Cowboy up, Belichick
After another Dallas disaster in playoff loss, it’s a good time for rumors to start
Jerry Jones once reeled in a Big Tuna. Will he now try to land a GOAT?
All eyes will be on Jones this week after his Cowboys suffered an embarrassing 48-32 home playoff loss to the Packers on Sunday. Jones tried last week to downplay the importance of this game for Mike McCarthy’s job security. But a third straight early playoff exit usually does not sit well with impatient, 81-year-old NFL owners.
Especially when Bill Belichick is available. Belichick is reported to be a top target of the Falcons, but he may want to keep his options open. Jones is desperate to win another Super Bowl, three decades after collecting a trio of them. He hasn’t been back to even an NFC Championship game since the 1995 season. And McCarthy is now just 1-3 in the playoffs, wasting three straight 12-5 seasons. Sunday’s no-show against the Packers had to be humiliating for Jones.
If Jones wants a coach who can put his team over the top, he can’t do much better than Belichick, who has eight rings in his collection.
Mike Vrabel could also probably be a good option.
While a Jones-Belichick partnership may seem like water and oil, the two have long expressed respect and admiration for each other. And if Bill Parcells could do it (2003-06), why not Belichick?
“I enjoyed working for Jerry,” Parcells told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram this year. “I found him to be very supportive. He was a benevolent person who did a lot for a lot of people. His word was good. I really liked him.”
The Cowboys also come ready-made for Belichick, assuming they stick with quarterback
Dak Prescott. With a roster loaded with veterans and superstars, there may not be many better opportunities for Belichick to collect 14 wins to catch Don Shula and win a Super Bowl without Tom Brady or the Krafts.
McCarthy’s seat is going to be scorching hot this week. After going with low-key coaches Wade Phillips, Jason Garrett, and McCarthy the last 15 years, Jones may be ready to take a big swing.
Let the Belichick rumors begin.
■ Jordan Love opened a lot of eyes Sunday, winning on the road in his first playoff start and looking like vintage Aaron Rodgers with an impressive display of backfoot, off-schedule throws. Love shredded the Cowboys’ defense for 272 yards and three touchdowns, compiling the third-best passer rating in NFL playoff history (157.2).
Love’s performance was the crescendo of what has been remarkable improvement over the last three months of the season. He looked like a bust after nine starts and played like an All-Pro over his final eight games. The Packers started 3-6 but finished 6-2, his completion percentage improved from 58.7 to 70.3, his yards per game increased from 223 to 269, his touchdown/interception ratio rose from 14/10 to 18/1, and his passer rating climbed from 80.5 (24th in the league) to 112.7 (second).
The Packers play at San Francisco next Sunday. The 49ers better come ready to play, as Love can go punch for punch with Brock Purdy.
■ The Dolphins made the playoffs in consecutive years, which is an important step for a team that had just two postseason appearances in the previous 20. They are at least back to respectability.
But respectable is all the Dolphins are.
For the second straight year they sputtered out in the wild-card round, this time barely putting up a fight in a 26-7 loss in frigid Kansas City. They put up big offensive numbers this year, but showed that they aren’t built for January football and the elements.
The Dolphins also couldn’t hang with the top teams. They went 10-1 and averaged 35.5 points per game against non-playoff teams, but 1-6 and averaged 16.1 points against playoff teams. The offense froze Saturday night, going 1 for 12 on third down, gaining 264 yards, and having repeated communication issues, per Tua Tagovailoa.
With Tagovailoa about to enter the fifth-year option of his rookie contract, the Dolphins may have to consider this offseason if he is the quarterback who will get them from respectability to elite.
■ The Texans won their last two regular-season games to finish 10-7 and steal the AFC South crown, and proved in Saturday’s 45-14 win over the Browns that they are no fluke. Two aspects stood out.
One is the Texans’ big-play ability. They hit completions of 21, 27, 37 (touchdown), 38, and 76 (TD) yards in the first half, spreading those around to four receivers. Devin Singletary also added a 29yard run. During the regular season, CJ Stroud was second in the NFL with 40 completions of 25plus yards, and third in yards per attempt (8.23). He keeps his eyes downfield and isn’t afraid to let it rip.
The other was the speed of their defense. It’s not a lot of household names yet — Christian Harris, Derek Stingley, Will Anderson — but this unit has impressive speed, had two pick-6s and shut down one of the NFL’s hottest offenses. On Steven Nelson’s 82-yard pick-6, he reached 19.64 miles per hour, and was only the fourth-fastest Texan defender on the play.
The Texans will get a tough assignment next week, playing at Kansas City or Baltimore. But they won’t be a pushover.
■ The clock finally struck midnight on Joe Flacco, who threw two pick-6s within four pass attempts in the third quarter to turn a manageable deficit into a blowout loss.
Flacco’s remarkable comeback from his couch, and his four-game win streak to end the regular season, masked a real issue for the Browns: turnovers. They committed 11 during their four-game win streak, and it caught up to them in Houston.
■ The best thing to say about the Chiefs is they advanced. The passing game is still too two-dimensional, with Rashee Rice and Travis Kelce accounting for 15 of 23 catches and 201 of 262 passing yards. And the Chiefs only went 2 of 6 in the red zone. But their defense shut down the Dolphins, and a 19-point win in the extreme cold is always a positive result.