Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy reportedly motivated his team by smashing watermelons with a sledgehammer

• Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy used a sledgehammer to smash watermelons with objectives written on them in a team meeting.
• Cowboys players reportedly went wild as McCarthy got soaked.
• The Cowboys then beat the Minnesota Vikings for perhaps their best win of the season.
• The Cowboys have the easiest schedule remaining in the NFC East and could make a playoff run.

Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy went to unusual lengths to motivate his team before Week 11.

The Cowboys beat the Minnesota Vikings, 31-28, on Sunday to move to 3-7 and within half a game of the NFC East lead.

According to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero, on Saturday night, McCarthy and the Cowboys met in a ballroom at the team hotel to go over the game plan. McCarthy, according to Pelissero, said he didn't do enough to make the team's game plans clear enough, including emphasizing the need to "hammer the ball out of [Vikings running back] Dalvin Cook's hands."

McCarthy then pulled out a sledgehammer as someone rolled into watermelons with different objectives written on them.

McCarthy went down the line, reading the objective, then hitting the watermelons with the sledgehammer, much to his players' delights.

"The players are roaring, McCarthy's pants are soaked," Pelissero said.

When he got to a watermelon with Cook's picture on it, Cowboys defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence said, "I gotta get that one!" and then hammered the watermelon, according to Pelissero.

The Cowboys have the seventh-easiest schedule remaining, according to ESPN's Football Power Index. Meanwhile, 538 gives them a 23% chance to make the playoffs, behind the 3-7 New York Giants, but ahead of the 3-6-1 Philadelphia Eagles.

No word yet on who cleaned up the watermelons.

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