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Mike McCarthy faces uniquely long list of challenges to start first season as Cowboys head coach

An offseason program eliminated by the coronavirus means McCarthy starts his first season in Dallas without ever seeing his players on the field.

There is no playbook for this.

None.

The 2020 on-the-field offseason program was eliminated because of the coronavirus global pandemic. So Mike McCarthy starts his first season as Cowboys head coach without a chance to see his players on the field.

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How McCarthy handles this could determine how the 2020 regular season goes.

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An offseason program consists of rookie minicamps, organized team activities and a mandatory veteran minicamp in addition to team meetings and individual sessions. All of it was canceled.

The entire offseason had McCarthy speak to players and coaches virtually and on the phone. He couldn’t stand on a football field and watch and teach. McCarthy’s ability to have private sessions in his office with his QB1, Dak Prescott, were not allowed. McCarthy was unable to utilize a grease board with wide receiver Amari Cooper and talk football.

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He couldn’t have his first official team meeting at The Star and look into the faces and read the body language of 90 players.

With the entire NFL offseason knocked off because of COVID-19, McCarthy has to wait.

“This challenge has clearly made everyone — especially myself — take a step back,” McCarthy said in late May, the last time he was made available to the media. “Don’t react as fast as you may have in normal times. I think you’ve really got to trust your instincts, the awareness and your experience in this particular time as far as how we install and initiate the development and growth of our program. We still have to do things in a progression. I feel like we’ve done that. We’ve really taken this period of time to really just delve into the scheme responsibility that we’re involved in. You only have so much time.”

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Normally, first-year head coaches can start offseason programs in early April to install their offensive and defensive systems. It gives them a slight advantage over other NFL teams with returning coaches.

The Cowboys also would have started training camp nearly two weeks earlier than most teams because they were scheduled to play in the Hall of Fame game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Hall of Fame game was moved to 2021, and now every NFL team will open training camp July 28.

Maybe.

So much can change between the July 4 weekend and July 28.

The NFL announced teams will have just two preseason games instead of four. That’s two fewer games for McCarthy to evaluate who makes the bottom of the roster and see how his first-team offense looks with the new wrinkles to the scheme. Without the Hall of Fame and two preseason games, how much of a chance does fourth-round pick Tyler Biadasz have to win the starting center job over Joe Looney? Is the possibility of moving cornerback Chidobe Awuzie to safety even happening with fewer snaps and games?

And there’s a possibility the 90-man training camp roster gets reduced. That kicker battle between Kai Forbath and Greg Zuerlein? Will that happen now?

“You really don’t have a true comparable,” McCarthy said. “But I think it’s obvious to think if we started April 6 like we normally would as a first-year program, we would be in a different spot than we are here today. I am pleased with the amount of work that we have been able to accomplish.

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“I think our coaches have been very creative. I think the communication and correspondence with players have been excellent. The questions have been intuitive. I think it leans toward the veteran experience of our football team that we’re able to get this much work done.”

In 2011, the NFL didn’t have an offseason program because of a 130-day labor dispute. The lockout ended in July, and teams rushed to camp. There were eight new NFL coaches then, including Jason Garrett in Dallas. Only two of those eight teams, Denver and San Francisco, made the postseason.

Three teams, Carolina, Denver and Minnesota finished below .500. Dallas and Oakland went 8-8 with Tennessee going 9-7.

So how did McCarthy’s Packers do?

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Well, the Packers were the defending champions, having won Super Bowl XLV the previous season. McCarthy’s team went 15-1, and quarterback Aaron Rodgers was named the league’s MVP. But the Packers lost to the eventual Super Bowl champion New York Giants in the NFC divisional round.

McCarthy is an experienced coach with a title on his resume. He has a veteran club returning, and that’s valuable.

McCarthy is in the same situation as everybody else in the NFL, waiting for a 2020 season amid uncertainty.

“I am excited because this is probably going to be the most experienced team that I’ve coached, so we’ll rely on that,” he said. “I think if we were going to push to one side or the other, we’d definitely push on the side of the volume because of our veteran experience.”

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