National Football League

Mike McCarthy on new scheme: 'We'll build this thing around' Dak Prescott

Updated Mar. 1, 2023 5:31 p.m. ET

INDIANAPOLIS — Something about Dak Prescott looked off last season, and not just because of the injured thumb that cost him five games. Even when he was healthy there were too many missed opportunities and way too many interceptions.

Mike McCarthy didn't say that's why he fired offensive coordinator Kellen Moore and decided to take over the offensive playcalling himself for next season, but he clearly believed it was time for Prescott to have a "new voice" in his ear. Because despite Prescott's career-high and NFL-worst 15 interceptions in just 12 games last year, McCarthy's offense will still revolve around his franchise quarterback.

And he said the Cowboys still believe in Prescott as much as they ever did.

"We obviously as an organization, myself included, feel very strongly about him as our future," McCarthy said. "We will definitely build this thing around him."

The Cowboys head coach was not surprisingly vague about how he'll do that, as he spoke at the NFL scouting combine on Wednesday and addressed the coaching change for the first time. He promised "We're not looking to have wholesale changes" in the Cowboys offense and praised Moore — now the Chargers' offensive coordinator — for running the scheme the way McCarthy wanted it to be run.

Still, the Cowboys coach estimated that about "30-35 percent" of the scheme and playcalls will change — mostly because he believes that change, every few years, is good.

"I think every three, four, five years into your offense you need to make pretty good, not significant, changes and adjustments in tendencies and things like that," McCarthy said. "I just felt this was a good time to make that change. We played really good offense the last three years. I feel like we're in the arena of how we want to play. So it'll really just be building off of that."

There is no doubt that the Cowboys' offense was good in Moore's three seasons calling it. After ranking 14th in his first season in 2020, they vaulted to No. 1 in the NFL in 2021, averaging 407 yards and 31.2 points per game.

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But last year was a step back, mostly because of the five games Prescott missed with an injured right thumb. The Cowboys ranked 11th in offense, averaging 354.9 yards and 27.4 points — though those numbers jumped to 372.8 and 30 in Prescott's 12 starts.

Prescott, though, became surprisingly interception prone — particularly late in the season. His 15 interceptions tied Houston's Davis Mills for the worst in the league, though Prescott played in three fewer games. And the problem got worse down the stretch as he threw 11 interceptions in the final seven games of the season, plus two more in the 19-12 playoff loss in San Francisco in the divisional round.

When McCarthy sat down after the season with Jerry and Steven Jones, they clearly thought Prescott had underperformed, and that a change like this could help him.

"When you're around smart people you get to a certain level with somebody and change can be really good," Cowboys VP Stephen Jones told reporters this week. "I'll let Dak speak to whether he needs it or not. We think it can be a positive for him."

"I think No. 1 we all can use a new voice," McCarthy added. "We all can use a sense of motivation and challenge. This is a new challenge for him."

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McCarthy said he spoke with Prescott about the new plan and said, "he's very excited about it." He told Prescott that a lot of what he's done will stay the same, including the overall concept of the offense and the terminology. McCarthy also said he was happy with the Cowboys' near-50-50 run-pass balance, too.

But even though McCarthy said "I had all the input I wanted the last three years," some things will still change now that he's got the play sheet. Asked what those changes will look like on the field, McCarthy said "I don't know. I guess we'll wait and see."

"Once again, we're not throwing everything away," he said. "We have a lot of good to build off of. The concepts have been established. It's really just our responsibility to make sure that we're clean and precise in the direction that we're going."

"I've got complete faith in Mike," Jones added. "He's won a Super Bowl calling plays and he's been to championship games calling plays and he knows exactly what it takes. In his mind, we can be better and take the next step on offense. Not that Kellen and his staff didn't do a great job. We've had a good offense for the last two years.

"But obviously we've got to take the next step to get to the next level."

Ralph Vacchiano is the NFC East reporter for FOX Sports, covering the Washington Commanders, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. He spent the previous six years covering the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that, 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.

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