Mike McCarthy: Postgame Preseason #LACvsDAL | Dallas Cowboys 2024

okay gentlemen David David Moore Dallas Morning News before we get to the game just talk about the Ron Bland how you learned of the injury just the significance of the injury going into the season definitely I mean it's something that came up in practice while we were still in in Oxnard um and just like any injury you go through the you know the the scans and you know second opinions and things like that so um so we've known about it for a few days and and this is you know this is the best plan for for DB um and I think it's going to be you know between six to eight weeks and just just like he attacks everything you know he'll attack the rehab the same way just quick follow up on that it's now you're going to tell us but I mean Carson is has kind of put himself in the mix and you have boots just how it plays out or what you I agree with you I agree that's look at your dep chart just picking back on this for a second can you talk about how Carson has played so far in Camp what you yeah definitely I done a lot of nice things obviously early I think he was probably one of the you know rookies that probably made the quickest first impression uh just as far as playmaking um you know then he had the situation with his with his wisdom too so he missed a few days um but yeah I you I think like anything you know you have an opportunity to draft these young men you go back to the offseason program you know really don't get to do much uh as far as you know the physicality component of it and but you can see right away in the seven on sevens and so forth you know his skill set and his ball skills and I think the things that really highlight just the way we like to play and the ability to take the ball away so uh and I think they clearly carried over to training camp once we put the pads on so he's done a nice job get to the game um certainly the five interception stand out for for Trey but can you talk about his game I know he took a step game week one and week two and what what how do you definitely I I I think what stands out to me is the you know 11 plus play drives I don't know if we had four or five of them um had the ball plus 20 minutes then our opponent established that on the first drive uh I tell you it's you know as as a head coach the longer you do this you you you really appreciate games like today uh from an off I'm talking about our offensive perspective because you know they they they gave us a lot of pressure our guys saw a ton of pressure tonight and um that's that's the best work in preseason it really tells you a lot about your younger players I mean look at our offensive lineman they played over 90 plays so uh we we have incredible tape uh to go back and and look to make these evaluation but Trey in particular um gosh he's just an ascending young talented quarterback that I mean just loves to be coached um I wish we had three more preseason games just to get him out there just to just to keep playing because you know he he had tremendous production uh but yes the the turnovers are always the first thing we talk about and coach and go through and you know that last opportunity you know he he definitely was where he needed to be um you know had chance to to hit that last touchdown so I mean there's you know there's always been four or five plays each game that he'll learn from but um he he continually gets better every time you give him a chance and I think that says a lot about him I think he's a he's just a young guy that needs to play I think he'll play in this league for a long time yeah Tim khaw Dallas Morning News what concerns you most about starting Seasons this way you've done a three or four times where nobody plays in the pre none of your Starters play you beat the Giants 40 to nothing but you lost a couple games to Tampa Bay what's the biggest concern of not having that those playing rims uh I think the biggest thing is the continuity between who's actually going to play in week one that that that's what I found I mean it's you know to me it's a it's a it's a one you know it's one way or the other you're making a decision obviously you're you're you're trying to lessen the risk of injury um with this approach compared to you know taking the risk of injury with the other approach I've done them both ways and and I get where you know where it's at but uh the ability to have you know your starters on week one I I think clearly overrides uh the old way um and and I've been convinced since the 16 17 games going to 18 games so um you know starting off the season you know as you know potentially the best you can be from an injury standpoint is is why we did it but with that you got to get it done in practice and um you know I I I wish we could have had two more practices like we had last week we we had two you know ball busting practices that were super competitive uh so you know and they were clearly our best practices of training camp you know even the work that we had uh with the Rams so I I trust our process is the point I'm trying to make and and and that's you know gives me great confidence in starting off but the biggest thing is you know once once we get past Tuesday is to get this this game plan set and get the Reps you know you know CD's not here yet you know so I mean just getting everybody getting everybody rep to make sure you know we're clean where we can get up there and compete and play in sync and you know we're on the road for week one um so you know that's always the challenge uh you know you remember I stood up here same press conference last year and you know her offensive line hadn't practiced together yet so I mean it's and you go back and look the way we played the first couple weeks so you know i' I've been I've been there and um but at the end of the day it's uh we made this decision to go this route uh just to lower the risk of injury and and uh you know we've done the best we can and you know now we're here uh Aon K is Lone Star live uh what stood out to you of anything from the way Trey responded to the the interceptions his demeanor his General I just kept playing I mean just look at you know go just go through the game I mean you know he had a huge run for a touchdown and I just kept battling back um and and that's really I that's why you take the ball in preseason you know we want to you know that's the last thing we talked about in the team meeting we we want as much as the charges as we can get we we want to play we we want our young guys to compete play it was our first time to play at home um just I mean it was awesome I mean this is what these guys work for we started this in April you know so um and this is this is really just a you know this is part of our journey uh but but it is a checkpoint for us you know this is the preseason has concluded but you know we wanted to finish strong and you know and wanted every opportunity to win the game and um Clarence you need to get that no you're good all right so but no that's you know I just think he kept playing I mean would we end up with 92 plays or yeah so I mean that's I mean that's that's that's invaluable and that's that's what all the young guys need and that's what Trey Lance needs so I think we definitely hit the target there Elin Henderson gilir Mike a lot of positives like you said Lance kept battling back you went two for two on fourth down and the running game all day long wasn't really Sol yeah definitely I I think if you just saw from the start of the game you know was it a 14pl drive to start the game and and the Run game was extremely productive and then they you know they started pressuring Us in the red area uh once we got down there and then really it you know once we cross the 30 yard line minus 30 yard line we saw pressure all the way through so great work for us I think some of it was was a response to the the efficiency of the Run game so U it's great it was great work for us I know U need to look at the tape there a lot of guys are looking at but uh balling in floro what they did today and just what they've done over the last you know seven to 10 days in Camp coming on here yeah I think if you look at the ratio for opportunity to make plays both those guys are are pretty high you know with the opportunity to balls the ball in her hands um you know Flo Miss some time there in training camp but boy he's buned back so strong uh such a physical player tough player smart player uh but yes I you know just without seeing the video I I was impressed with them again today and just real quick you mentioned it earlier but your your process from tonight forward on getting the 53 and some teams like to take care of it a little bit earlier and just get it in place and look around just just what your approach will be uh really our schedule is you know since the coaches we'll start watching it tonight we'll have it all graded by the morning uh and then we you know we we'll work as a staff from 9:00 to noon and then we'll start you know I'll start having meetings in the afternoon and U and then we'll start the process Mike do you feel like you've got enough tape on all the players to be where you want to be to make the decisions on the final off um you know if we would have got the if we had 100 plays on offense I think we' we' got it done but we're a little short uh now that you're moving toward the regular season is there more urgency to try to find a way to get CD here I mean how do you approach that situation yes I mean I I think there's urgency on both sides I I mean I I you know uh you know I just once again I mean this is this is business you know and you know what goes on there is really between you know the individuals in the room but yes I we we I think everybody involved once once once to get it done any concern about readiness for even IFD for week one just because you don't to wrap up and you don't want to cause the injury or anything like that yeah no that's that's uh you got to have a healthy plan yeah definitely I mean we we got to you know we got to be smart there and um just use good judgment and um you know and that that'll be the case but yeah I think it's it's just the reality where we are you know so we'll deal we'll deal with it one day at a time how do you feel the time-saving virtual reality uh first down are doing they're still working on it I think for for here so I mean it got it got you know from from the Rams to to to the Raiders you know did it did you know it got a little faster I think so but uh went the wrong direction tonight so we'll see what happens it's cool when they get it up there I mean it's you know I can see why they want to do it all right thank you all right thank you