Being a lifelong Dallas fan, February 25, 1989 is a significant date in franchise history; Jerry Jones bought the Cowboys’ from H.R. “Bum” Bright for $150 million and the organization would never be the same.
Jerry Jones is the Owner and GM of the Dallas Cowboys
Once a model of consistency, the Cowboys have become a model of ineptness. Throughout the nearly 20 years Jones has owned the franchise, Dallas’ only success can be attributed to one man – Jimmy Johnson.
The Cowboys have failed to win a playoff game since 1996 and haven’t made a Super Bowl appearance since 1995. Entering this season with a roster full of Pro Bowlers, Dallas was the fashionable choice to win the NFC championship.
On Saturday, Dallas lost to Baltimore 33-24, due mostly to defensive breakdowns late in the fourth quarter after the Cowboys had scored to trim the lead.
The two touchdown runs turned out to be the first time in NFL history that a team has had a touchdown run of 75-plus yards on consecutive plays from scrimmage.
How the Cowboys’ lost was a microcosm of their season – penalties, turnovers, mental mistakes and a lack of leadership all contributed to Dallas losing their last game at Texas Stadium.
While the Cowboys remain alive in the playoff chase after Sunday’s losses by Philadelphia and Tampa Bay, it has become clear that Jones needs to fire himself as Dallas’ General Manager.
With each passing day Jones and the Cowboys are becoming more like George Steinbrenner and the New York Yankees. Money doesn’t win championships and surrounding yourself with a bunch of “yes” men doesn’t benefit the organization.
Jones’ ego has inflated to the point where he honestly doesn’t know he’s degenerated into one of the worst GMs in the history of the National Football League.
His propensity to hire head coaches that serve only as puppets has proven to be no different with the Wade Phillips experiment than it was with Chan Gailey and Dave Campo.
Jones’ love affair with offensive coordinator Jason Garrett has also proven costly. The man who is widely regarded as being the heir apparent to Phillips, Garrett’s lack of experience is being exploited by opposing defensive coordinators.
On Saturday, quarterback Tony Romo said, “We just could not figure out what they were doing defensively.” But then, all of a sudden, we did.”
Romo was referring to the first three quarters in which the Dallas offense could only muster seven points against the Ravens defense.
So it took Garrett – a man making $3 million annually – three quarters to figure out what Baltimore was doing defensively to shut down the Cowboys offense.
Jones’ constant poor decision-making has led to questionable personnel moves, bringing in the likes of Terrell Owens, Pacman Jones and the Roy Williams’ trade that mortgaged the Cowboys’ future.
Owens’ and his back-stabbing, finger-pointing ways has perpetuated an atmosphere that former coach Bill Parcells knew would come to fruition. Anyone wondering why Parcells’ decided to retire following the 2006 season need only to look at the Cowboys this season.
Through it all, there has been one constant. That being Jones’ and his non-existent football acumen. Jerry is, as always, football stupid.
Like many organizations, the Cowboys’ chances of earning a Super Bowl berth are already starting to dwindle. The window of opportunity only remains open for so long, and in the Cowboys’ case, that window has perhaps another season to achieve its ultimate goal.
Once that window is closed, it could mean Dallas will have to undergo another overhaul – starting with a new head coach and re-tooling the roster yet again.
But the biggest overhaul should come in the front office, with Jones’ relieving himself of his GM duties.
Until Jones’ shelves his ego and recognizes that he needs to hire a general manager that actually knows how to run the day-to-day, the Cowboys will continue to wallow in mediocrity.
That’s funny, “But the biggest overhaul should come in the front office, with Jones’ relieving himself of his GM duties”. Whenever I think of the GM job the JJ has done with the cowboys, the phrase “relieving himself” comes to mind.
MoonDog
The funny thing is that both Jones and Trump are viewed as consummate businessmen. And in many respects they both are in their own way. Another thing that the two also have in common is that neither are prepared to admit to their own mistakes when they’re wrong. Trump’s a narcissist of the highest order and Jones isn’t that far behind.
That being said what’s now happening to the Cowboys is totally deserved and it couldn’t have happened to an organization known for its own excess.
Should they fail to make the playoffs you can be sure that Wade Phillips’ a$$ will be shown the door and then the Jason Garrett era will begin.
As for TO God knows what’ll happen as to his future. If he’s not bitchin’ or kvetchin’ ’bout somethin’ he’s never actually happy.
tophatal…………..
I couldn’t have said it better. I love the Dallas Cowboys. They are my team and they always will be my team, no matter how difficult Jerry Jones makes it for me. I love the fact that Jerry will spend the money to win Super Bowls, but what he will never understand is, unlike other sports (See the Yankees and Celtics) you can’t buy Super Bowls. You win Super Bowls in the draft, salary cap management, and tough, disaplined coaching. That’s how Jimmy Johnson did it. I hate what this team has become. A bunch of me first pre-madonna’s coached by Captain Kangaroo. Their soft, poorly coached, no disapline, and other teams are just laughing at us.
Matt Halen
So succinctly put. Jones’ template for success is becoming outmoded . And if they can’t learn to develop from within and at the same time have the right sort of coaching and executive staff in place. Then they’ll still be in with more years of sheer mediocrity as far as the postseaon is concerned.
tophatal ………….