The heated back and forth between Mike McCarthy, Ron Rivera continues

Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy made headlines earlier in the week for boldly guaranteeing a win over the Washington Football Team on Sunday. The comment from the Cowboys coach has led to a back-and-forth between McCarthy and Washington head coach Ron Rivera, adding even more intrigue to an already important rivalry matchup.

Rivera responded to McCarthy’s comments on Thursday, where he told reporters that McCarthy made a “big mistake” with the comment.

“You do that for a couple of reasons. 1. You want to get in our head. Secondly, he’s trying to convince his team,” Rivera said of McCarthy’s guarantee of a Cowboys win over Washington. “He’s now made it about him. I think it’s a big mistake.”

McCarthy responded to Rivera’s comments, where he said that he was just giving an honest answer.

“It’s irrelevant what anybody thinks about what I said,” McCarthy said via The Athletic’s Jon Machota. “I was talking about my team. I always coach my own team. That’s where I’m at with it. We have great confidence in what we’re trying to do. It was an honest answer to a question from a great group of people.”

NFL head coaches undoubtedly have confidence that their team will win each and every time they take the field. McCarthy has likely been preaching the same message to the Cowboys all week ahead of Sunday’s game at Washington. To declare that to the media, though, is something that usually isn’t seen.

McCarthy’s comment comes ahead of an important matchup between Washington, Cowboys

Dallas began the season with a loss to the Buccaneers, but responded with six-game winning streak to improve to 6-1. November was not kind to the Cowboys, as they went 1-3, falling to 7-4. Last week, the Cowboys came away with a win against the Saints to reach 8-4. The Cowboys have been sitting comfortably at the top of the NFC East all season, but Washington has played very well in recent weeks and have began closing the gap on Dallas.

Washington traded losses and wins in the first four weeks of the season, sitting at 2-2 entering Week 5. But a four-game losing streak had many counting the team out at 2-6. Four games later, Washington has responded with a four-game winning streak to get back to .500 at 6-6.

Now, Dallas had just a two-game lead on Washington for first place in the NFC East. The two teams will face off twice over the next three weeks, so there is a lot on the line. Dallas also ends the year against the Giants, Cardinals, and Eagles. Washington has two games against the Eagles and another matchup with the Giants in addition to the two against the Cowboys.