Cowboys 34, Jaguars 40
MIKE McCARTHY: Questions, please.
Q. Can you start with what you saw on the pick six at the end, what the play call was, and how it developed?
MIKE McCARTHY: Yeah, that's always a conversion play and scramble. You know, unlucky bounce for us; hell of a play by them.
Q. What's your frustration level given you had a 17-point lead?
MIKE McCARTHY: I mean, hey, we knew coming in here they were playing extremely well. We identified it all week. I thought the players had a good week of preparation.
You know, that's a talented team. I think Doug does an excellent job. But I mean, the numbers and the things that we didn't do so well, but it was a knock-down -- you could just feel the game, the way it was going, particularly when we kicked the two field goals. We just needed to keep getting touchdowns. We had a number of injuries on defense. I really felt our young guys did a hell of a job stepping in there.
We had a lot of guys going in and out.
Yeah, disappointed. I mean, as I told them in the locker room. Look, this game and Green Bay, you lose two overtime games, but we have put a tremendous amount of into game situations in this phase and this situation, and I'm just a huge believer you just got to keep working, stay after it.
They know the investment they made really the last two years. My first year, that clearly was something that we need to improve on.
So I'm disappointed, but in the same breath, we got a crazy schedule here. Not crazy, we got a different schedule we're dealing with, so we'll take a look at it here on the busses and the planes, and when we touch down we got to turn the page.
Q. Mike, can you take me through that thought process when you threw deep to Noah Brown and ended up stopping the clock and they ended up having to use a timeout?
MIKE McCARTHY: Well, they had a time out there, so your decision there is offensively play conservative and run the ball to take the time off, or you try to end the game.
It's a pretty simple decision. When it converts Ertz it's a great call; when it doesn't, you get criticized for it.
Q. How concerned are you with the secondary right now?
MIKE McCARTHY: Well, I wouldn't say I'm concerned. I'm more concerned with the health of our team. We have had a rough stretch here the last three games. We have lost a number of starters, but our guys are jumping in there. The things I pay close attention to is the communication and the interaction, and Dan was able to still have enough calls to stay competitive.
We were in a bunch of situational calls in the fourth quarter and so forth, and you don't have your young guys in there on that, so that show where they were in their development.
Let's be honest, we've hit a little bit of an injury cycle here. This is our third game on the road, and hopefully this is -- we come out of this and see when we get back.
And then obviously we got one here on Saturday coming up quickly.
Q. You guys won't be getting any help at corner back. Where do you guys go from here at that outside corner?
MIKE McCARTHY: I mean, I'm not really there right now. To be honest with you, my next conversation will be in the training room, see how we came out of this game.
Q. Coach, was there any overlooking this Jaguars team? You got some big ones coming up; playing for your division.
MIKE McCARTHY: Not at all. I think -- you know, this is my 29th year in this league. You don't overlook any game. When we have conversations about don't take the cheese it's really for the younger players and just to stay focused based on the questions they have to answer that will be different than they normally answer.
We spend a lot of time on the film and game planning. Like I said, I thought we had a good week of practice. Uncommon opponent; these guys haven't played against each other before, so I thought on the guys put the time in. It was a hell of a football game and we came out on the wrong side.
Q. Mike, you said before that even though you're still chasing Philly you controlled your own destiny in a lot of ways because you knew what was ahead of you. Does that take that out of your hands now?
MIKE McCARTHY: See, David, I'm not wired that way, because I expect to win every day. That's just something I was -- that's the way I was as a kid, too, so I'm just on to the next one.
I've been at this long enough to know that at the end the 17 games it sorts itself out. I've been the one seed and knocked on my ass and won it from the fifth seed, so I'm not -- you know, like I said, we're not supposed talk about that until we get to 11 wins and we're not there yet.
We just got to keep our head down and keep working, and we'll react properly to this. It's a very accountable locker room. I love this bunch. I mean, they do it the right way. We'll just stay after it, and we'll definitely come out of this.
Q. The run defense took a step back today. Is that just the injury showing up, or do you think that is something else?
MIKE McCARTHY: I just think obviously some contain challenges, so that will obviously be a focus, and obviously we have to be on top of this as we get ready for the next one. Yeah, the run defense wasn't what it needed to be today.
Q. (Regarding Dax and interceptions.)
MIKE McCARTHY: Yeah, you know, I think the thing is, you know, you have in-the-pocket and you have out-of-the-pocket quarterback play. You know, it goes this way sometimes. I mean, I don't know if he could have played much better in the first half.
Actually, you take away two throws and that's -- and they all count, so I'm not that kind of guy that doesn't count them all -- but I thought he played at a really high level today.
But the two interceptions definitely factored in the points for Jacksonville. We'll just keep working and keep plugging. I'm not going to sit here and just keep diving into it. I get the reason for the question, all that, but he's trying to do it the right way. That's for sure.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports