Jerry Jones: “I don’t like the way we played tonight”

Tennessee Titans defeated the Dallas Cowboys in Arlington 28-14, and concluded Week 9, with one surprising win. This outcome wasn’t expected among most of the pundits, and for sure, by the owner of the hosts.

The Cowboys fans were pretty confident before the season started, that their team has a chance to reach this year’s playoffs. The same thing applied to the owner of the world’s most expensive sports franchise, Jerry Jones.

For the first time this season, Jones openly showed his dissatisfaction with his team’s performance.
“I don’t like the way we played tonight,” said 76-year-old billionaire, who thinks that the current record of his team is a huge setback. “I thought we would be sitting here with a positive result. This is a surprise to me and is a setback.

The Cowboys are 3-5, sitting at the third place of the NFC East, behind Washington Redskins (5-3) and the champions, Philadelphia Eagles (4-4). But for Jones, there is still time for changing things, and all those who think otherwise shouldn’t be involved in football.

“Losing a ballgame in the NFL, if that causes you to be deterred or to not think that there’s a future ahead of you, then you’ve picked the wrong world to operate in. That’s not the life we’ve chosen.”

Garrett’s Future Sure. For Now.

Most of the critics are pointing fingers towards Jason Garrett and Dak Prescot, saying that Cowboys’ coach could be without a job very soon. His offensive coordinator Scott Linehan is also one of the few persons who are under massive pressure of the media, and the public expects to see more changes among the coaching staff. To remind you, Dallas fired Paul Alexander, offensive line coach, last week.

But according to Jones, Garrett’s faith is safe. For now.

“No.” he said when asked about firing his head coach.
“Not tonight?” one of the reporters added.
“I didn’t say that,” Jones said. “I just gave a big old ‘no.'”

Garrett who was NFL’s Coach of the Year in 2016 has a current record of 70 wins and 58 in Texas. But what bothers the Cowboys nation, is the fact that in the last 8 years since he became the head coach, his team had only two playoff appearances and won just one game.

Prescott also needs to reassess his part in this bad situation. This is his third game this season with 5 or more sacks and 10th over the last two season in which he had multiple turnovers. In that category, the former NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year takes the top spot.

Nevertheless, Jones has a plan on how to turn the tables.

“I think we realize we have eight games to go, we’ve got a long way to go in this season,” Dallas owner said. “We want to play better than we played tonight, so I certainly think each individual and coach and front-office person is going to have to do better, including me.”

Next two Games are Crucial

In the next two weeks, the Cowboys are going to play two road games. One in Philadelphia against the division rival, and the next one against the Atlanta Falcons. We don’t need to say that these two games are crucial for this franchise and their playoff hopes. And possibly for their coach.

It is going to be a hard task, because the Cowboys haven’t won a single game this season outside Texas. On the other side, Philadelphia is the reigning champions, no matter their current performances. The Eagles can wake up any moment and start pounding really hard. The Falcons are feeling well lately. Matty Ice found his rhythm and his team won three straight. All odds are against Dallas in these meetings.

But who knows, maybe Prescott finds a connection with newly acquired Amari Cooper and starts producing numbers like in his rookie year when he threw 23 TD passes with just 4 interceptions. This would immediately create more space for Ezekiel Elliott, and in no time the Cowboys are back in game.

And Jason Garrett is safe. This time for real.