Mike McCarthy Admits to Making 'Mental Mistakes'

It's not too often that you hear a coach in any sport admit to making an incorrect decision, but Dallas Cowboys' head coach Mike McCarthy did just that after Sunday's fortunate comeback victory over the Atlanta Falcons.

It's not entirely clear if McCarthy was referring to himself, but if he wasn't, he should have been. The Cowboys were at serious risk of losing this game if not for Dak Prescott and an Atlanta defense/special teams that handed them the victory, and McCarthy had his hands all over the near-defeat.

The new Dallas head coach, but veteran NFL coach, had three controversial calls on Sunday. Two failed fake punts, and a failed two-point conversion down nine with about five minutes to go. Whether or not these were the right decisions can always be skewed by the hindsight of all three going poorly, but one thing is for certain, McCarthy seemed desperate for win number one.

You don't make those calls if you aren't feeling the pressure mounting already, and you also don't make those calls if you trust your defense (McCarthy obviously did not). Here is the onside kick that saved McCarthy and the Cowboys' skin in Week 2.

At the end of the day, Dallas is 1-1 and managed to avoid a perilous 0-2 Week 3 situation on the road in Seattle. It was an enormous win, however it happened, and on the flip side, a mind-numbing collapse by the Falcons.

Maybe McCarthy just had to shake the rust off, or will the in-game decision-making that plagued his tenure with the Green Bay Packers end up spoiling his time in Dallas? Only time will tell, unless you watch a live-stream of Jerry Jones' in-game facial reactions.

Despite the shaky start to 2020, FanDuel Sportsbook gives the Cowboys +1700 odds to win the Super Bowl, which is tied for No. 6 in the NFL.

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Michael Obermuller is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Michael Obermuller also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username king_mizzard. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.