McCarthy’s 1st season in Dallas coming apart over turnovers
ARLINGTON, TEXAS (AP) » Mike McCarthy is a big believer in winning the turnover battle.
His first season as coach of the Dallas Cowboys is coming apart because of how badly his team is losing that battle.
Dallas is minus-12 in turnover margin, the worst in the NFL through six games since 2013 and the worst for the franchise since its inaugural — and winless — season of 1960.
The Cowboys (2- 4) committed four turnovers without getting one in a 38-10 loss to Arizona on Monday night, and take no solace in being in first place in the woeful NFC East heading into Sunday’s visit to division rival Washington.
“I have a continuing issue with ball security onmy football team,” McCarthy said. “That’s something I personally take a lot of pride in and how it reflects on how you play the game of football. I’m not getting it done rightnow.”
Ezekiel Elliott has five fumbles (four lost), already within one of the two-time rushing champion’s career high for a full season from 2018. Andy Dalton threw two interceptions in his first start replacing injured star quarterback Dak Prescott.
“In practice, I’ve been focusing in on just kinda keeping it tight and not having it loose,” Elliott said. “I don’t know. I need to figure something out.”
The Cardinals scored 24 points off those turnovers, and 13 of Dallas’ NFL-leading 15 giveaways have led to points — 11 of them touchdowns. The only two this season that didn’t result in points were interceptions near the game’s end.
The 84 points off turnovers given up by the Cowboys are also a reflection of a defense that has slipped to 31st against the run and allowed at least 250 yards rushing in two of the past three games. For the season, Dallas is allowing 5.15 yards per carry.
“We turned the ball over. We didn’t handle the adversity of it,” McCarthy said. “These are things that have gone on so far this year and we need to turn it (around) because it’s affecting the outcome of games clearly.”
WHAT’S WORKING Nothing, other than having the lead in a division with three one-win teams, and even that doesn’t mean much to normally optimistic owner Jerry Jones. “I’m not in the feelgood mood frankly that we got manna from heaven being in the East,” Jones said on his radio show Monday. “When you’re not playing any better than we are, it’s hard for me to basically look to the endgame, which is to win the East, and get excited about the fact that we’re better than anybody.” WHAT NEEDS HELP Plenty, starting with trying to play with a lead for a change. The Cowboys never led in two of the three games on a rare long homestand that finished 1-2.