Mike McCarthy coached the Packers for 13 seasons, winning a Super Bowl with them in 2010. Green Bay will always be a special place for the Cowboys head coach.
But after talking about his tenure with the Packers before last season’s regular-season game at Lambeau Field, McCarthy won’t do it again ahead of Sunday’s playoff battle with Green Bay at AT&T Stadium.
“Last year, I thought it was important for me to talk about Green Bay in the beginning of the week. I did with the team. I regretted it,” McCarthy said, via Todd Archer of ESPN. “That doesn’t even need to come into our energy base [now]. So, you live and learn. This game’s about our commitment. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing -- and it really doesn’t. . . . It’s just no time for that. I answered the questions honestly in here last year about my experience up there. It just will not help us win. So if it doesn’t help us win a game, I’m not interested in it.”
He said it wasn’t productive to discuss his time in Green Bay with his players in the week leading up to last season’s game, a 31-28 overtime loss for the Cowboys.
“It’s a players’ game. Always has been. Always will be,” McCarthy said. “That’s not all that should be focused on. I believe there’s 24 hours in a day, got seven days to prepare, and if we’re not working on winning, then it’s really a waste of time.”
McCarthy now hopes to accomplish in Dallas what he did in Green Bay, which would make him the first coach in history to win Super Bowls with more than one team. That goal starts with dispatching of the team he once coached and where he created a lifetime of memories.
“At the end of the day, this is my team. I’m a Dallas Cowboy,” McCarthy said. “This is our opportunity, and I just want to make sure I’m doing my part, and that’s supporting everything in winning this game.”
