QUINIX Sport News: NFL playoff news, coaching updates: Mike McCarthy out in Dallas, Commanders advance after doinked-in FG

Deion Sanders and Jerry Jones have spoken about the head coaching job in Dallas, according to multiple reports on Monday night. Though the Colorado head coach has denied interest in leaving the Buffaloes for the NFL, he’s apparently at least open to the Cowboys position.

With Mike McCarthy out of the picture now in Dallas, Could Prime would certainly be a choice for his replacement. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, “their talks will continue.”

For more on Deion Sanders and the Cowboys, click here.

Mike McCarthy has an interview scheduled with the Bears on Wednesday, according to David Moore of the Dallas Morning News.

News broke last week that the Bears were interested in McCarthy and requested permission from the Cowboys to interview him that the Cowboys denied. With McCarthy’s contract set to expire Tuesday, he’s free to interview with the Bears and anybody else starting Wednesday.

Pittsburgh’s upside is capped with Russell Wilson, but finding a quarterback to compete with the likes of Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen in the AFC is not a realistic goal. What are the Steelers to do?

For more read here.

Troy Aikman doesn’t quite agree with the Dallas Cowboys’ decision to part ways with Mike McCarthy. The longtime Cowboys quarterback and Hall of Famer ripped the organization on ESPN on Monday night.

“It suggests that there’s not a real plan … To say that it’s a coveted job, I’m not sure I would necessarily agree with that.”

Mike McCarthy will not re-sign as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, NFL Network reported and sources confirmed to Yahoo Sports’ Jori Epstein on Monday. (His original five-year deal expires Tuesday.)

For championship-starved Cowboys fans, the news was a bit infuriating — why the delay of a week, if not months, in making a coaching change? That’s a time period when top potential candidates have either come off the market or gone far down the road in the interview process with more aggressive franchises.

Then came the truly baffling, if telling, news. The reason for the parting was that after a week of meetings between McCarthy and team owner Jerry Jones, “the two sides could not come to terms on an agreement on the length of a new contract.”

The length of a new contract?

The length of a contract, from the ownership side, is twofold. One is to keep a coach from leaving if he is successful. The second is it sets the initial terms of a potential buyout if he needs to be fired early (either pay it all or perhaps negotiate down).

It’s a money equation.

Any consideration on the length of the deal suggests that Jones believed McCarthy was the best guy for the Cowboys job in 2025, but was prohibitively concerned about potentially doling out millions if he was wrong about it.

Read the full column here.

Mike McCarthy’s contract with the Dallas Cowboys ran out, and his time with the team has run its course.

McCarthy, whose contract expired after the 2024 season, won’t return as Dallas’ coach next season. NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported that the two sides were unable to come to terms on the length of contract, and decided to part ways.

The Cowboys finished 7-10 with several blowout losses, including a 41-7 defeat against the rival Philadelphia Eagles in Week 17 as Saquon Barkley surpassed 2,000 yards rushing for the season. McCarthy helped turn things around late in the, with winning four of five games after falling to 3-7. But it was time for a change.

Read more here.

Generations went by in the NFL and one thing held true for all but a few outliers: Rookie quarterbacks struggled, they didn’t carry their teams to the playoffs and they surely didn’t go on the road in the playoffs and win.

There were some rookie QBs who started for very good teams and were parts of playoff appearances and even some wins. Few were the driving force behind those clubs. Not many rookie quarterbacks throughout NFL history have been Jayden Daniels.

He helped the Washington Commanders beat the Tampa Bay Bucs 23-20 on a Zane Gonzalez field goal that bounced off the upright and in as time expired in Sunday’s wild-card playoff game.

Daniels looks nothing like a rookie and hasn’t since very early this season. He looks like a superstar already. Daniels was a key, yet again, in the Commanders’ win that sent Washington to the divisional round where they’ll face top-seeded Detroit on Saturday night. Daniels completed a fourth-down pass for a touchdown in the fourth quarter for the lead, and after the Buccaneers tied the game 20-20 with 4:41 left, he calmly led a drive for the win. As was the case all season, Daniels was completely unaffected in pressure situations.

Read more here.