ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Jerry Jones watched his Dallas Cowboys lose their opener twice as the No. 1 seed in the NFC.
The club's owner and general manager took on the issue of Dez Bryant not being in Green Bay when Dallas looked good enough to make a deep run but lost a playoff game to the Packers after that call.
However, it's hard to imagine any postseason failure more troubling than Sunday's 48-32 wild-card loss to Green Bay, the 28 years since the Cowboys last reached the NFC Championship game.
“I don’t want to pigeonhole him,” Jones said outside the Dallas locker room. “But I will tell you that this was beyond my understanding.”
The Cowboys (12-6) had a chance to make at least two playoff appearances at home with a 16-game winning streak at AT&T Stadium. The Packers had to finish 6-2 to sneak into the final playoff spot in the NFC.
The Cowboys had seven Pro Bowl players, four of whom earned All-Pro nods as well. The Packers were left out of the Pro Bowl and unproven quarterback Jordan Love was making his playoff debut.
Dak Prescott was the one who threw crucial interceptions, including a pick 6. A Dallas defense that thrives on turnovers and sacks had none of it, and was worse than usual as a result.
Even before the game was over — and somewhere in the times when the Packers were leading 27-0 and 48-16 — pundits were already filling in for coach Mike McCarthy.
There doesn't appear to be any immediate news from Jones on that front. McCarthy was meeting with players in exit interviews on Monday and will not speak to reporters until he is done with that.
There's nothing unusual about this approach, but if the meeting with the media doesn't happen in the next couple of days, it will start to look like the last time things were this uncertain with the Dallas coach.
After the 2019 season, Jason Garrett sat in limbo for a week as his contract expired, never addressing reporters. The Cowboys interviewed McCarthy before publicly admitting Garrett would not return.
McCarthy has a year remaining on his contract, and just finished his first season as play-caller for Prescott after Dallas moved on from Kellen Moore following last season's divisional loss at San Francisco.
A Super Bowl winner with three more playoff runs in more than 12 seasons with the Packers, McCarthy led three straight 12-win seasons with the Cowboys.
But Dallas is now the only team not to reach a conference title game in such a three-season span.
“It's as new to me now as it is to everybody else, but I'm not going to touch on any aspects or any part of it,” said Jones, who usually makes a radio appearance on Tuesdays after the season. “From training to players to what's around the corner.”
QB question
Like McCarthy, Prescott is entering the final year of his contract. The eighth-year pro has a salary cap hit of $59 million in 2024 that can only be reduced with an extension.
So the Cowboys have to ask themselves if they want to reinvest in a player who has been in the MVP conversation several times in his career, including this season, but has not been consistently consistent in the playoffs.
Prescott is 2-5 in the postseason, with three of the losses coming in the home opener.
“It's a shock because like I said at the beginning, (the darn) sure didn't think this was where we were going to be,” Prescott said. “It's going to take more time to fully digest it, to be honest with you.”
Not showing defense
The Cowboys gave up touchdowns on six of Green Bay's first seven possessions.
It's the same unit that gave up a game-winning drive in a loss to Miami in Week 16 and would have done the same a week later against Detroit if not for a contested penalty. The call erased a two-point conversion that put the Lions up by one point with 23 seconds remaining.
Star pass rusher Micah Parsons has had no impact for the Packers and now has a 1-3 playoff record with one sack.
Cornerback DaRon Bland's NFL-leading nine interceptions and five Pick-6s were distant memories. He took a crucial illegal contact penalty on Green Bay's first possession and was hit multiple times after that.
The dismal showing raises questions about the viability of defensive coordinator Dan Quinn's candidacy to return to the coaching position. The former Atlanta coach is expected to interview for several vacant positions, just as he did the past two years before deciding to stay.
“I'm kind of stunned,” Jordan Lewis said. “You don't know what it feels like. We certainly didn't know we were going to feel this early in the year.
Bring a checkbook
Lamb, who set club records for catches and receiving yards this season, didn't have his first catch against the Packers until the Cowboys were down 20-0.
He is entering the final year of his rookie contract, while the Cowboys have a March deadline to exercise the fifth-year option on Parsons' deal.
Both developments mean first-round picks are nearing big paydays, which can all be linked to what Dallas does with Prescott.
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Schuyler Dixon, The Associated Press
