Mike McCarthy speaks out about Brandin Cooks' limited usage in loss to Eagles

When the Dallas Cowboys acquired veteran wide receiver Brandin Cooks from the Houston Texans this summer, fans were expecting the speedster to slot in as a clear No. 2 for Dak Prescott. The stat sheet so far this season, however, paints a very different picture. In the Cowboys’ 28-23 loss to the Eagles on Sunday, Cooks received just two targets, bringing his 2023 total up to 29, which is fewer than CeeDee Lamb, Jake Ferguson, Michael Gallup, and Tony Pollard.

Asked about Cooks’ usage after the loss, Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy was irked by the question. Lamb, at the end of the day, had a career-high day with 11 catches for 191 yards.

“I’d love to see everybody get the ball,” McCarthy said. “But when you throw for (374) yards and you got to come in here and answer questions about someone not getting the ball, I mean, come on, I don’t think that’s a real evaluation.”

“I don’t play fantasy football,” McCarthy added. “We have game plans. I think it’s important, this is general for guys, because our system is built on making the quarterback successful.”

“I think some of our games early in the year, we played some out-of-balance games,” he continued. How many times have we thrown the ball north of 40? I think if you want to be a top offense in the league, you definitely want to throw it 40 and run it 30 and be out there for 70 plays. We haven’t played a lot of those games, too. I think statistics are really for the end of the year. We’re all conscious of it every week. You guys make me conscious of it. We’re aware of it.”

McCarthy: Cooks is a ‘big part of the production’

McCarthy went on to argue that just because Cooks is trailing his 2022 stats by a couple hundred yards, doesn’t mean he isn’t contributing to the offense. In fact, Cooks’ role has him drawing the defense toward him to create space for the other receivers.

“He was a big part of the production,” McCarthy said. “Anytime a guy comes up short, you want to see him get more targets and opportunities. He’s as good of a pro as I’ve worked with and we’ll definitely focus on that moving forward. But he’s still a part of that production.”

On the year, Cooks has 17 catches for 165 yards and two touchdowns. Last season, for the Texans, he had 699 yards on 57 receptions.