Super Bowl Champion, AJ Hawk, shares first hand experience on McCarthy’s coaching style.
Sports fans love to debate bold Super Bowl predictions and prior to the start of the NFL season, A.J. Hawk created quite the chatter on The Pat McAfee Show with his prediction. The former NFL linebacker selected the Dallas Cowboys to beat the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl this year.
Hawk admits he tried to avoid picking Kansas City to make it through the stretch but it was just too hard to pass up the Chiefs on defending their Super Bowl title. However, his NFC selection, was not as predictable and to McAfee’s delight, the Cowboys pick performed well on the internet.
It is 2020, so uncertainty is everywhere. With three new head coaches, young quarterbacks and questionable “home” field advantage due to a lack of fans, the NFC East is not easy to predict. With that in mind, Hawk went with Dallas because of their talented roster but the Cowboys have been loaded for the past several years and have not found success.
Hawk discussed the recent history of the Dallas Cowboys on the “Sidelines with Stephanie Otey” podcast. “They just haven’t figured it out. It’s definitely — partly it’s coaching, the culture, whatever is going on there, whatever was going on there,” he shared as he confirmed he is sticking with the Cowboys to win the Super Bowl this season after they lost their first game to the Rams.
Hawk has first hand experience with their new head coach, Mike McCarthy, and admits he is biased because he played with him for nine years in Green Bay. With so much talent on their roster, Hawk feels that McCarthy can bring about a winning culture.
With all of the criticism Cowboys’ former coach, Jason Garrett, received, is coaching the reason for all of the missed opportunities in Dallas? Hawk shares that the ownership is unlike any other franchise. Jerry Jones is vocal with media in the locker room after each game which could be difficult for a new head coach to grow accustomed to. Hawk says that for McCarthy, who “is coming from not having an owner to having his owner meet publicly multiple times a week and give his opinion…. I think McCarthy will get a kick out of it”.
Hawk continued to praise his former coach and how he respects his players. When it comes to addressing the media, Hawk says that McCarthy is the type of guy that “will go to bat for you. Will always stand up for his players…..he’s definitely not going to jump on board with a media member that sometimes tries to lead him into the question”. He continued by sharing that the respect is mutual because “McCarthy will never throw his players under the bus… He’ll tell you right to your face how you played and let you know he’s not pleased, but I think at least outside of that meeting room and locker room he’s always going to have his players’ backs, and I think players love that.”
Although the first week of his first season as the head coach in Dallas did not end with a victory, McCarthy has been able garner the “bought in” mentality to lead the Cowboys to a winning season.
Stephanie Otey 