was out of reach.

”I’m not gonna say I told you so, but I was nervous about that game just because of the matchup,” White said. “It felt to me like all the pressure was on the Cowboys, and none on the Packers. I think they handled it exactly the way they should have, they just went out and played football, and didn’t try to play up to anybody’s expectations. They just went out and played like there was no pressure on them, and there wasn’t. We saw the results.”

The Cowboys did do some retooling with the defensive staff, mainly because coordinator Dan Quinn left to become head coach of the Commanders. But one thing is certain, the pressure is only going to ramp up even more this coming season.

This article first appeared on 5 GOATs and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: