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Jerry Jones on Cowboys' rushing woes: 'It was so bad that it can't be that bad'
11:43 PM CDT on Tuesday, August 31, 2010
SportsDayDFW.com
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was interviewed on KRLD-FM on Tuesday to discuss the team and their poor play against the Texans in the preseason. Here are some highlights:
The Cowboys are facing a lot of questions after being defeated by the Houston Texans on Saturday. What are your general thoughts on what happened that exhibition game?
I understand those questions and you always like, no matter if you’re going down the field against air and throwing the ball, you like to move the ball and move the chains. But the good news is we’ve got almost two weeks to work on any of the kinds of things that stopped us the other night, and I think we will work on those things, such as signal to Felix Jones; we’ve changed the play and we’re going to pitch the ball out. That’s a technical issue that they can work on. They can get some help getting the word to Felix and the fullback or they can do a hand signal.
So, those are the kinds of things that you do in preseason but I expect us to work on the mistake-side of it, some of the things we didn’t pick up in the offensive line there early that sacked Romo. Those are things that aren’t unique to game planning. You just had a couple of mistakes that the guys are going to have to pick up and it’s something that they pick up everyday and have for years. So, it’s a combination of things, we just…we’ve got two weeks to work on it and that’s the way it works. What you got to remember is that if a team does not really prepare game plan, a player doesn’t really prepare his game plan, he usually doesn’t play well in the game. And I do give some credit, it’s not an excuse, but I do give some credit to the fact that we’ve gone in playing vanilla on both sides of the ball and should do better when we prepare for the team that we’re playing.
On the critics pouncing on the Cowboys for rushing for 13 total yards:
I agree with that. It was so bad that it can’t be that bad, so let’s just leave it at that and know that we can do better than that. One of the things they were doing was certainly doing 8 or 9-man fronts. You’ve got to throw the ball, you’ve got to take it deep, you’ve got to throw it to the outside when a team lines up on you like that. We did not do that. When we decided to come out the second half, we decided if they’re going to stay with 8 and 9-man fronts, that was their first group out there, we went right down the field. When we decided to throw it deep and take it outside, that’s what you do in a ball game. Now, let me just say this: the Texans outplayed out played us the other night. They out-everything’d us that you do in football and we’ve got to be proud that that doesn’t happen to us and not expect it to happen to us when we get it for real and get it in a regular game.
Here’s the thing that I always go back to, the best preseason that I think I’ve ever been involved in, was the first year I was with the Dallas Cowboys, 22 years ago. We almost went undefeated; [Dan] Reeves left [John] Elway in the game five quarters against us in Denver to keep us from going undefeated in preseason. We won three and lost one. In the regular season, we won only one football game. The years that we’ve had some of our worst preseasons, we’ve gone and won Super Bowls. So I look to that but the main thing is that we’ve got some things that we really need to work on, most other teams do too. I’m very confident that this team is a veteran team with a lot of guys competing with young players and I know the staff and I feel good that we’ll be ready to play when we play the Redskins.
How much validity is there in the fact that the Cowboys have done a lot of traveling this preseason and the players are all just thinking of their families and going home?
There could be some of that and the most that we’ve ever traveled, the most, we went to Europe , we went to Tokyo and played five football games. The most we’ve ever traveled, we won a Super Bowl every year.
What your thoughts on the Cowboys’ offensive line? When is the team expecting Marc Colombo and Kyle Kosier to return to the lineup?
Well, he could be back, no one knows, but it’s looking good that he’s back and when he does, he ought to be in better shape. That was a very positive surgery that he had to remove those things out of his knees and he should be back. And I look for Kosier to be back. The real good news is that [Montrae] Holland really played really well against San Diego, probably took a little step back against Houston but still Holland has shown us he’s everything we want him to be. [Alex] Barron, in particular, has shown that he’s ready to play and so, in Holland and Barron, Holland at guard and Barron at tackle, either tackle, we really have as good a depth as we have had and so with a healthy Kosier, which we can get him back pretty soon, and with a healthy Colombo, which we’ll have back for the first game, I really like the depth that we’ve established with veteran players. We’ve gotten something accomplished in camp there.
Will Dez Bryant be in action on Thursday against Miami?
You wouldn’t want to see him if you don’t have your first groups out there. For sure you wouldn’t want to see him if you don’t do that and you really could have somebody take a shot or two that normally might be a little different because what you’re going to have out there, a lot of players that are trying to give their last ditch effort to make the 53-roster and that might be a little more than you for. We can be satisfied, I think, and it’d be enough if he has a good week of practice, as far as going into Washington.
The thing about those ankle sprains is they’re one of the toughest because a player feels and knows he can go. But you gain on it really good for the entire length of the season if you can stay off of it another week or another ten days or another two weeks. Stay off it in a competitive way; when you put that foot down on an impromptu basis and that’s in high competition, that’s a little different, a little higher risk than if you’re out knowing where you’re going to cut in the conditions of a practice. So, like I said, that would rule that out if we don’t play those starters, for sure.
To listen to the interview, click here.
• • •
11:43 PM CDT on Tuesday, August 31, 2010
SportsDayDFW.com
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was interviewed on KRLD-FM on Tuesday to discuss the team and their poor play against the Texans in the preseason. Here are some highlights:
The Cowboys are facing a lot of questions after being defeated by the Houston Texans on Saturday. What are your general thoughts on what happened that exhibition game?
I understand those questions and you always like, no matter if you’re going down the field against air and throwing the ball, you like to move the ball and move the chains. But the good news is we’ve got almost two weeks to work on any of the kinds of things that stopped us the other night, and I think we will work on those things, such as signal to Felix Jones; we’ve changed the play and we’re going to pitch the ball out. That’s a technical issue that they can work on. They can get some help getting the word to Felix and the fullback or they can do a hand signal.
So, those are the kinds of things that you do in preseason but I expect us to work on the mistake-side of it, some of the things we didn’t pick up in the offensive line there early that sacked Romo. Those are things that aren’t unique to game planning. You just had a couple of mistakes that the guys are going to have to pick up and it’s something that they pick up everyday and have for years. So, it’s a combination of things, we just…we’ve got two weeks to work on it and that’s the way it works. What you got to remember is that if a team does not really prepare game plan, a player doesn’t really prepare his game plan, he usually doesn’t play well in the game. And I do give some credit, it’s not an excuse, but I do give some credit to the fact that we’ve gone in playing vanilla on both sides of the ball and should do better when we prepare for the team that we’re playing.
On the critics pouncing on the Cowboys for rushing for 13 total yards:
I agree with that. It was so bad that it can’t be that bad, so let’s just leave it at that and know that we can do better than that. One of the things they were doing was certainly doing 8 or 9-man fronts. You’ve got to throw the ball, you’ve got to take it deep, you’ve got to throw it to the outside when a team lines up on you like that. We did not do that. When we decided to come out the second half, we decided if they’re going to stay with 8 and 9-man fronts, that was their first group out there, we went right down the field. When we decided to throw it deep and take it outside, that’s what you do in a ball game. Now, let me just say this: the Texans outplayed out played us the other night. They out-everything’d us that you do in football and we’ve got to be proud that that doesn’t happen to us and not expect it to happen to us when we get it for real and get it in a regular game.
Here’s the thing that I always go back to, the best preseason that I think I’ve ever been involved in, was the first year I was with the Dallas Cowboys, 22 years ago. We almost went undefeated; [Dan] Reeves left [John] Elway in the game five quarters against us in Denver to keep us from going undefeated in preseason. We won three and lost one. In the regular season, we won only one football game. The years that we’ve had some of our worst preseasons, we’ve gone and won Super Bowls. So I look to that but the main thing is that we’ve got some things that we really need to work on, most other teams do too. I’m very confident that this team is a veteran team with a lot of guys competing with young players and I know the staff and I feel good that we’ll be ready to play when we play the Redskins.
How much validity is there in the fact that the Cowboys have done a lot of traveling this preseason and the players are all just thinking of their families and going home?
There could be some of that and the most that we’ve ever traveled, the most, we went to Europe , we went to Tokyo and played five football games. The most we’ve ever traveled, we won a Super Bowl every year.
What your thoughts on the Cowboys’ offensive line? When is the team expecting Marc Colombo and Kyle Kosier to return to the lineup?
Well, he could be back, no one knows, but it’s looking good that he’s back and when he does, he ought to be in better shape. That was a very positive surgery that he had to remove those things out of his knees and he should be back. And I look for Kosier to be back. The real good news is that [Montrae] Holland really played really well against San Diego, probably took a little step back against Houston but still Holland has shown us he’s everything we want him to be. [Alex] Barron, in particular, has shown that he’s ready to play and so, in Holland and Barron, Holland at guard and Barron at tackle, either tackle, we really have as good a depth as we have had and so with a healthy Kosier, which we can get him back pretty soon, and with a healthy Colombo, which we’ll have back for the first game, I really like the depth that we’ve established with veteran players. We’ve gotten something accomplished in camp there.
Will Dez Bryant be in action on Thursday against Miami?
You wouldn’t want to see him if you don’t have your first groups out there. For sure you wouldn’t want to see him if you don’t do that and you really could have somebody take a shot or two that normally might be a little different because what you’re going to have out there, a lot of players that are trying to give their last ditch effort to make the 53-roster and that might be a little more than you for. We can be satisfied, I think, and it’d be enough if he has a good week of practice, as far as going into Washington.
The thing about those ankle sprains is they’re one of the toughest because a player feels and knows he can go. But you gain on it really good for the entire length of the season if you can stay off of it another week or another ten days or another two weeks. Stay off it in a competitive way; when you put that foot down on an impromptu basis and that’s in high competition, that’s a little different, a little higher risk than if you’re out knowing where you’re going to cut in the conditions of a practice. So, like I said, that would rule that out if we don’t play those starters, for sure.
To listen to the interview, click here.
• • •
