NFC Notes: Mike McCarthy, Cowboys, Eagles, Giants

Despite there being reports he could lose his job, Cowboys HC Mike McCarthy appeared on The Rich Eisen Show on Tuesday to reaffirm that he isn’t worried about the team moving on from him.

“I never once felt that I was not going to be the head coach moving forward and, frankly, I’ve been at this long enough that’s all I’m focused on,” McCarthy said, via the Dallas Morning News. “I’m the leader of this football team, and I’m about winning, and that’s all I’ve ever focused on, and that’s all I ever will focus on. Are these narratives unusual? Absolutely. I’ve never dealt with anything like this. Do I wish I didn’t have to come on here and answer questions about it? Yeah, no doubt about it. I wish we were talking about something else, but it’s part of our landscape. We talked about it. We talked about Dan’s situation, definitely, and about Sean Payton‘s narrative also. The gist of the conversation is you, and I are in this back-to-back, it’s a partnership and just focus on what we need to do moving forward. He made some personal comments about how he feels about it, but that’s really for him and I. I’m very, very comfortable with our relationship and our dialogue. At the end of the day, we both want the same thing, and it’s to win a world championship. The narratives are unusual, but at the end of the day, you’ve got to trust the relationships and the communications and the connections you have in our leadership group.”

McCarthy also added that he is very pleased to have DC Dan Quinn back for another season when it seemed likely he would depart for a head coaching position with another franchise.

“Dan Quinn being here was very important to me and our organization,” McCarthy said. “Dan and I had visited long before he ever took a head coach interview, frankly long before the playoffs even started about how happy he is here. Obviously, when he took the interview and this narrative broke out, in a reflection of the relationship that Dan and I do have, he just said ‘Hey, man. I’m not comfortable with this narrative. If you really feel like I need to take one of these jobs, just be honest.’ And we kind of laughed about it and I just said ‘Dan, 10-12 years ago, I’d tell you to please get the hell out of here, I don’t want to deal with this.’ But the reality of it is I’m about winning, he’s about winning and the best thing for the Cowboys is for Dan Quinn to be here.”