Mike McCarthy breaks down what makes Tom Brady elite ahead of wild card round

The Dallas Cowboys face the daunting task of taking down one of the NFL’s all-time greatest quarterbacks and arguably the best postseason player in the league in Tom Brady on Monday night.

To get through the wild card matchup versus the Buccaneers, the Cowboys will need to throw the 45-year-old quarterback off his game, which head coach Mike McCarthy knows is not an easy thing to do.

Asked what makes Brady as lethal as other elite quarterbacks he’s been around, the former Packers skipper pointed to his ability to execute with accuracy in time-sensitive and high-pressure situations.

“Common denominator, the way that they play the two-minute,” McCarthy said. “It’s almost something that they live for. That’s when they’re in their element. Changing the pace of the game. That’s one of the best things that he does. You’re always in it as long as you have time and downs.”

“His discipline, particularly in situational football, is extremely high,” McCarthy added. “His ball placement, everybody wants to talk about his age but to make those throws as consistent as he does is impressive.”

After flipping on his decision to retire after last season, Brady is having the fourth most accurate season of his career with a completion rate of 66.8%. He also has just nine interceptions, down three picks from last season. After throwing seven picks in Weeks 14 through 16, he cleaned it up for the final games of the season.

Jerry Jones: ‘We’re not playing Brady… We’re playing Tampa Bay’

The Cowboys are one of four NFL teams that have never beaten Tom Brady in his more than two decades in the league.

After losing once already this season, Jerry Jones’ squad’s 0-7 record versus “Tom Terrific” is once again in the spotlight as they prepare to face the seven-time Super Bowl champion in the wild card round on Monday night.

The Cowboys owner addressed the matchup of his defense versus Brady on Tuesday. Jones downplayed the quarterback’s ability to beat the team on his own.

“When you really think about we’re not playing Brady,” Jones said on 105.3 The Fan. “Brady is, you say, ‘well, in this game, quarterback, the fact that he’s quarterbacked teams that you haven’t beaten with him quarterbacking.’ But, boy, we’re playing Tampa Bay, the team. And it’s conceivable that we could make Brady not play well and get our tails beat by the rest of the team. And I’m not trying to be cute. But we’ve got to go play the entire team.”

Although much is made of the Cowboys’ record versus TB12, Jones insists it is just another challenge.

“Gives us a challenge to do something we haven’t done before and that’s beat Tom Brady,” Jones said.

Beating Tom Brady isn’t the only streak Dallas is trying to break on Monday. They are also trying to make it past the first round of playoffs for the first time since 2018.