McCarthy smashed watermelons to fire up Cowboys ahead of win over Vikings
Mike McCarthy spent one year out of football learning new coaching methods in preparation for his next gig. Now the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, McCarthy brought out an idea Saturday that was a smashing success.
As NFL Network's Tom Pelissero tells it, McCarthy gathered the team for a meeting Saturday night, ahead of their Week 11 contest with the Minnesota Vikings, and proceeded to take a sledgehammer to multiple watermelons.
#Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy pulled out a sledgehammer during Saturday night’s team meeting and smashed watermelons like Gallagher to emphasize their objectives. Players roared, then responded with an inspired win in Minnesota. @nflnetwork pic.twitter.com/oiUThTYuYJ
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) November 23, 2020
"Mike McCarthy gets up at the front of the room and says, 'Guys, I want to apologize, I don't think I did a good enough job emphasizing our objectives for the week, one of which is to hammer the ball out of Dalvin Cook's hands,'" Pelissero said.
"At that point, McCarthy pulls out a sledgehammer ... and someone rolls in a bunch of watermelons. Each one has a different objective written on it. McCarthy reads the objective on it. Bam! Smashes the watermelon."
The performance fired up the Cowboys and provoked Demarcus Lawrence to join the festivities. The defensive end took a sledgehammer to a watermelon with Cook's picture on it.
The Cowboys went on to defeat the Vikings 31-28. We'll see what kind of spread McCarthy wheels out ahead of Dallas' Thanksgiving Day game against the Washington Football Team.