“I wanted the job,” admits Mike McCarthy, who lied to Jerry Jones at the Dallas Cowboys interview…

FRISCO, Texas — Mike McCarthy began his Dallas Cowboys tenure with a confession.

Maybe, just maybe, in his year away from coaching, he didn’t watch every play of the 2019 NFL season as he studied trends with a team of fellow ex-NFL coaches.

Sure, McCarthy analyzed Kellen Moore’s Cowboys offense and Dak Prescott’s best year as a quarterback among Pro Football Focus edits and clips that guided what he says are updated theories on situational football and the best schemes for an evolving game.

But when McCarthy described the breadth of his study for Cowboys owner Jerry Jones during a 12-hour interview, Jones’ new coach admits he stretched the truth.

“I need to confess: I told Jerry I watched every play of the 2019 season,” McCarthy said Wednesday during his introductory press conference. “I wanted the job. You do what you gotta do right?”

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McCarthy explained further after laughter died down.

“It was more about tracking the trends and seeing what people were doing,” he said. “And a big part of it, too, was watching players, watching some of these new offenses, really a couple of guys on defense we were able to study.

“With the Cowboys and their excellent offense, they were a big part of those studies. It was more situational specific.”

The detail didn’t bother Jones too much. McCarthy’s pitch for how he’d improve the Cowboys’ game plan, how he’d elevate Prescott’s game and more was enough to sell Jones and his sons during the late-night session as Saturday stretched into Sunday

But McCarthy’s public confession was one of several moments during his introductory press conference that spurred laughter from the audience. His ability to make light of situations, and spew self-deprecating comment after self-deprecating comment, was a marked difference from his predecessor.

Jason Garrett was often more candid with media in walk-off discussions during nine-plus years as Cowboys head coach. But he earned a reputation at the podium for being robotic, albeit polite, as he steered clear of any off-color comments. He left those to Jones, his often-interviewed owner.