Shannon Sharpe Slams Mike McCarthy for Blaming Kellen Moore
The Pro Football Hall of Famer and NFL analyst took the current Dallas head coach to task.
The Cowboys will enter 2023 with a new offensive coaching arrangement, as the team replaced Kellen Moore at offensive coordinator with Brian Schottenheimer. Additionally, head coach Mike McCarthy is expected to take over as the full-time play-caller.
When asked why he made that decision, McCarthy recently said Moore leaned too heavily on the passing game at times and tried to “light up the scoreboard” instead of thinking about running the ball to rest the defense.
“I don’t desire to be the No. 1 offense in the league,” McCarthy said this week. “I want to be the No. 1 team in the league with a number of wins and a championship. And if we gotta give up some production and take care of the ball better to get that, then that’s what we’ll do, because we have a really good defense.”
That excuse, however, didn’t fly with one NFL observer. On Friday’s episode of UNDISPUTED, Pro Football Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe criticized McCarthy for blaming Moore for Dallas’s offensive struggles.
“Mike McCarthy is full of ish,” Sharpe said. “You look at the Cowboys defense and look where they are ranked in sacks, pressures and things of that nature, points allowed. That’s not a defense that wasn’t rested.”
Sharpe also pointed out that in McCarthy’s Super Bowl-winning season with the 2010 Packers, the offense was ranked No. 5 in passing yards but No. 24 in rushing yards. Meanwhile, the Dallas offense under Moore consistently ranked near the top of the league despite McCarthy’s apparent concerns.
Additionally, quarterback Dak Prescott shared the NFL lead with 15 interceptions this past season, even though he missed five games with a thumb injury.
“I can’t believe Mike McCarthy is taking shots at this man here,” Sharpe said. “He’s basically saying, ‘The reason we haven’t been successful is because Kellen Moore is throwing the ball too much,’ and he refused to put any blame on Dak Prescott.”