Mike McCarthy lets Cowboys off the hook for awful start, fires back at Troy Aikman

The bye week could not have come at a better time for the Dallas Cowboys. When last we saw them, they were getting absolutely blasted at home by the Detroit Lions to fall to 3-3 and make clear just how far this team was from the cream of the NFC crop. The defense is among the worst in the league against the run and dealing with injuries to star pass rushers Micah Parsons; the offense can't run the ball at all, or find anyone to throw to outside of CeeDee Lamb. With the team's long-time bugaboo, the San Francisco 49ers, on tap next, there's no shortage of areas to work on.

Of course, the extra week is only hopeful if your head coach is able to identify what you need to work on in the first place. And right now, it doesn't seem like Mike McCarthy can pass even that basic test — at least if his most recent press conference can be believed.

Mike McCarthy refuses to hold Cowboys accountable after Troy Aikman criticism

Hall of Famer Troy Aikman made waves last week when he lit into the Cowboys receiving core for what he perceived as a lack of effort in their routes.

"I think the routes are terrible," Aikman said. "I think they run terrible routes. And I've thought that beyond this year. I think CeeDee (Lamb) has got to improve in his route running. As a quarterback, if you're not certain where guys are going to be consistently, it's hard to play the position. That's what I see. I see guys lazy coming off the line of scrimmage. Sometimes they run, usually if they do, it's because they're anticipating they're going to get the football on that play, but if they're not, they don't."

Harsh words, to be sure. But given the state of the Dallas offense right now, and the regression we've seen from this passing game from last year, also hard to disagree with. McCarthy, however, doesn't think that Aikman had much of a point, saying that the former QB's comments "don't carry any weight with me" and adding "I don't agree with the word selection".

In fairness to McCarthy, this is a bit of an impossible situation to be in. It's clear that his team isn't playing well, but he also can't get up on the podium and essentially call his receivers lazy in the media. The only thing that's going to fix this improved play ... but, well, therein lies the problem. It's become abundantly clear that McCarthy doesn't have the solutions to what ails this Cowboys offense, or the team overall. If he did, we surely would've seen it by now — but instead all we've seen is continued dysfunction. It's all well and good for McCarthy to appeal to the tape; if he were able to correctly interpret what the tape was telling him, though, Dallas wouldn't be in this situation in the first place.