Jones gives off illusion of delusion
ARLINGTON, Texas — No wonder the Dallas Cowboys are schizophrenic. Owner Jerry Jones has gone from the Big Bad Wolf to Mister Rogers.
Less than a week ago, Jones went scorched earth on the coaching staff after a frustrating and disappointing loss to the Patriots in which he had hoped the Cowboys finally would live up to their potential.
They responded by going 10 toes up in an embarrassingly one-sided 26-15 loss to the Bills on Thanksgiving before an agitated home crowd at AT&T Stadium.
Instead of keeping with the anger of a few days earlier, Jones turned into Mary Poppins and full Pentecostal preacher at the same time while claiming to be coach Jason Garrett’s biggest supporter.
Now Jones believes the Cowboys (6-6) can win their final four games, make the playoffs and make a Super Bowl run with Garrett, who is in the last year of his contract, ultimately saving his job. Drunk. High. Dreaming. Fairy tale. Jones admits it all.
“Well, I’m saying here I know Jason very well,” Jones said. “I’ve had a wonderful opportunity to spend a football life with him. … Without a doubt, you’ve seen it, nobody wants Jason to go. I’m going to tell you right now, he’s got my back too.
“I’m looking ahead at winning four or five straight. Five straight and helping write a story they will talk about, how it looks like you’re down and out. And I mean that. That’s the way that I’m operating. Every decision that I make over the next month will be with an eye in mind to get us in the Super Bowl now.
“I would normally say, ‘You’re really smoking something.’ … But I know the room. I see the room, and I’m the one that OK’d and put the coaches in that room. I believe in this group.”
Confidence is usually based on demonstrated ability. Jones acknowledges his confidence in a turnaround is based on a pipe dream rather than substance.
The Cowboys are 0-5 against teams with winning records. They have lost six of nine since a 3-0 start. While they remain in first place in the NFC East, their final four games are against the Bears (6-6) on Thursday night at Soldier Field, followed by the Rams (6-5), Eagles (5-6) and Redskins (2-9).
“I don’t know that I would inject confidence anywhere in this thing relative to just the hanging on the mathematical chance,” Jones said. “The way I’m going to handle this is encourage everybody to basically look to the possibility of winning out and end up doing something that people will write about 30 years from now and being a part of that. I like that story as I eat my turkey better than having to choke with it going down.“
Told that’s a fairy tale, Jones didn’t disagree.
“Well, it’s just that,” Jones said. “But it was a fairy tale when I got to buy the Dallas Cowboys. It’s been a fairy-tale life to me, so I have always dreamed out there on the edge. I’ve been confused many times between my dreams and reality — but have surprised my own ass by finding out there was some reality in what a lot of people thought I was dreaming about.”
Jones is not the only one counting on doing something the Cowboys haven’t done all season. Quarterback Dak Prescott voiced the same optimism.
“We know we can do it because we control our own destiny,” Prescott said. “We control the work we put in. We control how we approach each and every day. We control how we prepare. I’m so confident in what we’re going to do.
“It’s the character of the room in there. We have to flip our mindset, that mentality, to be our best every single rep, every single thing that we do. It’s going to to pay off going forward.”
It hasn’t paid off yet. And time is running out, if it hasn’t already.
Why do the Cowboys think they will do something they haven’t done yet?
Why do they believe they will change who they have been through 12 games to something different and special over the last four?
“I’m just saying, OK, well, it is who you are,” Jones said when asked if being mistake-prone and not getting it done might be simply who the Cowboys are, before he turned into a preacher.
“It is who you are. OK. Do you believe in redemption? I am a redemption man too. So I think that you can change to some degree who you are. It may be in there bothering you, and it make bring the cold sweats out on you when you’re having to fight it. But I’ve seen people thwart their demons and still have productivity. And you’re looking at one.”
It’s probably not going to get the Cowboys to the playoffs and have Garrett keep his job, no matter what Jones believes.