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Todd Archer, ESPN Staff Writer
FRISCO, Texas – Who is to blame for the Dallas Cowboys’ 1-2 start?
According to a poll from WFAA-TV in Dallas, the answer is pretty clear among more than 70% of voters: owner and general manager Jerry Jones.
“It’s fair enough,” Jones said on the “Shan and RJ” show on 105.3 The Fan. “You also know that no final decision is made here for what I agree or approve. It is very fair. How can you think otherwise, what is the coach, what is playing outside, what is the stadium that you pass, what is anyone here?
“Now, I’m just saying this. Did I have a lot of input in making that decision? When he’s done his homework, he’s had a lot of influence on me and I have a lot of people in Dallas. The Cowboys have done their input.”
Jones has taken the brunt of criticism when it has gone too far for the Cowboys since he became the owner and general manager in 1989. Since the playoff loss to the Green Bay Packers in January, fan frustration has been high with the current Super Bowl drought. 28 seasons. In the Cowboys’ two home games against the New Orleans Saints and Baltimore Ravens, the team’s fans turned out in large numbers and drowned out the Cowboys fans.
“I think I was baptized when I first came to Dallas and bought the Cowboys and won one football game,” Jones told The Fan. We’ve made changes, changed the only coach in 29 years (Tom Landry) and got the big criticism and the kind that will make what you see now child’s play. … You’re dealing with nothing but a lot of emotion about our team. It never surprises me that from the state of Texas in the case of the Cowboys or all over the country in the case of the Cowboys and it’s there because they want to see us know what they’re kicking or it’s there because they’re following us. Answer: The thing that inspires me the most is the emotion about it, but of course, I see from it, I see criticism, but no one else sees from the score at the end of the game. Let’s put it that way.
“I know that you can have a lot of criticism. I was born here with the Cowboys. You can have a lot of criticism, and you can stop trolling that high trophy. And what is this about”.
The Cowboys’ struggles have come in areas of concern this season: the interior of the defensive line and the running game. The Cowboys are last in run defense through three games, allowing 185.7 yards per game. He has allowed 464 rushing yards in the last two games.
The Cowboys’ running game ranks 30th, averaging 73.7 yards per game and their longest of the season is a 12-yard gain by receiver CeeDee Lamb.
Jones defends the talent on the roster.
“I think we’re disappointed without a doubt and can see how we need to put this thing together better as a team, more coordinated — and I’m not just saying on defense — I’m saying defense, offense, all areas,” he said. Jones. “I have an opportunity to improve this, and that’s the biggest thing. We’re not going to be firing on all cylinders.
The last time the Cowboys started 1-3 came in 2020, Mike McCarthy’s first season as coach. He finished 6-10. Jones, however, stopped short of calling the game on Saturday against the New York Giants should they win.
“They in our division said quite right there, and we need a good game,” Jones said, “Do we have to win? We played 17 games. Some sports play over 150 games. It gets down in that with playing 150 games they are down to two or three games that you can look back and say, ‘They should have won.’ And for me, when I think about it, you might look back and say that the game that turned the corner, that’s the game that did that said that, but, boy, every possession is important for us and for every player and the trick is to play own, what’s the best thing that’s happened to you when you’re out there knowing everyone else is going to do the same thing, good things are going to happen.”
