Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy spoke after the Cowboys won their final preseason game of the year against the Las Vegas Raiders 31-16. McCarthy spoke about the acquisition of Trey Lance, Will Grier’s final game, and Dak Prescott calling the plays during the game.
How Does Mike McCarthy Feel About Bringing in Trey Lance?
McCarthy spoke about the acquisition of Trey Lance, saying he’s excited about it.
“Obviously, I think any time you have an opportunity to, you know, really just trust your personal grades. I mean, obviously, he’s a young man that was highly sought out in all organizations, no different than ours. Timing is tough,” said McCarthy.
He said he wasn’t sure when Lance was touching down in Dallas but that he’s “coming to a damn good football team, a great locker room, an outstanding quarterback room.”
The head coach said that history, evaluations, and value go into decisions like this one with the trade.
“When you do get in these in these spots, especially for a player as young as he is, I think it’s important to trust her, trust your grades, you know, trust your evaluation process,” said McCarthy.
What Are McCarthy’s Thoughts on Will Grier?
McCarthy also spoke on Will Grier and that his situation is tough all the way around.
“When I got the phone call, when I hung the phone up, and I called Will immediately, and that’s tough. And I thought he handled it very well, and you know, and I just asked him to go out there and, you know, play your ass off tonight. It’s a great opportunity, and just the way the team rallied around him at the walkthrus and at The Star when we came out here this evening,” said McCarthy.
The Cowboys head coach said you could instantly see Grier using his feet during the game, which was evident with him having 53 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns.
“For a preseason quarterback performance, that might be the best performance I’ve seen since probably 1999. Matt Hasselback had some of some of these,” said McCarthy.
He said that Grier had great command of the game. McCarthy discussed one of the highlights for Grier during the fourth quarter when he threw a 33-yard pass to Tyron Johnson on 3rd-and-4.
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McCarthy said Grier asked for that play this week and got redemption with it, calling it a “statement throw” from the moment that didn’t play out in his favor last week against the Seahawks. The pass put Grier over 300 yards for the game.
Overall, McCarthy said he is proud of Grier and how the team stepped up, saying their young players improved every week as the preseason went on.
“That’s a plan that’s well executed by our players, and I’m very proud of them, and this is probably the worst 72 hours of the job. So that’s what’s in front of us,” said McCarthy as he was talking about Tuesday’s cut down to the final 53-man roster.
Dak Prescott Calling Plays During the Game
McCarthy discussed Dak Prescott calling the plays during the game, saying the starting QB was outstanding. But McCarthy said the decision was made to keep Prescott’s head in the game, and he was prepping him for it before Prescott even realized.
“In Oxnard, we had two post-practice periods where we would all walk the field and call the two minute. So the last two weeks there, you know, I had both him and Cooper [Rush] calling it, so he didn’t know at the time, but I was preparing them for this because I really wanted him to take this opportunity,” said McCarthy.
The two had talked about doing this earlier in the week, and something McCarthy wanted Prescott to do. The preparation for Prescott was in the quarterback room since the offensive staff put the game plan together.
“We don’t really know what they were going to run. it’s a preseason game, but you know, once you get into the flow of it and, you can see how they’re going to play, you know, I thought he did a nice job adjusting and really kept us in clean calls,” said McCarthy.
He said this was a great opportunity for Prescott that he “jumped all over.”
“It’s a phenomenal experience for a quarterback to do that, so I’m glad he did it,” said McCarthy.