NY Giants-Dallas Cowboys questions, answers: Mike McCarthy to New York?

We have mercifully reached NFL Week 18, the end of another disappointing New York Giants season. That means it is our final ‘5 questions’ segment of the season. We turn to an old friend, Dave Halprin, of Blogging The Boys for some insight. Halprin has some advice for Giants ownership — Just Say No to Mike McCarthy.

Ed: The Micah Parsons trade is still the big story of the Dallas season. As we get to the end, what is the perspective on whether or not the Cowboys did the right thing by moving on from Parsons?

Dave: I don’t think the perspective has changed, at least for me. It was a bad idea then and a bad idea now. Sure, it’s nice having the extra first-round pick and Quinnen Williams, and who knows how it will turn out down the road, but Parsons’ talent is a game-changer. You just don’t give up generational talent that plays one of the most important positions in football. The Cowboys pass rush this season was bad, along with the rest of their defense. Even before Parsons’ trade, stats showing the difference between when Parsons played and when he didn’t in previous seasons were stark. Ask the Packers about that over the last few weeks. He really lifted our defense. Moving him did give us more contract maneuverability to sign people, so you can stack together reasons why it might make sense. But special talent at pass rusher is a rare commodity, everybody wants one.

Ed: What are your impressions of Brian Schottenheimer after his first year as the Cowboys’ head coach? This was an unexpected move to Jerry Jones. Has Schottenheimer done enough to make it look like the right one?

Dave: My perspective on this actually did change over this year. When it was first announced, I thought this was just a Jerry Jones special, someone he was comfortable with that he could control. But Schottenheimer has proven he’s got skills. He assembled an excellent offensive coaching staff, and modernized the offense to work better in this age of football. More pre-snap motion, more play-action, smaller splits that help with the running game. Running and passing out of the same formation to keep the defense unsure. He also navigated through a tough season with the Parsons trade, the death of Marshawn Kneeland, and an under-performing, injury-riddled defense that has a coordinator (Matt Eberflus) that many believe was hand-picked by Jones, not Schottenheimer. We have issues to fix in Dallas, but no one is talking about Schottenheimer as being one. His players truly like him, and he has the right mix of being a player’s coach and being a disciplinarian in him.

Ed: Dallas waived former All-Pro cornerback Trevon Diggs this week. Why, and why now?

*Dave: Well, there are reports about a travel disagreement between Diggs and Schottenheimer around Christmas and flying home with the team, which you can read about here. But that just accelerated what was going to...