Smith: Cowboys’ early playoff exit ’embarrassing’

FRISCO, Texas — Dallas Cowboys Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith, the NFL’s leading career rusher, has made it clear in a number of interviews this week from Super Bowl LVIII that he is perplexed as to why Mike McCarthy is still the team’s coach.

“To be honest, I am a little surprised all because the way things have transpired over the last few years — removing Kellen [Moore] and taking over the controls of the offense and so forth,” Smith said on ESPN Radio. “I am a little surprised. The way our team exited out of the playoffs, I am real surprised. Because to me, I look to my leaders and leaders look to players to be ready and be prepared for the situations in all situations. And unfortunately for us, I don’t know if we were as prepared as we needed to be.

“The way we exited the playoffs this year was not a good look, put it that way, and was somewhat embarrassing,” Smith added. “It lends you to believe that either we’re not trained or coached properly in terms of game-type situations. … It’s not a good look.”

The Cowboys, who won the NFC East and were the conference’s No. 2 seed, were the only home team to lose in the wild-card round, getting hammered 48-32 by the Green Bay Packers at AT&T Stadium. The Cowboys were the only team this season to go undefeated at home in the regular season and had won 16 straight, their longest home winning streak since 1979-80.

Late in the second quarter, the Cowboys trailed 27-0 after a Dak Prescott interception was returned for a touchdown.

Owner and general manager Jerry Jones has said to reporters after that loss that he never gave serious consideration to removing McCarthy as head coach. McCarthy is entering the final year of his contract, and sources have told ESPN there are no plans to extend his deal.

Asked on the “Maggie and Perloff Show” on CBS Sports Radio why McCarthy is returning to the Cowboys, Smith said, “Because I’m not the GM.”

The Cowboys have gone 12-5 in each of the past three seasons but have just one playoff victory, a wild-card win at Tampa Bay in 2022. They have lost two home playoff games under McCarthy.

“At the end of the day, I don’t understand the mission,” Smith told 96.7 The Ticket on Friday. “I don’t know if the mission is to sell more tickets and then give us the illusion that we’re going to be good every year, and to get ratings every year, or to actually go and win a Super Bowl.”