FRISCO, Texas -- The opening news conference of training camp ended and Dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy was able to leave relatively quickly. Most of the reporters surrounded Jerry Jones and Stephen Jones.
In a small scrum, Stephen Jones, the Cowboys' executive vice president, was asked mostly about the contracts of Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb and Micah Parsons. Off to the side in a larger throng, Jerry Jones, the owner and general manager, was asked many things, including about Bill Belichick, the out-of-work head coach who won six Super Bowls with the New England Patriots and has been linked to the organization as a potential coach in the not-so distant future.
"I think he may be the best coach, certainly of my time in the NFL, and I happen to be part of a team that had the great Tom Landry, and I'd put him right there," Jones said. "Bill's a friend and a great coach."
As McCarthy begins his fifth season as the Cowboys' coach Sunday at the Cleveland Browns (4:25 p.m. ET, Fox), this is the noise that surrounds him as he enters the last year of his contract. Each week will be a referendum on his future.
"I'm thankful and appreciate the opportunity in front of me," McCarthy said to start this week. "That's really how it's been. I get what goes with contracts and I really don't want to speak on it, because I haven't spoke on it, because there's really nothing to talk about. It doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is today, and that's really something we can all just stay in touch with because we do have responsibilities outside of winning games, but the only thing that truly pays the bills is winning games.
"That's where my mind is at. I'm 30-plus years into this. We know how things work. I can't stand up in front of a group of men and consistently on a daily basis demand that they focus their time and energy on winning, and then I'm up here talking about things that have nothing to do with winning. I guess that's how I deal with it."
McCarthy is 41-25 as the Cowboys' coach. His .627 winning percentage is the best in Cowboys history. He has won two NFC East titles. But -- and it's an important 'but' -- he has only one playoff win, and last year's 48-32 debacle of a loss to the Green Bay Packers in the wild-card round at AT&T Stadium remains a fresh memory.
Especially for Jerry Jones.
Even though Jones has put McCarthy in this position by not giving him an extension, he bristles when asked how McCarthy has dealt with not having a contract beyond this season.
"I don't know I've ever seen a coach change [his] coaching or change how hard he works over his contract," Jones said. "I didn't know anything like that ever happened or could happen. So, I've seen no difference in who Mike is. Mike's a Super Bowl-winning coach and has an outstanding record since he's been here, and that's where it is.
"So, we've all got [the loss to] Green Bay on our mind. We all have it on our mind, and we all know until we can get that addressed, then we're going to always have a bad taste in our mouth."
So, McCarthy must bet on himself. Again.
When he took the Packers job in 2006, he was offered a four-year deal. He took a three-year deal instead. After his second season, during which the Packers reached the NFC Championship Game, he signed a four-year extension.
In his fifth season, he won Super Bowl XLV.
This is Year 5 with the Cowboys, who have the ninth-best odds to win Super Bowl LIX (+1800), according to ESPN BET.
Among his coaching stops, he has stayed longer only in Green Bay (14 years; 13 as head coach, one as an assistant) and Kansas City (six as an assistant). When he was asked if this five-year anniversary seemed that long he joked, "Thirty-five years. Dog years," and added, "Frankly, it's gone too fast."
This summer, he joked that he had been "Jerry-ized."
"Anytime you have an opportunity to sit down with Jerry Jones, you're going to listen and learn, and that's something that I'm thankful for," McCarthy said. "He's exposed me to things that I was not exposed to before, just through conversation and his experiences."
Only nine players have been around for all five of McCarthy's seasons. Two more -- running back Ezekiel Elliott and backup quarterback Cooper Rush -- were released and brought back.
Jourdan Lewis, a cornerback, is one of the nine.
"When you're building a program, it takes a while to get your guys in, get the right guys in and get it processed," Lewis said. "I feel like he's really comfortable now with everything that he has and the ability. And he's spoken out that this is the year where things need to turn over, honestly."
This is the third time in the past 11 seasons a Cowboys coach has entered the last year of his contract. In 2014, Jason Garrett was coming off three straight 8-8 finishes and was under pressure to win. The Cowboys went 12-4 and made it to the divisional round of the playoffs, losing painfully to McCarthy's Packers partly because a fourth-down catch by Dez Bryant was overturned by replay. Garrett received a five-year extension.
In 2019, Garrett and Prescott were entering the last year of their respective contracts. The Cowboys went 8-8 and missed the playoffs. Garrett's contract was not renewed, opening the door for McCarthy. Prescott did not get his contract extension either, playing the next year on the franchise tag.
Jones says he believes people in all walks of life perform better when facing the most heat.
"There's no question in my mind that angst, pressure, competing, will bring out the best in this game. From coaches and players," Jones said. "But in this game, this game has to have an extra. You've got to have some extra over the guys that you're in front of. And so that's why I'm kind of amazed at someone talking about somebody, the job they're doing without a contract. Blows my mind."
Stephen A. Smith takes aim at Andrew Hawkins' take that Dak Prescott performs better under Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy.
Not only are McCarthy and Prescott in the last year of their respective contracts now, so is the entire coaching staff.
Their view is the same as McCarthy's.
"I grew up in a household that understands the coaching business," said offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, whose father, Marty, was a head coach for four NFL teams. "I was around a one-and-done in Washington. I saw my dad from afar get fired after a 14-2 situation. You just work, man. Look, I am so blessed to be the offensive coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys. I truly do focus on each day, one day at a time. I get the business. If we win enough games, it will be great. If we don't, you deal with that as well."
At that welcome-to-training camp news conference on July 25, McCarthy sat between the Joneses. Sunglasses hid his eyes and maybe even his thoughts on what was being asked around him.
The Joneses volleyed answers to questions for nearly 20 minutes before McCarthy was asked if he had the same tolerance for ambiguity as his boss because of an uncertain future.
"I can't wait to get out there and get the first first down. That's how you get it done," McCarthy said. "I get what's happened in the past and the frustrations of the past, but we're past that. We're energized with what's in front of us and the reality of the work we have to do to put ourselves in position to answer those questions next year.
"The only thing we've been guaranteed is 17 games. That's where our work, we identify with. That's the beauty that we have as any NFL team, but more importantly, the specialty of being a Dallas Cowboy. This opportunity in front of us, we want to maximize it."