Opinion: Jerry Jones remains Dallas Cowboys’ biggest problem

The scene was all too familiar. Another embarrassing fall for the Cowboys. These losses now come in all sizes and shapes. Blowouts. Missed kick. Bad coaching. Awful quarterback play. Take your pick. This time: a 47-9 loss to Detroit.
The scene was all too familiar. A big loss followed by owner Jerry Jones speaking to the media. He’s done it so many times we get used to seeing it, but these images looked different. What I saw on the screen was someone who looked totally lost for answers. Oh, Jones tried to put up a brave front. When he was asked by a reporter if he was considering firing Mike McCarthy during the season, the Dallas owner replied he wasn’t getting into hypotheticals, and added: “Do you think I’m an idiot?” He repeated it again: Do you?
No, Jones is not an idiot. But one thing is clear. Jones has lost his fastball.
I’m not saying this because Jones is in his 80s. There are plenty of people his age who are remarkable. It’s not age. It’s something else.
The franchise looks lost on how to operate in the modern football world. Not off the field. Jones has that part on lock. On the field, they look slow and confused. When Jimmy Johnson was the coach from 1989-1993 (and the true football brain of the team) the Cowboys were quick and adaptive. Johnson isn’t just a Hall of Fame coach, he’s also one of the best general managers in league history. The way Jones runs the football part of the Cowboys pales in how Johnson did it. Jones has been unable to replicate what Johnson did.
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You can see the difference on the field now and throughout Jones’ post-Johnson ownership. Detroit on Sunday toyed with the Cowboys. The Lions were playing with their food by running trick plays and throwing deep while up big. Not only was there no fear, there was also no respect.
The game showed how lost the franchise is now, and it’s lost because Jones is lost.
Yes, others are involved in running Dallas’ front office but we all know everything Cowboys starts and stops with Jones.
On the outside, with its billion dollar evaluations and stunning home stadium, the Cowboys are stunningly modern. Even futuristic. But the actual football part of the team is old school, almost archaic, because it all runs too much through Jones.
If your response is that Jones has a wealth of football knowledge because he’s been doing it for so long, some of that is obviously true, but how much? Which football front office and coaching staff would you rather have now? The Cowboys or the Lions?
Some people will say Jones lost his fastball long ago but that’s not necessarily true. What’s happened is something not as obvious to the people who haven’t followed Jones his entire career. When Jones first entered the league, and for decades after, he was one of the truly great league innovators. Jones was a disruptor. He angered longtime owners like the late Wellington Mara from the Giants who believed Jones was selfish and didn’t care about the wellbeing of the sport.
What Jones was actually doing was pushing the league into the future. If there is one person most responsible for propelling the NFL into its current position as the country’s richest league, Jones is high on that list, if not No. 1. Not the commissioner. Not any other owner. It’s Jones.
It’s a remarkable contrast to what is happening on the field. The organization isn’t terrible. The Cowboys won 12 games last year. But Jones still hasn’t figured out football. Pure football. Not the cash. Not the salary cap or revenue sharing. The actual football. The coaching part of it. The locker room culture.
The way the league looked slow to adapt to Jones’ relentless pursuit of making money, Jones is slow to react to a changing NFL that never stops, never slows, constantly shifts and moves with such remarkable speed you can be quickly left behind.
If you want to see what the Cowboys should aspire to be, look at the Lions team that just crushed them. They have a brilliant front office and smart head coach. They draft well. There are weapons all over that team. It’s a wonderful culture and the franchise operates like a boxer with quick feet and even faster hands. They haven’t won Super Bowls (yet) but they are one of the great models for how a franchise should be built and run.
Yes, this scene was all too familiar. Jones meeting with the media and talking about another bad loss. Another humiliating one. That’s because Jones remains the biggest problem. Nothing will change until he does.