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Cowboys coach dismisses road playoff woes of past 30 years

FRISCO, Texas -- The Dallas Cowboys took an interesting route this week in acknowledging that the organization has not won a road playoff game since the 1992 NFC Championship Game.

Coach Mike McCarthy showed the team 10 baby pictures of the 11 players on the current roster who were alive when the Cowboys beat the San Francisco 49ers to kick-start their 1990s dynasty on Jan. 17, 1993, at Candlestick Park.

"The reality of it is, we have zero responsibility to what's happened here in the past, all the way back even to the San Francisco game," McCarthy said. "This is about our opportunity. It's about what's in front of us. It's about what we've accomplished on our journey through the regular season, the things that we've learned from the things that didn't go the way we wanted them to go and how we apply that to this one game. And how it's going to help us win the game. That's really the message of it."

The Cowboys will go on the road to take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Monday's wild-card round (8:15 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN/ESPN+).

The players who were alive when the Cowboys beat the 49ers in 1993: linebacker Anthony Barr, defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence, defensive tackle Johnathan Hankins, cornerback C.J. Goodwin, right guard Zack Martin, right tackle Tyron Smith, wide receiver T.Y. Hilton, kicker Brett Maher, punter Bryan Anger, snapper Matt Overton and tackle Jason Peters.

Cornerback Xavier Rhodes would be the 12th if he is called up from the practice squad to play against the Buccaneers.

"[1992,] 2023, that means nothing," safety Jayron Kearse said. "None of those guys are in the league. This is a totally different team."