Mike McCarthy: There’s room for improvement, but don’t agree with Troy Aikman’s word selection

The Cowboys had a bye last week, so Monday was the first time head coach Mike McCarthy was asked about comments that Troy Aikman made about the team’s receivers during a recent radio appearance.

Aikman said the team’s wideouts “run terrible routes” and are “lazy coming off the line of scrimmage” while discussing the issues with the team’s passing offense. McCarthy got his chance to respond on Monday and said that he does not agree with Aikman’s characterization of the receiver group.

“They don’t carry any weight with me, because I watch all the tape, I get to go to the meetings, I’m at practice, I’m part of the games,” McCarthy said, via Jon Machota of TheAthletic.com. “So I have a clear understanding of what and where. Troy’s statement in particular, I don’t agree with the word selection. There is definitely need for improvement in every position, not just one position that he commented on.”

The Cowboys have the second-most passing yards per game in the league, part of which is because they’ve thrown the second-most passes in the league in order to cover for the league’s worst rushing attack. That approach has resulted in a 3-3 record and a pair of blowout losses at home, so the focus in Dallas needs to be on the improvement rather than on the word choices anyone is making to describe their shortcomings.