00:00So we bring to you Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones. Good morning, sir.
00:06Hey, man. Good to be on with you. And I was listening about that Ford truck.
00:11And if I were selling a Ford, I don't know if any of the listeners will remember,
00:18but Ford Motor Company was the only one that didn't have to have government help
00:22when all of the automobile companies had to have federal bailouts.
00:26So if I were selling Ford trucks, I'd reach over and look at it, let them smell that leather,
00:32and I'd say, now, if you get in a ditch with a Ford, you don't have to call for help
00:37to get out.
00:38It'll come out on its own. So I think a lot of Ford.
00:42That is a good selling point right there.
00:45Now, I know the years have passed. The players' names have changed.
00:50But the Cardinals have still won eight of their last nine games against the Cowboys.
00:54They're 4-0 at AT&T Stadium. Do you believe in the concept of a team just having your number?
01:02Well, I think that stat you just gave me says that real good.
01:07They've got all out of 10, they've got all but one of our numbers.
01:11So we've got to change that. And it's real.
01:15I've been there. And, of course, we've seen it happen here as far as they've come out here with a
01:21win.
01:22That was such a disappointment last year when we got beat.
01:26But we've just got to really be at our best.
01:30It's going to be a real challenge.
01:32They are aware of their win streak.
01:34And so we've just got to really understand that you can't look at necessarily what the records of these two
01:42teams are out there Sunday.
01:44You know, and Jerry, throughout that week, that preparation week,
01:48is there anything that the coach or the players have to do to kind of remind themselves,
01:53hey, we can't let up during our preparation for this week?
01:57Do they need to, I don't know, hang some traps around the locker room or have some gas cans in
02:03some lockers?
02:04You know, you have the preparation that you get from the coaches and, if you will,
02:14any intellectual type thing that you might have.
02:18But really, motivation is within each player.
02:23And, yeah, he's got a lot of things that he can look to to motivate himself.
02:29But first and foremost, a player wants to play well and especially get his man or get who he's at,
02:40the primary place he's supposed to win.
02:42And it does boil down to that winning.
02:45So whatever you do on that man-to-man, the place in front of you,
02:51making sure that that receiver is in front of you all the time as a corner or as a safety,
02:59all of those things, in my mind, are a lot more important than these overall concepts about a team's record
03:06against you.
03:07Now, my co-host, for motivation, he's very self-motivated.
03:11But also, if you tell him he can't do something, that motivates him even more.
03:16So he loves to hear that.
03:17Jerry, what's the thing that, like, somebody says something to you that gets you all fired up?
03:22I think that you can't do it is a good one.
03:25It has always been a prime motivator for me.
03:31I seem to do my best when there's controversy or I seem really to do my best when it looks
03:40like the odds are stacked against you.
03:42I do my worst sometimes when I'm floating along up there counting my change,
03:47and all of a sudden I've got my mind off of the task at hand.
03:53And I don't know if you guys saw the article about our tight end and saw where when we played,
04:02I think it was either Green Bay or maybe it was Tampa,
04:08but he played against several players that he had played with in Minnesota.
04:13And he basically was talking about how he was really reluctant to put it in there, in other words, to
04:20hit.
04:20And he was reluctant to do that.
04:23And they basically shamed him into becoming what is probably the most physical player we have on the team today,
04:33physical as there is in the NFL.
04:35It just goes to show you, you have to call on yourself to really rise above it.
04:43I tell people in marketing that nobody likes rejection.
04:47You've got to go above that.
04:49There's no such thing as a natural salesman.
04:51I'm not so sure there's such thing as a natural hitter.
04:54You've got to actually mentally make yourself do it.
04:59Now, I know, have you ever gone up against an opponent and seen a player you were already kind of
05:07considering making a move for,
05:09and then that in-person performance against the Cowboys just kind of sealed the deal for you?
05:17That's rare because usually if he's played well against us, that just raised the ante or raised the possibility of
05:24making a trade for him.
05:26So I don't know that that is the case.
05:29Now, don't get me wrong.
05:30Boy, I've seen a lot of opposing players that I would love if I could snap our finger and make
05:37it work beyond the Dallas Cowboys.
05:39On the other hand, what I'd really like to see is our players make somebody else want to trade for
05:46him.
05:46I'd love, after we play Arizona, I'd love that phone ring off the wall right here before deadline,
05:52and everybody wanted to have five or six of our players that were so outstanding they wanted to trade for
05:57him.
05:57That means we played well.
05:59Would you be, would you readily take those calls if those calls came in?
06:04Absolutely.
06:06Absolutely.
06:07All the time.
06:08In terms of, no, there's no such thing as not entertaining.
06:16I go there, I know I'm being a little philosophical, but I go where I don't want anybody to know
06:24I'm going with my mind all the time.
06:26But just because you go there doesn't mean you would do it.
06:30But it's worth considering or worth thinking about.
06:35Yeah, it kind of puts you in the preparation, too, for it.
06:38You know, if something pops up that you kind of had something in mind.
06:41Seeing how much movement's already happening before the trade deadline,
06:44it kind of looks like there is an arms race happening amongst the NFC teams out there.
06:49Do you feel like you kind of have to keep up with that arms race as you're going here and
06:53trying to make your way?
06:55No, we've been firing at them pretty good this entire football year.
07:01And so I don't feel like I have to keep up with anybody.
07:06Should a situation in this particular case, you know you're going to have to give up some future.
07:12You're going to have to give up some consideration.
07:16Where we are right now, it would have to be a dynamic situation for us to give up picks
07:24because we've used some of those picks in our future.
07:28On the other hand, I don't like the idea of giving up, really, anybody that somebody else might want.
07:36We need him as bad as they do.
07:39I know a couple weeks ago, Jerry, you were pretty upset about what happened up front defensively.
07:44Do you feel like after the last couple weeks that you're seeing that you're a little tougher more up front
07:50on the defense,
07:51or do you feel like they're still not tough enough there?
07:53No, no, no.
07:54Tough is probably not the right word, but impactful would be the word.
08:01Impactful.
08:02I'm not even going to use the word intense because they are intense.
08:05What I really was talking about is we've really gone out of our way to build our interior on the
08:14defensive front.
08:16And they are outstanding by any imagination, our strength, as far as our defense is concerned.
08:23And so I just would like to see them be that kind of difference maker from the defensive side of
08:31the ball.
08:32Is that, I think you might have kind of answered this already, is that the biggest difference year over year
08:39for the defense that you see is the already higher level from the interior of the defensive line?
08:45Absolutely.
08:47We're making, not only are we making stops, but we're getting pressure.
08:53And it's coming from the interior.
08:55We've got the size.
08:57All you have to do is look at any of these games, and you can see here and see this
09:02more as we get on into the second half of the season.
09:06You'll see people saying, boy, you've got to be able to be strong against that run.
09:10You've got to, not like they did against us last week when they got the kickoff in the second half
09:18and kept that clock nine minutes.
09:19That normally right there will get you beat if somebody keeps that defense out there on that field for nine
09:27minutes at the kickoff.
09:28I really give it to, positively, to our team for withstanding that nine-minute defense on the field in the
09:37second half
09:38and coming and winning that football game.
09:41Is it keeping the defense on the field and fatiguing the defense?
09:46Is it that you're probably going to give up points in that scenario?
09:49Or is it they're preventing your offense from being back on the field, the biggest issue with really lengthy drives
09:55like that?
09:57Both, but I go the fatigue on the defense as the most damning.
10:03And so, boy, when you leg it up, you know, defensive players in general, especially the big boys,
10:12they don't play but about half the time that the offensive guys play, the big boys,
10:19because it's just the energy that's required to make the snap.
10:24On the other hand, when you have to be out there on an ordinate period of time early,
10:30especially when you've got the third and fourth quarter, you can lose those legs.
10:35And that can be so impactful as you get into that fourth quarter.
10:40Don't worry about the defense out there too long.
10:42You know, and you were just talking about in terms of getting off the field,
10:46so that's probably one of the answers, I'm sure.
10:48But Brian Schottenheimer talked a lot about inconsistency prior to the Eagles game.
10:53Outside of just the result of the games,
10:56what does consistency need to look like for you for the Cowboys against the Cardinals
11:01and beyond into the second half of the schedule?
11:06Well, be where you're supposed to be as much as anything.
11:11Be where you're supposed to be.
11:13And that's a challenge.
11:15That's a big part of this game.
11:17It's not just mental, but it's majority mental.
11:24And so being where you're supposed to be out there,
11:30earning your pass rush by manning your area that you're responsible for,
11:37then get to your pass rush,
11:38all of that can be involved in inconsistency if you don't do it right.
11:45I heard you talk with Sean and RJ and Bobby earlier in the week about Joey Porter
11:49and his effect on the game.
11:50I was kind of curious how Deron Bland has been adjusting
11:53and how you've seen him maybe change his game
11:56or just adjust to having Porter on the other side.
12:00When you've seen a player, and he's not restricted by physical, by injury,
12:05but when you've seen a player do it,
12:08and you've seen him do it multiple times,
12:11then you know he can do it.
12:12He can do it.
12:14And if there's not a diminished talent level because of age or years playing,
12:21and that's not the case with him, either one of those,
12:25then you know he can do it.
12:28Again, it's a question of getting in this scheme, coordinating, communicating.
12:33I know you hear that until you're sick of it,
12:35but that's what it's about.
12:37That's why that area has a real chance to get better as we go on into the season.
12:44And therein lies my optimism that we'll get better
12:50because those repetitions will make us communicate better
12:55and make it more effective.
12:56Now, the other thing is we've been without some pretty key players on our defense,
13:00but everybody's without players.
13:03That's the name.
13:04It's one of the big things about our game is attrition, availability.
13:08But we do have them coming.
13:10And so you can look to that,
13:13but you also got to understand you probably don't know where,
13:16but you're probably going to lose some players as you go forward too.
13:19So all of that is involved in pushing this thing to the end
13:25of where we can get in the playoff.
13:27You know, earlier in this interview, you mentioned Brevin Spanford,
13:30and I think he's somebody that we've all been very pleased by so far this season.
13:36On the flip side,
13:38why do you think it is that maybe Rashawn Gary just hasn't had the impact
13:42a lot of us anticipated thus far this season?
13:45Well, I think that, again, he's a part of a new group.
13:53I probably underestimated the challenge of coming in and changing out the coaches,
14:01changing out 60%, 70% of the personnel, and a new scheme,
14:06and how maybe even some new technique.
14:10All of those, I think, contributes generally playing
14:14because he's an outstanding football player.
14:18Does that, does that, I mean, obviously, I'm sure when you hired him,
14:21you wanted to keep Christian Parker around for a long time,
14:24but does that mean he just has like a little bit more leeway as well
14:28because you wouldn't want to get in a situation
14:29where you had five different defensive coordinators in five seasons?
14:34Well, I think that your last point that you made,
14:39that we have had that type of inconsistent, if you will,
14:45to overuse the word this morning.
14:47But when you have five different inputs at the highest level of your defense,
14:54you can see the challenge you've got.
14:57That's not good at all.
14:59On the other hand, he's such an outstanding individual, outstanding talent.
15:07He can and will get it done.
15:10We must recognize that, give him every opportunity,
15:17that he can focus on the job at hand.
15:20That means at times like this, you look at, well,
15:23let's cut down what we're trying to cover out there as far as his duties are concerned.
15:29Same way with all of us.
15:31I can't tell you how many times in my life that I've had to look in that mirror
15:35and just pare it down and say, boy, you can't concentrate but on these things,
15:41one or two or three things rather than 30.
15:44Jerry, and this is the last thing for you, and this is on a personal level.
15:47I got to take my daughter to see Ed Sheeran on Saturday at AT&T Stadium,
15:52and it was her first time there, and I'll tell you this, man,
15:55when she walked in, the magnitude of that stadium,
15:58like I just saw her eyes light up.
16:00It was an amazing thing.
16:01I was kind of curious, like how often do you get to see that
16:04when people walk into that stadium for the first time
16:06and you just kind of get to see them light up and look at that thing?
16:10A lot, a lot, and I do go to those events that are out there
16:16other than just the Dallas Cowboy football games,
16:20but I'm so proud of the people that work there.
16:26If you look at the cleanliness and the order,
16:31the squares are with the squares.
16:35The rectangles are with the rectangles.
16:37There's a very limited intellectual clutter,
16:41so it's very orderly.
16:43And if you'll look, you'll see the cleanliness,
16:46and you'll see some of the best things we've done investment-wise
16:50in the areas you'd normally see maybe not your highest priority,
16:56bathrooms or where you go.
16:59And I do that because when Al Michaels is sitting there
17:03talking to 20, 30 million people,
17:05I want him to talk about that you could either have a picnic down
17:09on the event floor.
17:11Well, we appreciate the time, as always.
17:14And just remember, Jerry, you told us
17:16when you're counting your changes is when you get distracted,
17:19so let's not be doing that, right?
17:20Lock it in.
17:24Boys, you guys got a memory like a...
17:28of whatchamacallit.
17:30It's pretty locked in.
17:32We don't forget much.
17:33It's good, guys.
17:34All right.
17:35Thank you very, very much.
17:36Have a good day.
