- 13 minutes ago
Jerry Jones joined Shan, RJ, and Bobby following the win over Indianapolis. Jones discussed cleaning up penalties, the state of the defense, trade deadline expectations, and more.
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00:00Just good morning, Jerry. How are you?
00:01Hey, good morning, Sean. RJ, Bobby. Good to be on with you guys again.
00:05Yes, sir. Jerry, your thoughts. First time we're hearing from you after the win at Indianapolis.
00:10Just give us your overall thoughts on the game.
00:15Bittersweet. We would like to have avoided in those circumstances where we had spurts of playing well.
00:25Both the offense statistics are impressive. The defense played some great snaps out there.
00:34On the other hand, we had to really have some help to get that win.
00:41And overall, we're not playing very good.
00:45And we're sure going to have to take what we've done over the last several weeks,
00:51put the best parts of it together because we've got a real challenge coming up this weekend with San Francisco.
00:58And that's where our focus should be, and that's where it is.
01:02The mistakes, the penalties that we made the other day, those are atypical or aren't typical
01:09in that we're averaging about seven penalties a game up until then.
01:14And, of course, we had some snaps, had some penalties that really reversed about 180 yards of offense.
01:21That's what we erased off the board when we got those penalties and brought them back.
01:27Now, the offensive stats include the makeup that we made of those yards that were erased by those penalties.
01:33It's not even counting the penalty yardage of 150 yards.
01:37So, we did some good things offensively, but we've got to put it all together against this San Francisco team.
01:44Jerry, when you have a game like Indy and Arizona and Tampa, and you're in the middle of the season,
01:51do you resign yourself to the fact in reality that this is what we are?
01:55We're in the category of those teams versus what we thought this team was going to be before the start
02:00of the season?
02:00Is that what you guys are?
02:02No, you don't resolve where you are at all in the spot we're in.
02:10We're, relatively speaking, we're acceptably healthy.
02:15Our quarterback is really in good shape.
02:20That's saying a lot.
02:21We've had years when we didn't have him in that good of shape.
02:24And so, without just generalizing things,
02:27you start down your list of the things that are going good for you.
02:31If you address, you correct, the overshone penalty, the celebrating was completely addressed.
02:40The penalties will be completely emphasized.
02:44But more importantly, let's take what we've got.
02:48Let's take the healthy players we've got right now.
02:50Let's take the good parts of what we did the other day and the last few games.
02:56Let's put it all together and come out and play like the team that we want to be against the
03:0249ers.
03:03That's what you do.
03:05There's, you don't even think about doing anything else.
03:09And you address those things.
03:10They're all pretty obvious to everybody where we can improve.
03:14And so, a game like the other day is a great, great way to, you've got to win,
03:23but then you've got a lot of things that you can really emphasize that everybody understands,
03:28everybody agrees with.
03:29I'm talking players as what the coaches are trying to get them to concentrate on.
03:35So, let's take where we've improved and let's basically expand on that.
03:41Jerry, what do you, Shadi addressed this, Stephen, as well.
03:45What do you say to those who say the overshone thing, all those penalties are emblematic of culture
03:52or just sloppiness within coaching of the way the Cowboys are being run this year,
03:58that it's a sign of coaching and culture?
04:01Well, I think that's the way that we all do.
04:06When we have dissatisfaction with how we played, we say, well, boy, is that what we are?
04:17You should use that and put it right in the middle of the mirror and say, boy, those penalties,
04:24especially the ones that call back the timeliness of them, call back key first downs,
04:30key field position.
04:33You take that and that's the way you do it.
04:38You've got nine games that you've played.
04:41We've got eight more to go.
04:43And, man alive, I can remember when 10 games was a college season.
04:48Now, that's not the way it is anymore, but at one time it was.
04:52So, you've got to really take where we are in this particular case with our health where we are to
04:58key players.
04:59And we've got to take where we're very real with ourselves about where we're lacking and build on that.
05:08Now, we've had some things that we've really improved on since the start of the year on the defensive side
05:13of the ball.
05:14And, frankly, there's some things on the offensive side of the ball that, although we made those mistakes the other
05:23day,
05:23there's some things on the offensive side of the ball that we want to embellish and have on the field
05:28with us when we play this weekend.
05:31Jerry Jones joining us here at 105 for the fan.
05:34Since you came to the league, it's obviously a much different game.
05:37We always hear fans say on social media, Jimmy would have cut this guy on the spot, yada, yada, yada.
05:42You can't do that now, obviously.
05:43But do you think that you can be and have a coach that is a real gruff, kind of hard
05:50-ass,
05:51and it work and resonate with today's players?
05:55Yes, I think you can.
05:58I think that's an acceptance of someone's personality, their style.
06:06And, yeah, I think it works.
06:08I think those guys do some things sometimes.
06:13The roughest coach that I've ever had would wait after he had worn you out in front of the team
06:21several times.
06:23He would never leave until he had a chance to weak at you when you finally did come out the
06:28locker room after practice.
06:30Those guys are endearing, and they're very effective in sport.
06:35So, is there more to it than that?
06:37Of course there is.
06:39Jerry Jones with us here on 105 for the fan.
06:41Jerry, Caleb Downs had a big-time performance on Sunday.
06:44Is that the guy that you envisioned when you guys picked him in April?
06:49Well, he has, if you ask to answer your question, yes.
06:55He's really everything that, as far as I'm concerned, he's everything we hoped he'd be.
07:02And, Quinnen Williams has obviously really started to have some great performances.
07:07And that was after there were some questions, maybe publicly, like, hey, does he really fit into what Christian Parker
07:12wants to do?
07:12And is this a great scheme fit?
07:15What have your thoughts been on just Quinnen Williams and the way that he's stepped up recently?
07:18Well, if you don't have Quinnen Williams in your plans or have a defense that gives him every opportunity,
07:27then you need to take a look at it because he's ever bit the player and the dominant player,
07:35the unique dominant player at a very, very important position.
07:40If you can have what he gives us there in that interior and the pressure that he creates.
07:47And sometimes the less, you don't see it in the stats, but you see it in the cause and effect
07:54of what he's doing and how he's winning.
07:57He's outstanding.
07:59Boy, I'll tell you what, I'm so proud we got him.
08:02Jerry Jones with us here on the fan.
08:03Jerry, you know, the defense looks like it's seen some improvements recently.
08:07You were just talking about how you liked seeing some of the stuff that you saw,
08:09and it was a solid performance overall against Indianapolis.
08:12Is that just Christian Parker starting to round into form and finding his comfort level, you know,
08:18eight weeks into the job?
08:19Or is that, you know, the Mike Pettin difference who you brought in to be a consultant?
08:23How do you explain the improvements you've seen on defense?
08:26Well, I think the kinds of things I'm seeing are what they hope to get, whatever player hope to attain.
08:35I don't want to even use the word, but you've got to do it time and time again,
08:40and you've got to do it when it counts.
08:44But you're seeing that, and there's no doubt.
08:48I loved his comment about communication.
08:51Sometimes that's not the right word.
08:53Sometimes the player just didn't do the job.
08:56And the very best sometimes don't do the job, but generally they do it the predominance of the time,
09:04the good players do.
09:05We're seeing some of that.
09:07The last two games we've seen parts of it that we weren't seeing in the first part of the season.
09:13So what's challenging for us right now is we really did feel that we would be moving the ball
09:22because of the personnel that we've got on that side of the ball in this defense.
09:27Once we realized that we might have been a little optimistic as to how quick this defense could come along,
09:33we needed it to come on, baby.
09:34And so maybe coming on a little bit, this is a huge test for us out here Sunday,
09:43and this is an outstanding team, probably the NFL's best today.
09:47And having said that, if we go out here and play well and play as well as we've played on
09:56many plays,
09:57now you can't go in a coach's meeting after a ball game and not find good things that the team
10:04did.
10:05But obviously, if you lost the game, then you can, I've never seen any coaches that didn't say,
10:11but by the end of the day, the most important thing is to have won the game.
10:15But you can say, now, if we'd played like we did on that series, we'd win this ball,
10:21we would have won this ball game.
10:22So you very seldom don't have plays that look like you want to make it,
10:27or players make plays that they want to make it.
10:30But it's getting them to make the majority of them at the same time
10:34so that you can have the whole success that you want to have.
10:38That's what we're into.
10:40We got our head down.
10:42We should.
10:42This is not the time.
10:45Not to say, hey, this is now Christmas Eve.
10:49This is the time to put it out here.
10:51Let's try to go out here and have the better game we've had all year long
10:55and pull a great upset.
10:57Jerry, Brandon Aubrey had another miss.
10:59Certainly hasn't had the year that maybe we've expected him
11:04and we've come accustomed to him having.
11:06It was a low snap when it skipped.
11:09Do you give him the benefit of the doubt on that, or are we too far past that?
11:14Oh, yes.
11:15No, I'd give him the benefit of the doubt on that.
11:17He'd love to have that snap back.
11:19As we all know, boy, that's a big part of the execution of the kick.
11:25But, yeah, we've had those type of things happen.
11:31Overall, though, that special teams unit should be commended.
11:35That special teams unit is really playing well
11:39and giving us a real chance.
11:41Aubrey's doing some great jobs with that kickoff.
11:43And so all of that's good.
11:46I know no one is more disappointed than him getting the opportunity
11:50to show what a kicker he is, especially from distance.
11:55But, again, those are the things that you have to overcome.
12:00You have to be a good enough team to overcome.
12:02We haven't been that.
12:04We really haven't been that for several weeks.
12:09And so – but have I seen several weeks of not having a good team?
12:15If you've got key players like your quarterback healthy
12:18and can have him out there to compete, boy, have I seen these things
12:23make some real changes going in a positive direction from one week to the next.
12:28If you – where we are, and I have, and we can't.
12:32Jerry, how surprised were you that George Pickens
12:35and Joey Porter Jr. weren't able to go in the game?
12:37And how frustrating has it been not to be able to have Joey Porter Jr.
12:42out there consistently since you made the trade for him?
12:43Well, it's been a disappointment because we know what a difference he makes.
12:51He easily is a shut-down corner.
12:54And so when he's out there, it's a big difference.
12:58We have missed him when he's not out there.
13:00So we hope he'll be out there this week.
13:03Secondly, Pickens, well, it goes without saying.
13:07And although we did have a pretty good receiver make a big play
13:10until that game that contributed mightily to the ultimate win.
13:14Having said all of that, both those players you're talking about
13:17are our top – right there in the top handful of players that we have.
13:24You miss that, boy, when you don't have them on the field.
13:27Jerry, I have to ask this because of the agents and past tactics
13:33and Micah and his back and all that.
13:35It's starting to creep in the mind a little bit of some fans.
13:38Is anything nefarious going on here?
13:40Is anything weird going on with Porter and Pickens not playing?
13:44Could you just put that to rest that this is 100% pure injury-related?
13:49100% pure injury-related.
13:51Put it to rest.
13:53Jerry Jones right here every Tuesday on Sean and RJ, 105.3 The Fan.
13:58Jerry, yesterday Stephen said the phones were pretty quiet.
14:01Today, of course, works out perfectly for us to have you on during trade deadline day.
14:06Are the phones still quiet?
14:07Where do you guys stand of whatever you can tell us?
14:10You know that old country song?
14:12When that phone's not ringing, that's me calling.
14:16So it's really not ringing, which you've heard me say numerous times.
14:21That's when you make a trade, but don't count it out.
14:26You know, a lot of things happened on this last day,
14:29but I don't look for us to make a significant trade today.
14:32Jerry, you're being really honest about how the play hasn't been what we all expected thus far.
14:39How much is that weighing into you not being aggressive in buying,
14:45like you did in the offseason, like you did for Joey Porter?
14:48How much of y'all's season so far is factoring in to what you decide to do today?
14:53I don't know.
14:55I can't answer that.
14:57I don't know.
14:59But I haven't had a chance to really maneuver or think about or discuss back and forth with the team.
15:12And we haven't had a chance to have a meaningful dialogue here over the last two or three weeks
15:19about any player that we'd be interested in.
15:23Jerry, Shadi said yesterday, Tyler Goodson, your No. 2 running back,
15:26he's going to be out for the next few weeks.
15:28If you did add something today, could running back potentially be something
15:31where you're just trying to solidify that depth?
15:33Yeah, it will be.
15:34And we will do that today.
15:36Jerry, you invested a lot into the safety position.
15:40We talked about downs.
15:42A lot of people liking Malik Hooker.
15:44We know what happened with P.J. Locke.
15:45What's going on with Jalen Thompson's situation?
15:48Well, we just are dealing with some injuries back there.
15:52We went into the season with that being our most in-depth position,
15:57hardest place to cut numbers back.
16:01We thought we had those type of players out there.
16:05And as it often does, it hit a position, the injury.
16:08So, where we are is really proud of the way Hooker played this past weekend,
16:14proud of the way he's playing.
16:17I'm just glad that we have the depth that we have back there.
16:21But, again, just dealing with an injury that sometimes you have set a time
16:28when they ought to be back, and it just doesn't get back there.
16:32We have every reason to believe that that entire group,
16:37they're trying everything they can to get out there.
16:40But we're just not getting him out there quick enough.
16:45Jerry, I'm just curious.
16:46You guys obviously have been tied to Dak Prescott for over a decade now.
16:51That's your franchise quarterback.
16:51That's who you want.
16:52You have no interest in moving on from him.
16:54But over the years, have you ever had teams pick up the phone
16:57and try to pry Dak away from you guys?
17:01No, no, not really.
17:04We've always, for, let's say, the last, for two-thirds of his contract
17:09and two-thirds of his time with us,
17:12we've had him in a position where it didn't make any sense to trade him.
17:17Jerry Jones joining us here, 105 through the Fed.
17:20Howie Roseman and the Eagles, they made a big trade yesterday.
17:23They have made three trades this year where they got back the exact value
17:30or more on a player they have had for over four years.
17:33They basically said, we're not going to win it this year.
17:36We're going to kind of revamp everything.
17:38Does that philosophy go through your head?
17:41Do you consider, you know, kind of tearing things down and rebuild it?
17:46I know you said you ain't got time for a bad time,
17:48but does that ever go through your head in terms of wanting to do something like that?
17:52Well, that's made possible because when you trade for a player
17:57and then you lose that player in free agency, you get a compensatory pick.
18:03And sometimes if the player that you've traded for does well,
18:07you'll get a compensatory pick that equals what you paid for.
18:12We refer to that as rent the player.
18:15And that does happen and can happen.
18:17And if you have some success with your trades, that can happen for you just from that dynamic.
18:24Now, of course, if you have a player that comes along
18:27and then you trade him for as much as you paid for him, then the same is obvious.
18:32So those things are happening and can happen.
18:36And to some degree it's bittersweet, but it's certainly a good way
18:43if you are trying to go in a different direction at a position.
18:49It's a good way to look at it that if you'll do well, you'll get a pick back.
18:54And so when the time comes after you've had him four or five years
18:57that you may be right back in business in the draft.
19:00So all of that's good.
19:01It happens, happens a lot of times.
19:04Jerry, last one here for you.
19:06You just mentioned a second ago you were going to address running back two today.
19:09You guys were going to get that solidified with Goodson out.
19:11Do you anticipate that being through the trade market or a free agent signing?
19:15Probably a free agent.
19:17Jerry, without even talking about trading,
19:23what's like a top position or two where you're like, we need some help there?
19:26That's a glaring area of need for us to where if we got that,
19:31it could really help the second half.
19:35Really, if I look at where we're progressing on the defensive side of the ball,
19:41where we really have some encouragement coming,
19:44I wouldn't name a position at all.
19:48I'm sure a critic could look at it and say,
19:51how about a little more rush?
19:52How about a little more pressure?
19:53How about a little more help in the flat?
19:57But overall, I would say that we've had our depletion from injuries.
20:03We've had it at linebacker and we've had it in the secondary.
20:09I'm pretty pleased with what we've done on the interior of our line,
20:13and I like the options we have at pass rush.
20:17We're getting some pass rush.
20:20It's paying off in secondary positives, but we're still, we are getting some pass rushes.
20:27But to be realistic about it, probably in the secondary would be the place that we've been hit the hardest
20:35by injury.
20:36But we do have Porter and we do have that we've traded for that are dynamic contributions when they get
20:46on the field.
20:47Jerry, thank you so much.
20:49I know that was a mouthful.
20:51To figure out what you really wanted to find out what we might trade for today,
20:56you couldn't do it from that.
20:57But the truth is, I really don't know.
21:00You were ducking and weaving well.
21:02I know you've got the boxing background, so you did well on that.
21:04Jerry, thank you for the time.
21:06We appreciate it, and we'll do it again next week.
21:09You bet, guys.
21:09Bye.
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