Mike McCarthy immediately backtracks on criticism of players

Mike McCarthy is searching for answers after the Cowboys loss to the 49ers in the playoffs. However, there’s one answer he backtracked immediately after it left his mouth.

While trying to figure out how San Francisco raced out to a 13-0 lead, McCarthy stated that he believed his team was nervous to start the game.

“I thought we were nervous to start the game,” stated McCarthy via Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News. “I felt it in the locker room at the team prayer.”

However, McCarthy didn’t feel like it was right to levy criticism on his players. Later, he took back the words — correcting his previous statement.

“Let me take the word ‘nervous’ back. It was a little angst,” stated McCarthy. “I just think it was the first time we were doing this as a whole.”

Dallas may have been a little inexperienced throughout their football team, but their head coach and defensive coordinator have coached in Super Bowls. Still, the team wasn’t prepared enough for the showdown with the 49ers.

McCarthy: ‘I know how to win in this league.’

After the Dallas Cowboys’ season ended in the Wild Card round, fans were wondering about coach Mike McCarthy’s job status. He tried to clear that up on Wednesday.

McCarthy, who said he’s had “productive conversations” with owner Jerry Jones, said he doesn’t pay much attention to speculation about his job status. Instead, he said he stays focused on the task at hand.

“I know what I personally put into this,” McCarthy told reporters, via the Dallas Morning News’ Michael Gehlken. “I understand what goes on here every day, I know how to win in this league, I know how to win playoff games and how to win a championship.”

The questions come after some controversial play calls in the Cowboys’ 23-17 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Saturday. The biggest came with 14 seconds left when Dak Prescott ran a designed run to the 49ers 24-yard line. Dallas didn’t have any timeouts, and time expired before Prescott could spike the ball.

Dallas went 12-4 this season to lock up the No. 3 seed in the NFC playoff race. The 49ers advance to the divisional round where they’ll take on the Green Bay Packers on Saturday at 8:15 p.m. ET.