- The Washington Times - Tuesday, January 10, 2023

Dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy isn’t on the hot seat — not even if his team loses to Tampa Bay on Monday night.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said during a radio appearance on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas that the result of Dallas’ wild-card round game against Tom Brady’s Buccaneers on Monday won’t cost McCarthy his job.

“No. I don’t even want to … No,” Jones said. “That’s it. I don’t need to go into all the pluses or minuses. I’ve got a lot more to evaluate Mike McCarthy on than this playoff game.”

Dallas was the No. 3 seed in the NFC postseason last year and lost at home in the wild-card round to San Francisco.

Jones also said he has “confidence” in McCarthy, in his third season with the Cowboys. Dallas ended its season on a sour note with a 26-6 loss to Washington in Week 18. 

“I can’t tell you how much confidence I’ve got in Mike and our coaching staff of being on top of where we are with this team right now,” Jones said. “They’ve got every nuance. They understand every frailty that we might have or we might have shown Sunday [against Washington]. They’ve got everything in their grasp and in their understanding, and I have complete confidence in this coaching staff.”

No. 5 Dallas is on the road in the wild-card round after losing out on the NFC East division crown to the Philadelphia Eagles. Tampa Bay is the No. 4 seed despite going 8-9 in the regular season because the Buccaneers won the NFC South title. 

In his career, Brady is 7-0 against the Cowboys, including a win over Dallas in the 2022 season opener.

• Jacob Calvin Meyer can be reached at jmeyer@washingtontimes.com.

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