FRISCO – It wasn’t a guarantee, but Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy was confident his team will beat the 49ers on Sunday night.
At the end of his news conference on Thursday, McCarthy was answering a question about his team’s confidence coming off a blowout loss to the Detroit Lions the previous week.
“It’s easy to come in here and talk about all the things that haven’t gone right,” McCarthy said. “That’s not a clear picture of our football team, we won three games on the road and we’re getting ready to go win our fourth. That’s our mindset, that’s the way we look at this.”
The Cowboys have been a solid team coming off bye weeks. Since the bye week was introduced in 1990, the Cowboys are 24-11, tied with Buffalo for the third most wins after a bye.
With McCarthy as head coach, Dallas is 3-1 after bye weeks and he is 12-5 in his career.
Of course, the Cowboys have won all three of their games on the road, the last coming Oct. 5 at Pittsburgh.
The three other losses, at home, have exposed the Cowboys’ issues with depth and they’ve trailed in their home games early putting them at a disadvantage.
“The belief, the energy and all that, trust me, what goes outside of the locker room is not an illustration of what’s going on in the locker room,” McCarthy said. “The practices, the way they go about it, the energy that they bring into the meetings, we’re getting better. I see it. I believe it and I do feel strongly they believe it.”
So while not guaranteeing a fourth win of the season, McCarthy comes into it with confidence his team will get it.
“That’s our mindset,” he said. “I think the value of being accountable is important, but it also brings a higher scrutiny because I think our guys do a really good job of being upfront and answering questions. You may not need to answer questions as much as our guys do, but I think our guys are very accountable. I appreciate that. I’m proud of them for that.
“All these things about what we’re not doing right is not an illustration of our football team. It definitely does not reflect the confidence and belief that we have. This is very good team. It’s tough to play out there, and [it’s] Sunday Night Football, so we’re really looking forward to go and get this fourth win.”
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