COVID more than a cold, Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy says as team returns to full strength

The Dallas Cowboys are technically COVID-19 free and back to full strength, just in time for the season-ending five-game stretch run that begins Sunday against the Washington Football Team, which is second place in the NFC East and just two games back.

Five coaches and right tackle Terence Steele returned to the building on Wednesday. Coach Mike McCarthy will return on Thursday and cornerback Nahshon Wright on Friday because of testing protocols. They all missed Thursday’s 27-10 victory at the New Orleans Saints as defensive coordinator Dan Quinn served as the interim head coach.

The Cowboys lead the league in players who have missed a game with COVID-19.

McCarthy said is feeling better after testing positive for COVID-19 on Nov. 29. He said the phone calls and Zoom meetings has tested his patience.

But he said the protocol experience has been quite an education for him, the Cowboys and his family. He cautions anyone who compares COVID-19 to the common cold.

“I’d say it’s definitely, it’s different,” McCarthy said. “I think anybody that’s had it would kind of echo those sentiments. It’s more than a cold. I think you have the symptoms that are similar, but your energy is affected early on. But yeah, there’s just such a variance to it. Watching my family go through it, the different symptoms that each person has to deal with. It’s definitely something you don’t want to have to deal with if you can avoid it.”

Because four members of McCarthy’s family contracted COVID-19, he plans to continue to stay in the hotel next to the Cowboys headquarters at the Star to make sure his “home space is 100% clear.”

He said his family is doing great and they don’t have any major issues but it has been a challenge.

“I feel very blessed to be able to get through this pretty seamlessly,” McCarthy said. “It hasn’t been a whole lot for me personally. It’s been a bigger challenge just with our family because it went through four other family members. So that’s definitely something you don’t want to deal with if you can avoid it.

“I think I’m just thankful that we’re fortunate to have the resources and the medical care to make sure everybody has passed through it properly.”

As far as the Cowboys are concerned, offensive line coaches Joe Philbin and Jeff Blasko, offensive assistant Scott Tolzien and strength and conditioning coaches Harold Nash and Kendall Smith are back at work after missing the Saints game.

The team has reopened the weight room and they are conducting meetings in person again.

“We’re back to a pretty normal protocol,” McCarthy said. “We actually expanded some of the meeting rooms just to be extra cautious. We’ve been able to have bigger rooms for our O-line and D-line is probably the only big change.”

If there is a positive note for McCarthy, it’s the timing of his COVID-19. He just missed one game. He is back for the final stretch run and he doesn’t have to worry about being tested until after the Super Bowl in February, if the Cowboys make it that far.

“I’m just thankful that it is behind me and, frankly, I can get back to my job full-time,” McCarthy said. “It’s a challenge, definitely, not being there every day, especially with what’s right in front of us, the Washington challenge. I’ll definitely look at it as a silver lining as obviously I don’t have to deal with [testing] for the next 90 days.”