Jerry Jones sticking with Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy

OXNARD, CALIF. (AP) » Describing himself as playing a game of poker, Jerry Jones acknowledged he had options for who would be the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys this season.

In retaining Mike McCarthy for a third year, Jones decided the hand he held was worth playing a little longer.

“We won 12 games last year. I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t get a little bit of feel good out of those 12 games . ... That’s not enough. But it’s enough to go again,” Jones said.

Jones, the Cowboys’ owner and general manager, used the opening statement of a news conference Tuesday ahead of the start of training camp to deliver a defense of McCarthy following offseason of speculation about his job security.

“I want to be real clear. He wouldn’t be sitting here today if I didn’t think he was the man to lead this team to a Super Bowl. He would not be, and I have choices. So that’s not meant to be insensitive to anybody. That’s a fact,” Jones said.

McCarthy led the Cowboys to a 12-5 record, their best mark since 2016, and the NFC East division title this past season before losing 23-17 to the San Francisco 49ers in a wild-card playoff game at home. The chaotic nature of that defeat, in which Dallas ran out of time before being able to attempt a final play from the San Francisco 24yard line following quarterback Dak Prescott’s designed run, and a plethora of available candidates including offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, and former New Orleans Saints head coach and Dallas assistant Sean Payton resulted in a torrent of conjecture about McCarthy’s future.

Jones believes the Cowboys can continue to build on the regular-season success McCarthy had last year. That would represent significant progress for a franchise that has not made the postseason in consecutive years under the same coach since Chan Gailey in 1998-99.

“I think we’re in better shape today to make a run at it than when we were sitting here this time last year,” Jones said.

McCarthy said Jones’ public statement reflected their private discussions.

“I obviously have the opportunity to meet with Jerry in the GM, the head coach realm, and our conversations are about partnership, direction, vision,” McCarthy said. “But also I do have the opportunity to speak to Jerry as the owner to the head coach. ... I think it just really is in line with our conversations, and that’s really where my focus has always been is on this partnership.”

McCarthy signed a fiveyear contract in January 2020. He is 18-15 in his first two seasons with the Cowboys and 143-92-2 overall in 15 seasons as an NFL head coach, having led the Green Bay Packers to the Super Bowl in the 2010 season.

However, with his typical flamboyance, Jones offered reminders that how he feels about McCarthy and the team could be different in a few months.

Asked how he communicates the urgency to return to a Super Bowl to the organization, Jones replied: “Told ‘em I got a birthday coming up here real quick. I don’t have time to have a bad time. It ain’t on my schedule.”

Following some chuckles from assembled reporters, Jones said, “I’m not so sure that’s a joke. That’s the way it is.”

NOTES: Jones said there has been no guidance if CB Kelvin Joseph will face discipline under the NFL’s personal conduct policy.