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Cowboys news: Mike McCarthy has back procedure, misses rookie minicamp

Here’s your Sunday morning news about the Dallas Cowboys.

NFL: NFC Divisional Round-Dallas Cowboys at San Francisco 49ers Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Cowboys’ McCarthy sidelined for rookie camp by back procedure - Todd Archer, ESPN

On the mend from a lingering ailment, head coach Mike McCarthy was absent from rookie minicamp.

McCarthy has been taking part in meetings virtually as the Cowboys opened the rookie camp on Thursday. The only on-field portion of the minicamp was Saturday and was for a little more than an hour. Owner and general manager Jerry Jones briefly talked to the players before the practice.

Special teams coordinator John Fassel brought the players together at the end of the session.

“It’s easy because Mike is always so clear and, ‘hey, this is what we’re going to do,’ so we had a real vision for what we wanted to get accomplished this weekend with these guys,” defensive coordinator Dan Quinn said. “It’s mainly just taking those first steps and I think Mike would agree let’s not miss one step of their development and see what we have and how we communicate and testing them and seeing where we are at. And then we’ll begin with Mike and everybody else here this week of merging everybody together. So if there was a time to miss for him, there’s never a time he would feel comfortable but we all know we got his back and we’ll get him back soon.”

The rookies and veterans will work together for the first time Monday in Phase 2 of the offseason program. Organized team activities start in two weeks.

The return of McCarthy, who has been dealing with back issues for some time, is not clear but he’s not expected to have a long absence.

Fassel Mentions 3 Potential Veteran Kicker Options - Nick Eatman, Dallascowboys.com

Having gone this far in the offseason, the Dallas Cowboys have urgent piece of unfinished business to attend to. The team has yet address what they’re going to do at placekicker. When it comes to the team’s plans, special teams coach John Fassel does not mince words.

“We have Tristan on the roster. Anybody else on earth who is not on the team right now, is under consideration,” Fassel said. “That’s everyone really. I think we have a lot of different guys that we’re still looking at – XFL, USFL, veterans on the street, younger guys who still haven’t found their way.”

Of course, adding a veteran kicker with NFL experience is probably the easiest route.

“It’s probably the easier way (to go) because you know what you’re going to get,” Fassel said. “If you’re going to bring them in, you have to be excited about what it is. There’s veterans on the street right now – let’s face it, there’s Mason (Crosby), there’s Robbie (Gould), there’s (Ryan) Succup. There’s a lot of guys that have performed in the NFL, and you weigh that against everything else. There’s really no secrets of who’s available. The good thing for us at the kicker spot is just being patient and deciding who that second guy is we’re going to bring in, whether it’s now or training camp.”

And Fassel didn’t even rule out the possibility of bringing back Brett Maher, who had a good regular season before missing four extra points in the playoff win over the Bucs.

“I think everything is on the table,” Fassel said. “Let’s face it, if you look at Brett, he had a great year. He had a bad game. But he played 22 game, but he had a bad game-and-a-half. I think everyone’s on the table. I’m proud of what Brett did here. If he gets a shot here or somewhere else, I’m sure he’ll perform well.”

Cowboys hold huge advantage in all-time against record Giants - Richard Paolinelli, Inside the Star

It was announced this week that the Dallas Cowboys would open the 2023 season against their rival, the New York Giants. The long-standing rivalry favors the Cowboys in a big way.

When the Cowboys open the season on the night of September 10th, they will do so against an opponent they have dominated over six decades. In the previous 122 meetings between the two franchises, Dallas holds a 73-47-2 record against the New York Giants. The Cowboys have outscored New York by a combined score of 2815-2355.

At home, Dallas is 40-21-1 with a 1480-1135 scoring advantage. On the road Dallas is 33-26-1 against the Giants with a 1335-1220 scoring advantage.

The Cowboys have won the last two games — and five of the last six – played against the Giants at MetLife Stadium and are 9-4 overall since it opened in 2010. Dallas was 14-19 overall at Giants Stadium against the Giants in the Meadowlands. The Cowboys defeated the Giants 24-14 in New York’s first-ever home game at that stadium.

Cowboys DC Dan Quinn specifies Micah Parsons NOT making full-time move to defensive end-RJ Ochoa, Blogging the Boys

For a while there was speculation that Micah Parsons was making a transition to defensive end. Defensive coordinator clarifies that isn’t entirely the case.

Dan Quinn said that Micah Parsons is NOT making a full-time move to defensive end

The Cowboys are in the middle of rookie minicamp which means that members of the organization have an opportunity to meet with the local media. It was noted that head coach Mike McCarthy is out and recovering from a back procedure (our best to Mike McCarthy), but various coordinators were behind the proverbial microphone.

This obviously includes defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, and as you can imagine he was asked about Parsons making the move given the recent news. Quinn shut that down pretty quickly.

It is certainly interesting that Dan Quinn specifically said the line “If you ever need position changes, come to me” and noted what he thinks Parsons was trying to say. Perhaps the Cowboys (not saying this in any sort of drama-induced way) were not pleased with Parsons saying what he did. Or maybe they are just hellbent on Parsons continuing to play some linebacker. It is also worth noting just to cover all bases that after this coming season Parsons will be eligible for a contract extension for the first time, and that defensive ends are paid significantly more than linebackers if we lean on the literal definition of things.

Whatever the Cowboys want to list next to Parsons’ name on two deeps, depth charts and/or roster sheets is really irrelevant. He is one of the best pass rushers in the NFL and will be deployed as one however makes the most sense.

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