NFC Notes: Mike McCarthy, Odell Beckham, Cowboys, Giants, Packers, Aaron Rodgers

Cowboys

• According to PFF’s Doug Kyed, the Cowboys were the new favorite team to land WR Odell Beckham Jr. when he polled sources from other teams. Dallas has publicly thrown its hat in the ring in recent days, too. 
• However, Kyed points out if Beckham wants a long-term deal, Dallas might not be in the best position to give him one. 
• Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliott on Beckham: “We know the type of player Odell is. We know how explosive he can be and what he can be for this offense. It’d be great to get him down here in Dallas. Just another weapon in our repertoire. …We want him. We want OBJ.” (Ed Werder)
• Cowboys HC Mike McCarthy said the team will not open the 21-day practice window for WR James Washington (foot) due to changing practice schedules. (Calvin Watkins)

Giants

Packers

Packers QB Aaron Rodgers thinks that Cowboys HC Mike McCarthy should have a “really positive” reception from Green Bay’s fans in Week 10’s game at Lambeau Field. 

“Really positive, I think. I hope that the fans show a lot of gratitude and appreciation for his 13 seasons and a championship and a lot of great memories over the years. He’s got a street named for him. That’s pretty special. But I hope that the fans give him the reception he deserves,” said Rodgers, via Matt Schneidman of The Athletic.

When reflecting on when he took over the starting role from Brett Favre back in 2008, Rodgers said that McCarthy always kept him in the loop of their plans and he always appreciated the coach’s honesty. 

“I think the thing I appreciated most about him during that time was the honesty. We had a lot of conversations daily about what was going on, where he was at, what he was thinking, and there’s definitely a part of me that was resigned to the possibility that Brett would just kind of waltz back in and be the guy and that was gonna kind of be that. And all I said during it was keep me in the loop and let me know what you guys are thinking. Obviously whatever you guys end up deciding is what’s gonna go, but I’d appreciate hearing from you guys first and not the media. Mike was great about that, just keeping me in the loop at all times with everything that was going on. A lot of stuff behind the scenes that’s actually never been talked about or released, things that we laugh about between the two of us. Definitely I think we leaned on each other during that time because it was strange for all of us. But I do appreciate the honesty,” said Rodgers. 

As for McCarthy’s final year with the Packers in 2018, Rodgers recalled them finishing 7-9 in 2017 after he suffered an injury and then struggling at the start of the next season. 

“It was a tough season, 2018, for sure. We weren’t a great football team and there were a lot of things that kind of happened that year that inhibited us from winning more football games, and it was kind of on the back of 2017, unfortunately, when we started off really hot. Felt like we had a really good team coming off of ’16, where we just kind of got hot. Maybe weren’t the best football team in the league, but just kind of got hot and made a run and then ’17, felt like we were a little better football team. Then I got hurt and obviously we struggled. I think we finished 7-9 that year or something, and then just couldn’t start off the next year. We weren’t real good, won a couple close games and then kind of slumped midseason and this is kind of what you deal with when you age out in the league,” said Rodgers.