You're listening to the Downbeat on ninety seven to one The Freak No see all
right, Metroplex. The big news of the day, of course, that
the Cowboys announced last night that they are retaining Mike McCarthy for the final year
of his five year contract after that disappointing playoff loss. We've let you weigh
in. We've given our opinions, but I think we should go to someone
with a little bit of a better background in this. Please welcome on the
ninety seven one the Freak hot Line, making his Freak debut. You know
him, you love him. Former Dallas Cowboys head coach, the Great Dave
Campo. WHOA, hello, coach? How you doing? I'm doing great,
guys, And I don't know about your intro though they loved me as
an assistant coach, but we're real excited about my head coaching career. Well,
I'll say that, you know fair again. I was probably about ten
or twelve years old when that was all going down. But what do you
think of the news that came down last night? You know, when I
booked you for the show, they hadn't quite announced what they were going to
do. What are your thoughts on the cow was keeping McCarthy for another year.
Well, you know, it doesn't surprise me. This is the first
time Jerry really had to deal with a situation where you know, you've got
a coach that has really done a don good job there when you look at
the overall operation, you know, twelve and five, twelve and five,
twelve and five, and I know that the playoffs are what's the most important.
But there's no question that he had to make a difficult decision there.
You know, I do a sports radio here in Jacksonville and really close with
the Jaguars, and they have a similar situation where they got rid of their
defensive staff and Doug Peterson down here felt that he probably can get off his
fixed but he needed to retool the defense. In Dallas, I think they
feel that McCarthy's done a good job with the offense, that he can fix
what the problems are there, and we'll probably get another job and they'll retool
the defense. So I think it's very similar Coach Campo here. Do you
think it's because we all struggle with this, right, like we're all passionate.
Right when the game ends and the Cowboys have a surprising loss to the
Packers and it goes terribly. But then you take a deep breath and you
say, three straight twelve win seasons. I'man your guy who's coaching the league
for three years, and you know twelve win seasons would have been nice.
But I mean, is it even crazy to consider firing or screaming fire this
man when he has had success, albeit just regular season success. Yeah?
I agree there, You know, I don't think there's any It's pretty darn
hard to fire a guy that's been that successful with the team because obviously they've
had some years where it's been a struggle and it's consistent, you know,
even with Jason there. You know, Jason had a lot of time there.
But you know, one year it was eight and eight, the next
year it was eleven and five, and it was eight and eight again.
You know, McCarthy has done it for three straight years, and there's no
reason why he can't do that again. They just have to feel find a
way to get in over the hump. One of the problems that I've always
felt about Dallas, and you know, it's the good and the bad.
When you look at Dallas, a Dallas guy can do say, go see
whatever he wants. There's so much adulation with the Cowboys all over the world.
You go to Japan, see the Star, they all know that's the
Dallas Cowboys. So accountability sometimes is very difficult to get when you're in that
situation because all you hear are positive, positive, positive, and there's something
has to change in the culture for them to go all the way. Coach
Campbell, let me ask you this is it as long as you've been,
you know, connected with this league, a head coach in this league is
there You've probably seen this before. But is it probable that what happened on
Sunday is a team exceeded everybody's expectations, likely played above their heads, maybe
had a little bit better of a game plan, and the team that was
expected to win all facets of their game, they just didn't show up.
From coaching to offense, to defense to special teams. They just had a
bad day. And if you played this game nine more times, the Cowboys
win the majority of those. I don't think there's any question that team showed
up with a little bit more urgency. And you know, the one thing
about Green Bay, you know, I think you underestimate sometimes what a rookie
quarterback could do. Especially that young man. You know, he had a
fantastic game, and the NFL is like that, you know, what have
you done for me lately? When you try to compare. For example,
you know, if you play a team early in the season and then you
play them the second time, you expect it to be the same. But
it normally because there's so much parody in the league. You know, those
guys on that other team get paid the same way your guys do. So
if you don't show up one hund focused and what I saw, and again,
guys, this is my opinion. I watched the game on TV.
I wasn't in the locker room, I wasn't in practice all week, all
that kind of stuff. But when you look at Lamb the way he came
out, there was just he was out of sorts. And I don't know
what the reason for it is, but it just seemed like they underestimated green
Bay and green Bay came in with the idea that we're we're on all cylinders
now and we're going to keep it going. And to follow up on that,
where does the majority of the responsibility fall on the Dallas Cowboys for the
way they showed up in that game. I think on the coaching staff for
sure, And you know, I look at it from the standpoint that it's
not just the head coach. I think the head coach's message has to be
consistent all year. You know, it doesn't do any good to go in
and you know if they have a bad day to rip them and do all
this stuff. If that's not who you are. You have to be consistent
in your message, and your message has to be that it doesn't matter what
you did last week, it's what you do this week. But the assistant
coaches now, they're responsible for their units, and I don't think people give
the assistant coaches enough credit for what they do. You know, the head
coach a lot of times is a CEO. It's a little bit different with
McCarthy because he calls the plays and he usually does a pretty good job doing
that. But the assistant coach in their unit knows their unit and they have
to know the pulse of that group going into every ballgame. And when something
like that happens, like t happened in that ball game, you know,
you have to look at yourself and you have to say, you know,
what did I do as a coach, What did I do to make sure
these guys understood the gravity of this game and how important it is? Coach
Campo. So you mentioned culture a few minutes ago, and that's something that
gets screamed around this area a lot. Is this team can't win with Jerry
Jones. Obviously they did win with Jerry Jones, but is a very very
long time ago. But you've been around enough other franchises in the game forever.
What do you think about that? Do you think the culture starts at
the top and do you think Jerry Jones specifically does anything or has created a
culture that does inhibit or prevent this team from winning big games or is that
just something that people scream out loud when things don't go this team's way.
Well, I think Jerry Jones is a different guy in Hell than he was
when I was there. You know, when I was there, Jerry was
you know, first of all, he's a very very confident guy, and
that's why everything he just turns the gold. And you know, the owners
are in a situation where you know they want results, and you know,
if a guy is as active as Jerry is, you know, really being
his GM, you know he's going to have a factor in there, and
you know he's going to be talking to guys, and sometimes that can override
the head coach's ability to be the guy that's the king and the rootle.
But I think he's I really believe that he really understands that the coach has
got to be the focal point. And even though Jerry's out front and the
media and all that kind of stuff, I don't think that really affects the
team anymore. I think it did at one time, but now I think
he's in a position where he lets talk about when I was there, he
never mess with the coaching part of it. It was all personnel. And
I think the personnel in there with Will McClay and is it they've got in
here for the scouting department, they've done a great job. So I think
his influence negatively is a lot less now than it would have been when he
first got in. Man, that's interesting. I sort of still on Jerry.
I wanted to ask you, so, you were the head coach for
three seasons. They're all five and eleven seasons. I know you'd certainly love
that number to be better, but how does it feel? And I want
to ask, I guess I'm considering McCarthy this week, But how did it
feel for you? And the weight of not as many wins as you like,
not the playoff appearances you're hoping for, but the weight of Jerry Jones
and that family, and you start to feel the clock might be ticking on
your tenure. You know, how does that feel? And does it feel
different than with other franchises. Oh, it weighs on you, There's no
question about it. Because one thing about coaching, I know you guys have
been around the game long enough to know that when I took the job,
I can give you an example. When I took the job, I knew
we were kind of in a transition because we'd lost the triplets, and you
know we were we were struggling at quarterback. But the competitiveness of coach I
felt I could get the job done no matter what. And when you get
into the situation where you can kind of see it flipping away, it wears
on you a little bit. But the whole thing about coaching and and athletics
in general is, you know, it's not when you get knocked down,
it's how you get up. And so every week you you re energize yourself
to get ready for that next ball game. And I think the one thing,
you know, Dak Prescott made the comment afterwards after the ball game that
you know, the super Bowl is the goal. And he made the comment
especially around here, you know, because the expectations of Dallas, from the
owner to the fans to the state of Texas is so big that there's a
lot of pressure and you know, how you handle that is really important.
And lastly, on Jerry, I guess that's all incredible, coach, and
we're happy to have you on. This was a long time ago, so
I might asking how how did you get fired? Did Jerry Jones call you
to his office? Is there a phone call? Like? Uh, what
does that feet? What does that look like? Well, to be honest
with you, had my office cleaned out before he called me. Oh no,
the engine running in the car. Yeah no. Listen, my last
time there was to talk to the team and and go to uh to a
press conference. But uh, he called me over and let me just tell
you about something about Jerry Jones. You know, I've been through him twice
and Jerry Jones loves the Dallas Cowboys and he he really loves coaches to be
perfectly honest with you. Uh, I think that there were a few emotional
moments when he talked to me in his office with him and myself, and
let me just say this, he will take some heat because you know he
actually when he let me go, he's the one that brought me back,
you know, five years later as a defensive backfield coach, and so the
loyalty part with him is definitely there. One of the reasons that we struggled
at the end of when I got in was he let his loyalty with some
of the players last too long. So to me, it was called over
there. We talked for a while and he made it very clear that he
was as much of the problem as I was, and just from a business
standpoint, he had to make that decision. This is a former Cowboys head
coach, Dave Campo. So the report this morning, Dave, is that
the Cowboys aren't expecting dan Quinn to return as defensive coordinator if he has not
got a head coaching job. Can you kind of walk us through what the
interviewing process is, what dan Quinn's been going through, because he's interviewed for
four or five openings and he's also in this weird world where again forty eight
points were put on him, So he's got a lot where you know,
if that game's twenty one sixteen, I don't think anyone around here is calling
for you know, dan Quinn's head or anything. But you see how bad
that game got and how bad the defense looked in that game. It's kind
of a weird dynamic that he's dealing with. I'll go back to this place,
or but I'm trying to interview for other jobs, but my defense looked
bad. Like what all has dan Quinn gone through in the last week.
Well, first of all, if they want him back, and I'm talking
about the Cowboys, they're not going to let let him go lateral move.
You know, they have to. They have to let your He's under contract,
so that's not going to happen. So you're really looking at just the
head coaching scenario. And and we always tell our guys, as a coach,
you know, uh, you know, you have to own whatever happened.
Then obviously, at the end of a year, you're everybody on that
ball club, including the players, are auditioning. They're auditioning to be on
the team next year or on another team if they don't make the team next
year. So that goes for the coaches as well, and that was not
a real good audition for whatever he's going to do next. But at the
same time, when you look at guys and whether you're going to hire him
or not, I'm hopeful, be honest with you that it's the full body
of work, and the full body of work with the defense in Dallas has
been pretty darn good with dan Quinn. So as far as coming back,
I don't think he would have a problem coming back because I think he has
a good enough players there that after one bad game, that's not going to
destroy his feelings that he can make this defense into something special. Coach,
you said good players. I mean, I'm in the camp that I think
Dak is a good player. But there's something going on in the playoffs with
the slow starts offensively, you know, let the league in touchdown passes.
Undeniable, you know, Undeniable a really good player. He may be a
top five MVP candidate, but something is going on. His postseason track record
involves some very pre curious, precarious slow starts and has some bad body language
with him and Ceedee Lamb in the first half. How do you move forward
with Dak Prescott? Do you consider moving on? I mean, there's a
lot of things you got to evaluate. What are your thoughts on that.
There's a lot to unpack there. Well, first of all, I don't
think they're going to move on problem number one contractually, but number two,
Uh, you know, again, it's the full body of work that you're
looking at. You know, who do you get you know, anytime,
if you're going to retool with the draft, you know that's a craft shoot,
especially with first round quarterbacks if you look over the years. Uh,
you know, that's a that's a difficult decision to make. Uh. But
at the same time, I think it's up to Dak Prescott to figure that.
Obviously, like I said earlier, there was something with the with the
approach that everybody took where he and Ceedee Lamb were not on the same page.
I don't know what that is. But to me, you know,
Dak has to kind of look at himself as well and you know, try
to figure out, you know, just what happened. And this this is
a little bit of a trend unfortunately, because you know, I was here
in Jacksonville in the press box when Dallas played Jacksonville last year, and you
know, Dak throws an interception at the end of the game and and uh,
the guy runs it in for a touchdown and Jacksonville wins. So there's
a little bit of a trend there that in big moments, things are not
happening. And let me make it really clear, I love Dak as a
leader. I was, you know, doing some media in Dallas when he
was assigned when he first was drafted. Uh, and and I was around
him, and I think he's got the tools, but you know, not
always those tools get sharpened the way it needs to be. And I think
he really has to look within himself there. I think there's just something that's
keeping this team from from winning the big ones. Do you I don't want
any names or anything, but are there players that you can think of?
Or is it true that some players that are unquestionably very good players statistically with
the eyeball test, very good players that do wilt or shrink under the pressure
of playoff football versus the regular season. Well, I think that's that's part
of human nature. Guys. I mean, you know, there are some
guys that were built that were born ready. There's some guys that, you
know, make themselves ready, and there's some guys never get ready. So
you know, when you look at some guys, I mean, I don't
know that you can do anything about that. The only person that can do
anything about that is the person he has to make himself ready, you know,
not you know, Wilton made the situations. So I guess if you
asked me about Pak Prescott, if I was there and looking at him,
I would I would be somewhat concerned that there's a trend there. But at
the same time, I would look at his overall body of work and his
talent, and I would try to get him to see within himself whatever it
is, whether he needs a a person that counsels him every day or whatever,
I would try to make it work. To be honest with you,
Coach Campo, one more question here before we let you go. So they're
obviously keeping the band together. Dak's not going anywhere. McCarthy's in place at
least through the next year. Looking at this team and the way it has
gone in the playoffs for the last three years, what would you do What
do you see deficiency wise that could start correcting those issues, whether it be
personnel, defensive schemes, improving the running game, maybe some assistant coaching changes
or improvements. What do you see that you would do, maybe a line
item list of things that would be priorities for you going into next season that
you would do to ensure that this isn't a one and done team in the
playoffs next year. Well, at number one, I think they've got all
the firepower that they need, you know, I think they'll receive a core,
including that new tight end that I love Ferguson. You know, They've
got the firepower there to win. I think their offensive line is pretty solid.
All of those things are positive. On offense, they to me,
you know when you look at that, I've watched them in probably five games
this year on TV, and I honestly felt that offensively they had enough to
go all away. And again, it might be the quarterback situation. I
don't know that I'm not there. I think, if anything, I might
have running back that you know, can kind of, you know, add
something to that backfield. You know, when they lost Zeke, you know,
I think that was a little bit of a factor because they had two
guys that could kind of Pollard could come in as a backup and offer something
that Zeke didn't and vice versa. On defense. The only thing I first
of all, they got too small in my opinion. You know when they
lost the linebacker fifty five, Yeah, that hurtd in because they got small.
And I'm not a big proponent of having five or six dbs on the
field when you've got a team that you know has a chance to run the
football like Green Bay did. So that's something that I would look at.
The Other thing I would look at is one of the things that Dan Quinn
has always been And I like Dan. I think he's an outstanding coach and
a really good person. I love the guy. But they played the run
rushing the quarterback, you know, in other words, that they're going to
rush the quarterback and play the run off of that, And sometimes that gives
us some scenes in there because guys are are accelerating up the field. And
if you look at the way green Bay attacked them this week, take a
look at the end zone copy and see how wide the lineman offensive linemen were
lined up. They lined up really wide, opening up inside gaps, and
they don't have guys that play off of blocks. They have guys that are
attacking the line of scrimmage and that sometimes opens up holes for the running game
inside. So to me, I think it's a little bit of scheme.
I think if they had, you know, maybe one more run stocker inside
and they've got to stop the run, and they didn't do that very well
this year, and I think it's a combination of those things. Guys.
Coach Campo, we appreciate your time this morning. You're insight. Thank you
so much, and we'll be seeing you around the AAC. I appreciate it.
Guys. Thanks for having me on and go Cowboys. I'm a Cowboys
fan. Awesome stuff, coach, awesome stuff, but they do it all
right. Thanks. Great to hear from you. Rock on man. Hell
yeah, okay, thanks guys. See there he goes Coach Campo. I
love this man. You know what that was great? Yes, boned by
Jerry was the one picking the groceries at that time. Give Dave Campo this
roster, well boyd all right, okay, boys have messed up big time.
I hired Dave coach awesome. Come our next thingsh morning news. Yes,
we're going to answer a couple of questions Number one, What does it
feel like to be trapped in an airplane toilet for an entire flight? And
is pat saying ajack mailing it in Yes,