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Todd Archer, ESPN Staff Writer
FRISCO, Texas — Who’s 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 the voters: owner and general manager Jerry Jones.
“That’s very fair,” Jones said Tuesday on the “Shan and RJ” show on 105.3 The Fan. “It’s well known that no decision is ultimately made here for what I either have acquiesced [to] or approved it. That’s very fair. How could you think otherwise, whether it be who’s out there coaching, whether it be who’s out there playing, whether it be the stadium you’re walking into? Whatever it is here, that’s the way it is.
“Now, let me just say this. Do I have a huge amount of input in making those decisions? When they’ve done their homework, they’re very influential input to me, and we’ve got a lot of people in the Dallas Cowboys that have done their input.”
Jones has taken the brunt of the criticism when things have gone poorly for the Cowboys since becoming 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 Super Bowl drought now at 28 seasons. In the Cowboys’ first two home games, against the New Orleans Saints and Baltimore Ravens, the fans of those teams came in large numbers and drowned out Cowboys fans.
“I guess I got baptized when I first came to Dallas and bought the Cowboys and we won one football game,” Jones said on The Fan. “We had made changes, changed out the only coach for 29 years [Tom Landry], and we got huge criticism and the kind that would make what you’re seeing now child’s play. … You’re dealing with anything but a lot of emotion about our team. It never ceases to surprise me both from the state of Texas in the case of the Cowboys or all over this country in the case of the Cowboys and it’s either there because they want to see us get our you-know-what kicked or it’s there because they’re following us. The thing that inspires me the most is the emotion about it, but it certainly, I’m aware of it, aware of criticism, but not any more aware than that score at the end of the game. Let’s put it like that.
“I’m aware that you can have a lot of criticism. I was born of that here with the Cowboys. You can have a lot of criticism, and you can end up trolling those trophies high. And that’s what this is about.”
The Cowboys’ struggles have come in areas of concern entering the 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. They have allowed 464 rushing yards in their past two games.
The Cowboys’ running game is ranked 30th, averaging 73.7 yards per game, and their longest run of the season is a 12-yard gain by wide receiver CeeDee Lamb.
Jones defended the talent on the roster.
“I do think that, while we’re disappointed without a doubt and can really see how we need to really put this thing better together as a team, more coordinated — and I’m not just saying within the defense — I’m saying defense, offense, the entire area,” Jones said. “I think we have a chance to improve on this, and that’s the big thing. We’re not hitting on all cylinders. If we were, that’d be real concerning.”
The last time the Cowboys started 1-3 came in 2020, Mike McCarthy’s first season as coach. They finished 6-10. Jones, however, stopped short of calling Thursday’s game against the New York Giants a must-win.
“They’re in our division; that says enough right there, and we need a good game,” Jones said, adding, “What’s a must-win? We play 17 games. Some sports play over 150 games. It gets down in those with playing 150 games that they get down to two or three games that you could look back and say, ‘They must win.’ And to me, when I think about it, that’s the case. You might look back and say that’s a game that you turned the corner, that’s a game that you did that. And I don’t mean to sound cavalier when I’m saying it, but, boy, every possession is an important possession for us and for each player. And that’s the trick, is play the possession, do the best that you’ve got in you. When you’re out there knowing everybody else is going to do the same thing, good things will happen.”