
Getty Image
The Dallas Cowboys headed into Sunday’s showdown with the 49ers hoping to break a fairly dubious streak, as a franchise that had lost all six of the NFC Divisional games it had appeared in since 2008 was hoping the seventh time would be the charm.
Unfortunately, that did not turn out to be the case.
Brett Maher was largely able to avoid being painted as the scapegoat despite getting off to a shaky start, but there was still plenty of blame to go around following the team’s 19-12 loss to San Francisco. It didn’t take long for fans to start burning Dak Prescott jerseys after the quarterback failed to step up when it mattered, and head coach Mike McCarthy also caught plenty of heat for his lackluster gameplan (including the call that saw Dallas go out with a whimper).
McCarthy was understandably frustrated following the contest, and he was subjected to a fair amount of backlash courtesy of a photo that appeared to show him forcefully shoving a cameraman while walking to the locker room.
However, it appears the reactions to that picture may have been overblown.
On Monday morning, Noah Ballard (the cameraman in question) hopped on Twitter to try to clear the air a bit and absolve the coach of any serious wrongdoing.
The NBC5 employee acknowledged McCarthy pushed his lens when he approached the skipper but made it clear he wasn’t particularly bothered by the move, and he also said the head coach took the time to meet with him and issue a personal apology for reacting in the manner in which he did in the heat of the moment.
Thank you to everyone that has reached out regarding the Mike McCarthy incident. I can see how the photo appeared like he pushed me but it was more of a hand to the lens. I did meet with coach McCarthy privately in his office and he did apologize. @NBCDFW #DallasCowboys pic.twitter.com/LuOfPVRqhq
— Noah Bullard (@noah_bullard) January 23, 2023
That should settle that.