One Viking Clearly Got Under Cowboys Skin
For a second straight game, Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy lit up an inferior defense, prompting newfound enthusiasm that the purple team may have “its guy” for the future. And for a day, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones tended to agree.
It’s rare for Jones to hand out compliments in defeat, but McCarthy’s poise and efficiency forced the issue, turning a normal postgame quote into a tell about Dallas’ bigger problem.
Jones, never shy about speaking to the media, has found a pattern for his team as of late: the opposing quarterback always seems to carve up Dallas.
Jerry Jones Sounded Impressed with J.J. McCarthy
Jones backhandedly hands out compliments.
Jones on McCarthy
Unhappy with his defense’s performance, Jones told 105.3 The Fan this week, “We let their quarterback have a big day on us. That wasn’t the plan. We could have used more pressure, without question, at different times. The result was that we let him make some pretty significant plays out there.”
“Plus, he played pretty well. It seems like we’re always saying that about these opposing quarterbacks. Some of them hadn’t played as well, but when they play us, they play better. I think that’s telling, too.”
McCarthy notably did not play well during most of his first six career starts, but has turned the corner in the last two weeks.
“Candidly, just to be very up front about it. I think if we could have gotten this defense in better shape earlier, that we could be sitting here with the kind of wins that would’ve not had us in this tight spot,” Jones added.
“Bottom line, I’d say we’ve been pretty off-balance because of the way our defense has presented and the issues regarding our defense, which I didn’t expect.”
McCarthy pissed off the Cowboys, which apparently is easy for quarterbacks to do in 2025.
The Performance
McCarthy sliced and diced the Cowboys, which, according to Jones, is what everybody does. Vikings fans welcomed the production with open arms, desperately wanting to see McCarthy take the plunge as a long-time franchise quarterback. On Sunday night — and the week before against the Cowboys’ foe, the Commanders — McCarthy answered the call.
He moved the sticks, stayed on schedule, and stacked the most complete statistical day of his young career — 250 yards on just 15 completions, two passing touchdowns, and another one with his legs. The Vikings left Dallas with an eight-point win, and McCarthy looked like he belonged the entire way.
The numbers didn’t flinch. McCarthy finished with an 85.6 QBR, which lives in elite territory, and ranked sixth league-wide in EPA+CPOE for Week 15. He was also sixth the week before against Washington.
Dallas Defensive Tribulations
The Cowboys are in an utter defensive rut. They rank 30th in EPA/Play, 30th per DVOA, 29th in yards allowed, and 31st in points allowed.
And the team actually has high-profile names in the mix, including Quinnen Williams, Kenny Clark, Trevon Diggs (when healthy), Jadeveon Clowney, Daron Bland, and rookie Shavon Revel Jr. It’s just that big names alone don’t amount to much, and defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus could be on the hot seat.
It also hurt Dallas, you know, trading the best defensive player in football, Micah Parsons, to the Green Bay Packers four months ago. Most teams can’t get away with offloading a future Hall of Famer and expecting to flourish in the short term.
More from Jerry Jones
Jones also said about his defense, “We’ve had three different defensive coordinators in three years. And so while change creates a freshness, or new ideas, you also pay the price of giving up continuity.”
“When you have a world like we have, where we sign players for long-term agreements — long term being three, four, five years in a row — and you change the way they’re coached or the philosophy of how they go play a certain position, then you see what you get into.”
Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer on the defense: “The biggest thing for us is we got to affect the quarterback. There’s different ways to do it. You guys have seen our ability to do it with our defensive line in four-man rushes. We have the five-man line. But at the end of the day, we just didn’t get home. Were there enough blitzes? Eh, maybe, maybe not. But certainly didn’t affect the guy.”
McCarthy can already be considered a nuisance for Dallas, a title that will bode well for the future if McCarthy finds NFL staying power.
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