So, Mike McCarthy. Yeah, that guy. Seems like everyone’s got a hot take on him, right? You either think he’s okay, or you’re yelling at the TV every Sunday. For a while, I was just, you know, observing. Listening to all the noise. Then one Sunday, I figured, ‘Alright, let me try to actually get what this fella is doing.’
This wasn’t some deep film study, mind you. Nah, I’m not about that life. It was more like a… personal experiment. I was over at my buddy Dave’s place, a few of us watching the Cowboys game. And Dave, he’s one of those guys who’s always got something to say about the coaching. Always. So, I told him, ‘Look, today, I’m gonna try and predict McCarthy’s moves. See if I can get on his wavelength.’
So, there we were, beers in hand, game on. Every time the Cowboys had the ball, especially in those kinda tricky situations – third and medium, red zone, two-minute drill – I’d pipe up. ‘Okay, McCarthy’s gonna run it here, play it safe.’ Or, ‘He’s definitely gonna call a timeout now, gotta manage that clock.’ Stuff like that.
And you know what? It was a mixed bag, a real mixed bag. Sometimes, I’d nail it. Boom! Exactly what I said. And I’d give Dave a little smirk. But then, other times, man, it was like he was operating on a different planet. They’d throw deep when I was sure they’d run, or they’d let the clock bleed when I was screaming for a timeout. It was maddening, trying to find a consistent logic I could latch onto.
Dave and the others, they were having a field day, of course. ‘Looks like you’re not McCarthy’s long-lost twin after all, eh?’ Good-natured ribbing, mostly. But it got me thinking. It’s easy to sit on the couch and critique, but trying to actually anticipate, even for a laugh, made me realize how many darn variables are in play. Not just the X’s and O’s, but maybe what he had for breakfast, who knows?
- First quarter: I was feeling pretty good. Got a couple of conservative run calls right. Thought, ‘I’ve cracked the code!’
- Second quarter: Things started to get weird. A couple of calls that made absolutely no sense to my ‘McCarthy filter.’
- Second half: Honestly, I kinda gave up on predicting and just went back to yelling at the screen with everyone else. It was more fun.
My big takeaway from that afternoon? Well, I didn’t suddenly become a coaching guru, that’s for sure. And I still don’t always get what McCarthy’s trying to do. But that little ‘practice session’ kinda showed me it’s a tough gig. You make a call, half the people hate it, the other half are waiting to see if it works before they decide. And trying to reverse-engineer it in real time with a beer in your hand? Good luck with that.
So now, when I watch, I still yell. But maybe with a tiny, tiny bit more understanding that it’s probably harder than it looks. Or maybe he is just making it up as he goes. The jury’s still out on that one for me, if I’m being honest. But it was a fun way to spend a Sunday, trying to walk a mile in his headset, so to speak. Even if I mostly stumbled.
