Fans of the Dallas Cowboys are disappointed after their poor start to the 2024 season – and fingers are being pointed at owner Jerry Jones.
Dallas opened their season with a win over the Cleveland Browns, but followed that up with consecutive defeats to the New Orleans Saints and the Baltimore Ravens. Now, they’ve got a crucial Thursday Night Football game against the New York Giants coming up.
With tensions high, a poll from WFAA-TV in Dallas shows that 70 percent of voters blamed Jones for the rough beginning to the campaign.
Jones didn’t scold the fans for their feelings, telling the ‘Shan and RJ’ show on 105.3 The Fan, ‘That’s very fair.’
‘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.
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones says it’s ‘very fair’ for fans to point fingers at him
Cowboys fans have been struggling after last season ended in yet another playoff defeat
‘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.’
This season is not unique when it comes to criticizing Jones – who has taken the brunt of criticism after taking over the team as owner and general manager in 1989.
But fan frustration has been particularly high following a loss to the Green Bay Packers in the playoffs in January – bringing Dallas’s Super Bowl drought to 28 seasons.
‘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.
Jones has been the focus of criticism whenever the Cowboys lose since buying them in 1989
So far this year, Dallas’s rushing offense and defense have been among the worst in the NFL
‘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.’
So far Dallas has particularly struggled when it comes to the running game on both sides of the ball – sitting bottom of the league in run defense and third-bottom in rushing offense.
In spite of these glaring issues, Jones still believes the roster is talented enough to work itself out.
‘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.’
Dallas’s most recent 1-3 start came back in 2020 – which was the first season with Mike McCarthy at the helm. They ended up finishing that campaign 6-10.
With the game against the Giants in the Meadowlands coming up, Jones stopped short of calling it a ‘must win’ for their season’s prospects.
‘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.
The Cowboys have not started a campaign 1-3 since Mike McCarthy’s first season in 2020
‘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.’
