Cowboys HC Mike McCarthy laments key mistakes in loss to Dolphins, vows to be 'road warriors'

The opportunity was there for Dallas to flip the script, but Sunday's loss to the Miami Dolphins continued the ongoing road struggles.

Head coach Mike McCarthy hopes it will be looked back on as a learning experience for the playoff-bound Cowboys.

"It was a hard-fought game," McCarthy on Sunday, via the team's official website. "It gives you a taste of if we have to go on the road to get this done, and there's a lot that we can draw from this. We're disappointed because we had some miscues. I had a horse---- backed up plan, and we were backed up twice and didn't move the field position, so we didn't help our defense out there.

"We didn't have a takeaway, but we had a giveaway. It's those big mistakes you can't make in these games, but I think the resilience, battle and grit that we're looking for -- we clearly have that."

Dallas fell to 3-5 on the road this season, and Sunday's razor-thin defeat resulted in the team's first losing streak of 2023. While the Cowboys are still in play for the NFC East title, which would offer a home playoff game (Dallas is undefeated at AT&T Stadium this season), McCarthy indicated the writing on the wall for what's to come in late January.

"We have to play better than we did today," he added. "We have to play above it on the road. Road warriors we will be."

It was a valiant team effort for the Cowboys, especially coming off a humiliating blowout in Buffalo last week.

Dak Prescott orchestrated a 17-play, 66-yard drive to get the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter, which was a scenario and sequence that allowed the Cowboys offense to prove itself under pressure. The Cowboys' defense also played well against the high-powered Dolphins, holding the league's top scoring offense to just one