Mike McCarthy turned 61 on Sunday. cowboys lost 34-6 Philadelphia Eagles Dallas’ head coach wasn’t allowed to have many birthday celebrations.

Times are tough at The Star right now. There are cowboys Lost four matches in a row for the first time since 2020McCarthy’s first in Dallas. And given how lopsided the defeats were, a major comeback seems unlikely.

“I enjoy the combat arena and being in those situations because these are the years you remember,” McCarthy said Monday. “But it’s time to change that. We’ve been in that mode too much for a few weeks now. But this is a huge opportunity for us. Nobody believes we can do it.” “I think that makes it sweeter, but we have to win a game.”

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There was more to McCarthy’s speech on Monday than just his poor performance on the field. Cowboys meet All-Pro pass rusher Micah Parsons About his comments after Sunday’s game.

When asked in the post-match locker room if McCarthy was in the final year of his contract, Parsons gave a headline-making response.

“As far as whether Mike will coach again next year, that’s above my pay grade,” Parsons said. “All coaching aside, Mike can leave and go wherever he wants, but I feel bad for guys like me Zack Martin and guys who might be in their senior year or are about to leave. Because I wanted to hold the cup for him. You want to win games and do great things with legends like that, who put in more time and effort than Mike McCarthy. These are the kind of men I feel a lot of sympathy for and hurt against.

The two men cleared the air. Parsons informed his coach that his words had been misunderstood and that “that was not his intention.”

“I never intended to throw Mike McCarthy under the bus,” Parsons said Monday on Bleacher Report “The Edge” podcast. “He’s one of the winningest coaches, he’s a Super Bowl champion. … I’ve always had a great relationship with Mike McCarthy and I’ve never even brought it into discussion.

“Not once did I want this quote to be a negative moment. “I just wanted this to be a positive light and shine a light on guys like Zack Martin who may or may not be a Cowboy next year.”

The way this season is going, there will likely be a lot of changes in the offseason. A team that won 12 matches in the last three seasons may not even reach half of that number this season. So what’s the message behind the scenes?

“Keep grinding,” Cowboys defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer said. “We went to the NFC Championship Game (in 2017) after losing our third quarterback (in Minnesota). So there’s still a lot of football left. Of course we need to play better. Defensively, we’ve been playing better the last few weeks. We just have to hold on.

The defense got a boost Sunday with the return of Parsons, who missed four games with a high ankle sprain. He had two sacks and a tackle for loss against the Eagles. The offense, on the other hand, will likely happen without the franchise QB Dak Prescott He is out for the remainder of the season due to a significant hamstring injury that may require surgery. Those who replaced him Cooper Rush And Trey Lance He didn’t look close to being the answer against the Eagles, collecting just 49 yards. That’s the lowest total in a Cowboys game since the season opener in 2001, when Quincy Carter finished with 34 passing yards and two interceptions. That Cowboys team finished the season 5-11. This band is heading for a similar final record.

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What is the message to crime?

“Stay the course,” offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer said. “Sometimes you think you’re looking for a way to motivate them, I’m trying to be honest with these guys. We can play more consistently than we have so far. Good things happened, but very bad things also happened. … There were grumpy faces there today, like all of us. But there is no solution in this league. This is a tough league for tough people. Being in this business as long as I have, growing up watching this business with my father as a child, if you turn a blind eye to this business or don’t like the hard times, you’re in the wrong business. There are so many parities. It is very difficult to win a match in this league.

“We have good players. We believe in all of these guys. We believe in what we’re trying to do. We really believe that if you keep working, it will turn around. You have to get a win. Then you win and there’s more confidence. And then one win turns into two wins.”

It’s so easy to second guess everything right now. Coaches will be positive. They have no other choice. But there’s half a season left. And the Cowboys are likely to be underdogs in six of their last eight games.

“We have a great opportunity to get into a negative situation as a group of guys to do something that people didn’t think we could do,” McCarthy said. “I’ve been there before. I am excited. Most of the time it comes out the other side and that’s what I focus on.”

(Photo of Micah Parsons and Jalen Hurts by Matthew Pearce / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)