Cowboys: Mike McCarthy should follow Kellen Moore's footsteps in key area
Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy is aiming to make a statement in his fourth year with America's Team. This time, it will be him putting together the play-call sheet and calling it on Sundays. When Dak Prescott hears the play call on his helmet, it will be McCarthy's Pittsburgh accent in his ear. Naturally, […]
Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy is aiming to make a statement in his fourth year with America's Team. This time, it will be him putting together the play-call sheet and calling it on Sundays. When Dak Prescott hears the play call on his helmet, it will be McCarthy's Pittsburgh accent in his ear.
Naturally, McCarthy can't hide his enthusiasm. Even back in March he said this is the "most fun I've had since I've been in Dallas.” It's understandable as he'll get to channel his inner competitor on gamedays.
And make no mistake about it, he's got credentials. Although it didn't end on a high note (successful coaching reigns rarely do), McCarthy was the man behind many successful Green Bay Packers offenses in the past. Heck, he won the Super Bowl with one of the best offenses in the game.
His taking over former offensive coordinator Kellen Moore will come with some good and some bad. On one hand, Moore was indeed doing a good job running the offense as it consistently finished as one of the most efficient units in the NFL. However, change is good in a quickly-evolving league and it'll be refreshing to see a different Cowboys offense on the field.
That being said, there's one major area where McCarthy will have to do his very best impersonating Kellen Moore in 2023: Red Zone Offense.
Say what you will want about Moore but he put on a clinic last season inside the opponents' 20-yard line. In fact, the Cowboys led the entire league in red zone touchdown percentage with 71.4% of their trips counting for six, per RBSDM.com.
Last year, the Cowboys used all sorts of personnel near the endzone to get the football across the plane. Whether it was your usual 11-personnel shotgun look or groupings with three (even four!) tight ends on the field, Moore consistently found ways to convert key drives into touchdowns.
Perhaps that will incline the renewed coaching staff to keep those original packages featuring many tight ends. An H-back type player like undrafted rookie fullback Hunter Luepke certainly won't hurt their efforts.
Moore's offense ranked sixth in 2021, by the way.
The good news is McCarthy was very successful in the red zone as head coach of the Packers, too. Between 2006 and 2018, his Packers ranked fourth in the NFL in red zone touchdown percentage. Over that span, they also produced the third-most trips to the red zone.
Pairing his philosophy with Moore's in such scenarios could prove very fruitful.
Last week, I dove deep into five questions remaining around his "new" offense. In that article, I dove deep into the "how" of things and how the unit could look different with him at the wheel. You can check that out below.
Cowboys: 5 remaining questions about new ‘Texas Coast’ offense
The Dallas Cowboys offense is allegedly changing in just a few ways. But we still have important questions about how Mike McCarthy will run things.
Featured image via Danielle Parhizkaran/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK
