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Todd Archer, ESPN Staff Writer
FRISCO, Texas — Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones did Mike McCarthy no favors in 2024. Now the two will go their separate ways.
McCarthy will not return as Cowboys head coach in 2025, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Monday.
Jones allowed McCarthy and his entire staff to coach the season in the final year of their contracts with a roster that was arguably worse than the one that lost in the wild-card round to the Green Bay Packers last January.
Yes, the Cowboys made quarterback Dak Prescott the highest-paid player in NFL history and CeeDee Lamb the second-highest paid wide receiver in the NFL, but they were going to be on the team in 2024 whether they had an extension or not. The team made few moves to surround their high-priced talent and set them up for success.
The Cowboys’ most notable free agent addition was linebacker Eric Kendricks on a one-year, $3 million deal. He outperformed his price tag, leading the Cowboys in tackles, serving as defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer’s coach on the field and a mentor to younger linebackers such as DeMarvion Overshown and Marist Liufau.
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The second-biggest addition was running back Ezekiel Elliott, who returned after a one-year hiatus. It did not work out. Elliott, who rushed for 226 yards and three TDs, was inactive for one game for disciplinary reasons and released prior to Week 18 at his request so he could try to sign with a playoff team.
The Cowboys found training camp success to varying levels with free agent additions defensive end Carl Lawson and defensive tackle Linval Joseph.
But that was it.
The Cowboys relied on in-house improvement, and it came in different-sized doses from players such as defensive tackle Mazi Smith, tight end Luke Schoonmaker, linebacker Overshown and defensive end Chauncey Golston.
But tight end Jake Ferguson was less effective in 2024 (474 yards receiving, no TDs) after being added to the Pro Bowl roster in 2023 (761 yards receiving, five TDs). Pass rusher Sam Williams tore his left ACL in training camp. Wide receiver Jalen Tolbert led the Cowboys in touchdown catches (seven) but was too quiet as the No. 2 receiver for a portion of the season. After catching the game-winning pass against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 5, he had only two games with more than three catches and one game with more than 45 yards the rest of the season.
Yes, the injuries took their toll, but the Cowboys struggled when healthy, too.
This year’s rookie class was up and down. First-round offensive tackle Best of NFL Nation
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Alaina Getzenberg, ESPN
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — It took a bit of time for the Buffalo Bills to get going, but after falling behind 7-0 in the first quarter, they scored 10 straight points, taking the lead on a 5-yard rushing touchdown by James Cook.
James Cook puts the @BuffaloBills in front!
?: #DENvsBUF on CBS/Paramount+
?: Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/Ontl1WB8ej— NFL (@NFL) January 12, 2025
The Bills scored points on each of their opening possessions, first with a 26-yard field goal by Tyler Bass after a 12-play drive.
On the following drive, the Bills’ offense went 81 yards on 13 plays, including a 9-yard rush by quarterback Josh Allen on third-and-3 to set up Cook’s touchdown.
The third-year running back had nine carries for 60 yards after his score. Earlier in the drive, Cook had a 16-yard run that gained 12.5 yards after contact, per NFL Next Gen Stats.
Cook had 3 yards after contact on his touchdown. After his TD, he had 27 rushing yards after contact, already his fourth-highest total in a game this season.
In the third quarter, Allen found a different way to score on fourth-and-short, throwing a 24-yard touchdown pass to running back Ty Johnson in the back of the end zone.
JOSH ALLEN. TY JOHNSON. WOW
?: #DENvsBUF on CBS/Paramount+
?: Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/mG8n29QALD— NFL (@NFL) January 12, 2025
The Bills completed a two-point conversion after the touchdown on a throw from Allen to wide receiver Keon Coleman. The score gave the Bills a 21-7 lead late in the third quarter.
The touchdown pass had a completion probability of 16%, the most unlikely touchdown of Allen’s career (regular season or postseason), per NFL Next Gen Stats. Allen was forced to scramble under pressure, looking for an available receiver, before locating Johnson in the back of the end zone. The pass came in low, and Johnson came down with the ball as he rolled to the ground. He ran all the way from the left side of the field towards the right to get open for Allen.
The play was reviewed but stood. Allen went 6.78 seconds before throwing the pass, which was Johnson’s fourth reception of at least 24 air yards (regular season and postseason) this year. No other running back has done it more than once.
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Brooke Pryor, ESPN Staff Writer
PITTSBURGH — The last thing members of the Pittsburgh Steelers see before reaching the inner sanctum of their locker room at Acrisure Stadium are steely silver letters mounted on a black cinder block wall. They spell out the same phrase coach Mike Tomlin repeats countless times a day: The Standard is the Standard.
With six Lombardis proudly displayed in the trophy case, the established standard of the prestigious franchise is a world championship. But with five straight postseason losses dating back to 2016, the Steelers have fallen short.
They enter Saturday’s prime-time wild-card game against the Baltimore Ravens (8 p.m. ET, Prime Video) having finished 10-7 — but on a four-game losing streak that cost them the AFC North title.
It’s been eight years since their last playoff win and 14 years since a Super Bowl berth. Tomlin’s lone Super Bowl win was nearly 16 years ago.
“What you mentioned is my story,” Tomlin said Monday, asked about the streak of playoff losses. “It’s not this collective’s story. Many of these guys involved do not tote those bags. I happily tote those bags, but it’s not something that I’m going to project on the collective.”
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Exactly 357 days earlier, Tomlin expressed the same sentiment to the Steelers’ team website ahead of the Steelers’ last attempt to break the cycle, a wild-card loss at the Buffalo Bills.
“It’s not their burden to bear,” Tomlin told the site last January. “I don’t ask them to tote my luggage. I don’t project my luggage onto them. … Sometimes you’re kidding yourself if you think history like that is important to guys who weren’t a part of it. It’s not.”
Despite the playoff skid, team owner and president Art Rooney II extended Tomlin a three-year contract extension prior to the 2024 season. But Rooney was also firm in his desire to snap the streak in last year’s end-of-season news conference.
“There’s an urgency,” Rooney said then of winning a playoff game. “I think everybody, myself, Mike, guys that have been on the team for a while … everybody, we’ve had enough of this. It’s time to get some wins. It’s time to take these next steps.”
And yet, despite appearing to take a step forward with a new quarterback room and an 8-2 start, the season-ending slide has seemingly put the Steelers farther away from breaking their one-and-done playoff cycle, let alone from a deep postseason run. The Steelers enter the playoffs in a frustratingly familiar spot as the albatross of the franchise’s longest playoff drought of the Super Bowl era enshrouds the legacy of a proud organization and the future Hall of Fame head coach who famously hasn’t had a losing season.
But to the Steelers faithful, never losing means a lot less if their team isn’t winning in the postseason.
EVEN IN THE wake of another first-round loss, members of the Steelers walked off the snowy Buffalo field a year ago feeling they were on the precipice of ending the drought. The team weathered a slew of injuries and inconsistent quarterback play to rally for the No. 7 seed.
With a solid, young nucleus of offensive skill position players — running back Najee Harris, wide receiver George Pickens and tight end Pat Freiermuth — to complement a veteran defense, the Steelers appeared a couple pieces away from being a contender.
“I do feel that we’re closer this year at this stage of the game than we were at this point last year,” Rooney said at the season-ending news conference. “I thought we had a really solid rookie class, a few guys that really stepped in as solid starters for the future. Need to do that again. Need to have another good draft class. I think we have a core group of players that we can compete [with.] I think the biggest thing we need is quality play at the quarterback position.”
For most of the season, the Steelers got that from Best of NFL Nation
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BEREA, Ohio — The Cleveland Browns’ disastrous trade for Deshaun Watson took another turn Friday, as the team announced the quarterback tore his right Achilles tendon again and underwent a second surgery.
In a statement, the team said Watson’s “recovery time and return to play status is uncertain, and he will likely miss significant time during the 2025 season.”