MAD MIKE McCARTHY

By Marc Lawrence — If you missed the Cowboys’ game last Sunday, congratulations. Because, as ESPN’s Dan Grazziano put it – it was pure garbage. On an NFL weekend of wild finishes, comebacks, close games and star-caliber performances on every screen you could muster, the Cowboys traveled to the nation’s capitol to kick a field goal. Oh, there are plenty of excuses. Dallas is missing four starting offensive linemen and its starting quarterback. Backup quarterback Andy Dalton got knocked out of the game because of a concussion on a dirty hit and was replaced by rookie seventh-round pick Ben DiNucci. The Cowboys clearly have not picked up new defensive coordinator Mike Nolan’s scheme, which must involve some sort of hyper-advanced calculus that Nolan just invented this past March or something. There are plenty of reasons why the Cowboys are 2-5 and ahead of only the Giants in the historically weak NFC East, but regardless of any or all of them, they expected to be a lot better than this. All of which makes Mike McCarthy mad as hell as puts him squarely on the hot seat. To read more on that and for a review of the overreactions on last week’s games click here.

Trending Today

It was reported that Wisconsin QB Graham Mertz, who was 20-of-21 for 248 yards and five TDs in his debut with the Badgers last week, had tested positive for COVID. Now word comes out that third string backup, Chase Wolf, has also tested positive. As both were antigen tests, the players will need to take a PCR follow-up test to confirm whether or not they are actually positive. Wisconsin is already without starting quarterback Jack Coan, who suffered a foot injury in preseason practice and underwent surgery October 6. Coan, who started 18 games for the Badgers the past two seasons, is out indefinitely. Redshirt junior Danny Vanden Boom likely would be the next quarterback in line if both Mertz and Wolf are out. Stay tuned.

Grinding Out The Profits

From this week’s PLAYBOOK FOOTBALL NEWSLETTER: Texas A&M is 5-10 SU and 1-14 ATS when playing with rest during the regular season, including 0-13 ATS versus greater than .400 foes. The Aggies host Arkansas on Saturday.