So I'm surprisingly not all that upset. I like the fact that we brought it to within 3 with plenty of time to give the team a chance to win when they could have packed it in. Moral victory? Maybe, to some extent.
I thought Dak threw some ugly passes and could have had multiple picks. But he also made some monster clutch throws that I'd like to see more of when the chips are down. But this D is just atrocious. It's so bad that I think it's partly a player issue as much as it is the scheme. Some of these guys like Crawford, Tank and the Gimp got paid and are content with the attention they're getting of being a Dallas Cowboy "star." Some folks need to be benched and I'm wondering if Jerry will allow the staff to make the appropriate changes and not make those decisions based on salary. I believe we have some of the entitlement mentality left behind from the ultimate benefactor of nepotism, Jason Garrett. When the players know that the "leader" (ie: head coach) didn't earn his position, that spreads to the team. It's a cancer.
McCarthy is going to have to establish himself. He's got to right the ship by identifying the issues and making changes. I think he can do it. Now, don't get me wrong, I was way more confident before the squib kick down by 3. I thought that was utterly atrocious. But this HC inherited the team's mentality as much as he inherited some players. I also liked that they replaced Steele with Brandon Knight and Garrett didn't have any other sacks the rest of the game. It's a far cry from stubbornly keeping Chaz Green in the game to get murdered by Claiborne all day. I still think Moore could have given Steele some help much earlier but that's what you get with an inexperienced OC, especially one that didn't earn his position but was kept to keep Dak comfortable.
I don't know if firing Mike Nolan is the answer without first addressing some of these players. I like that the D held up a bit better in the second half. No doubt some of that was due to a more conservative philosophy by Cleveland with a huge lead. But they made a game of it in the end. But I think there were some positives to take away at the QB position and it wasn't the yardage.