- 4 hours ago
Jerry Jones joined The K&C Masterpiece before the team's Week 7 Monday Night matchup. Jones discussed team adjustments, Saquon Barkley, DeMarvion Overshown, Schottenheimer's offense, and more.
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00:10We bring to you Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones. Good morning, sir.
00:16Good morning, Kevin. Good morning, Corey.
00:18Now, I know we got a lot to get to with the game on Monday night.
00:21I always love getting your input on across the NFL issues.
00:26Commissioner Goodell said an increase in penalties is not necessarily a reflection on NFL officials.
00:32Do you agree with that? Because it definitely feels like officials have gotten more involved this season.
00:40Well, my experience has been this comes and goes.
00:45And so it makes you think, well, it's just circumstantial and there have been more penalties.
00:53You know, Stephen is the new head of our competition committee, and it really gives us a real insight into
01:07what so many other clubs, how they read officiating and how they read the circumstances as it applies to them.
01:14And at the end of the day, when I look at our officiating overall, and I have to because I've
01:24seen it now for 30-something years, you need not to be jerk.
01:31That's hard to do.
01:32When I was in New York at NFL meetings, I spent a lot of time with Los Angeles and Stan
01:38Kroenke, and we had dinner, and they had lost an unfortunate game with a set of circumstances.
01:47And I stepped back, and Stephen was saying how he might address that with the competition committee.
01:54So, again, I don't have a direct answer for you, but it's not really alarming to me at all as
02:03far as the state of our game and penalties.
02:07I've always been a proponent of less flags.
02:09But you know, Kevin, Jerry loves referees.
02:14He thinks that they're absolutely wonderful men.
02:17Good answer.
02:17Great dudes out there, so much so that he would even dress up for a Halloween costume in favor of
02:24them.
02:26Let me say this.
02:28We have a lot in common.
02:30We, when I include myself in that we, we wouldn't be there.
02:35Our officials, of course, have other jobs as well.
02:38And they wouldn't be out there if they didn't love the roar of the crowd, the activity as it pertains
02:49to competition.
02:51And it's good that they have that kind of incentive because they're a part of trying to be a part
03:04of something that we call, in our case, the NFL.
03:08So I feel a little bit like I feel with you guys.
03:13We have a lot in common.
03:15We've chosen that we want to be involved with a big part of our lives in sport and competition.
03:20And all of this critiquing goes with it.
03:23Yeah, I was going to say, much like the referees, sometimes we probably piss you off, too.
03:30If I thought in the long run that it really made any difference, I'd really get pissed off.
03:38But I know that at the end of the day, we're a small, either one of us, or a small
03:45part of what actually may end up transpiring.
03:49Now, sorry if I missed this.
03:51I know Stephen Jones had been co-chairman of the NFL Competition Committee.
03:55Did that change this week?
03:56Is he now the chairman?
03:58No, no way.
03:59Well, the co-chairman says what it is.
04:03He co-couled with an eye to the future of being the full chairman in a short period of time.
04:11But co-chairman is just what it is.
04:14It's got the full power of the chairman.
04:17Now, seeing as how it looks like Saquon Barkley is on pace to be back for Monday night's game,
04:23how much does that up the challenge for, obviously, a Cowboys-run defense that has already struggled quite a bit
04:29this season?
04:31I think it's very meaningful.
04:33And he's a great back.
04:34And he presents unique challenges when he's out there.
04:39That's all a given.
04:41But when we were putting it together over the last couple of years, really, we had him in mind.
04:52We've got to be able to play them twice a year, and we've got to be able to stop them.
04:55And so I actually, our front, our defensive front, the last couple of weeks hasn't necessarily been a focus of
05:06what I think we can have dramatic improvement in.
05:10It's been the edges, and it's been the secondary, and the fiddle, and the linebackers.
05:16Those, I think, have been more a part of what we need to correct.
05:22How much of an impact are you hoping Overshown can make for that group and that part of your front
05:29seven for your team?
05:30When he's been on the field for us, when he's been out there, he really influences our ability to stop
05:41him.
05:41And so it's going to be really good to have him back.
05:46He's early this year.
05:48He's really had to work at working into the schemes from the changes, if you will, that were in the
05:58bobbing being made.
06:00He hasn't been asleep while he's been off the field.
06:04He's had an opportunity to really digest more of the mental aspect of this thing.
06:11So we're really glad to have him back.
06:13Now, and I realize he's been, like you just said, working really hard to get back on the field.
06:18How tough is it, though, to scheme and prep defensively with or without a player that, unfortunately, has been off
06:25the field quite a lot in his career?
06:27Yeah, well, it's obviously you have all the reps you can possibly get physically rep emulating what you want to
06:36do in a ballgame, seeing it and moving and moving away from it.
06:43But that's far better than sitting there just studying it.
06:49But he has been studying it.
06:50And that is more than if he just had taken a trip and just come back to town.
06:58And so bottom line is that, boy, if he can stay out there, we'll be better.
07:06Jerry, there's been, I mean, obviously a lot of criticism heading towards Schottenheimer and seeing how the offense has struggled
07:15the last couple weeks.
07:16How concerned are you about opponents picking up on maybe his and Dak's tendencies?
07:23Well, it's a given that as you roll along, you better change it up as you roll along, whether it
07:32be, frankly, season to season or very much so from opening day till as you get on into the season.
07:42So if you can't make changes and can't anticipate people studying you and setting up defenses that give you a
07:53different challenge, then you've missed the point.
07:56So that's to be expected.
07:59You know, what I have always aspired to with the coach is the walk-around coach that does not have
08:08the specific role of defensive coordinator,
08:12offensive coordinator, I'm talking about the head coach, that is one and very common way for teams to be coached
08:23as they're influenced by the head coach.
08:26I've really always preferred the head coach be specific to as operationally one side of the ball or the other
08:36and basically be one of the coordinators.
08:40And when we hired Shottie, his job that he had been doing working with Dak in the offense was very
08:49much a part of what his great credentials were to help our team immediately.
08:58And that's what's happened.
09:01But it also carries with it the eye of the needle when it comes to being the coordinator, being, in
09:10this case, the play caller on the offensive side of the ball.
09:14I've always thought that the head coach gained strength if he was the coordinator and that was the strength of
09:20the team or that was a very productive part of the team.
09:23That helped him overall be a head coach because, make no mistake about it, a head coach on top of,
09:30if he's a coordinator, is the busiest guy in town.
09:35If he's the offensive coordinator, he's the busiest of the busiest in the country.
09:40He's a busy guy.
09:42And so, one of the first things you look at is, can you, right now, allocate more to your coordinators
09:51and to your defensive coordinators so that that gives you more time pointed toward the offense in his case.
09:58He's doing that and can do it because we have the people out there that can really, at this stage
10:05of our evolving as a team,
10:07we've got the guys that can step up there, brought our consultant in the week before, but we're in good
10:17shape.
10:17We're really structured to address what our problems have been over the last two weeks.
10:23Okay, I'm glad you said that because my question for that is, like, it has been two weeks where the
10:29blitz has been the factor.
10:31How much time does a coach need to make those full team adjustments?
10:35Is it a half? Is it two weeks? Is it a longer period of time to make those adjustments to
10:40where, okay, we've figured out what they're doing to us?
10:42How much time do they need?
10:43I don't know. I don't know that I've ever really thought about time.
10:49You'd like to think that if you go out there and you've had an adjustment in personnel and the other
10:55team sees it and that encourages them to blitz more,
10:58you'd like to think that you're ready to handle the blitz.
11:02Obviously, we've got a quarterback, in fact, that has a long career, has done well to be tracked.
11:10He's done outstanding against the blitz in his career.
11:13So you've got every reason to think, well, that can handle this, and he will.
11:18In my mind, he will completely handle it.
11:20And so to answer your question, time might not be the right word.
11:30It's a given that it's to be handled, if I can be real clear.
11:35It's a given that it's to be handled because that's a big part of the game.
11:40And so I'm very confident.
11:43I look at what Shottie's about, his command of being the coordinator for years, his experience in this area.
11:55And this is an area that he's not short on experience.
11:59He's strong in this area.
12:01So we have every reason to believe that we'll make the right kind of adjustment.
12:06What's always been fascinating to me about that with Shottie, when you were talking about all those positive qualities,
12:11why do you think it took so long for him to get this head coaching shot?
12:18Well, I think he had an opportunity very early in his career and really in his judgment thought,
12:25boy, I'm in his head now and I shouldn't be there, really.
12:29But I would say that he thought he was going to wait until a better time and when he was
12:34readier.
12:36And he's often said to me, boy, I look back and I probably shouldn't have that when I didn't get
12:42the opportunity to do it
12:43for longer than I'd anticipated.
12:46That is, be a head coach.
12:48And so, but I think the fact that he does have the experience and he's got outstanding experience in this
12:57game
12:58and he's got outstanding offensive experience between the way that that's the way he grew up with his father,
13:06the great Marty Schottenheimer.
13:08And I know we're being redundant, but he can handle this and it's not just because of his bloodlines either.
13:15He's had experience.
13:17What we need more than anything right now is an adjustment or a play better on offense than we have
13:24played.
13:25And we certainly have the ability and the staff out there in place for him to say,
13:32I'm going to spend X more time, however much it is.
13:36I'm going to have this much more concentration on what I'm doing offensively
13:40and I'm going to let these others run with the ball over on the defensive side
13:45more than I have early part of the season.
13:47That's not only doable, that's the obvious answer.
13:51You know, on offense, I think we were all just waiting for Tyler Smith's return
13:56to jumpstart the team's running game.
13:58That just hasn't been the case at all.
14:00What do you suppose that is?
14:02And have you been surprised the team's abandoned the run so quickly the last two games
14:06despite them being still competitive in the first half?
14:10Well, I think you have, I think that question right there, the last sentence.
14:17I think we got out of sync because we did get behind in the games
14:27and didn't necessarily, quote, stick with the run.
14:35But, you know, I've been a part of that for as long as I've been in football
14:40and watched everybody's second guess.
14:44When you're sticking with the run, in our case, we needed to move that ball down the field
14:52and we really got behind three scores up there.
14:54I know that's obvious to everybody.
14:56Well, then that'll get you out of the run real quick.
14:59But these are things that are a part of the critique.
15:04Self-critique.
15:05I really want to emphasize this.
15:06Self-critique.
15:09Any time that I've ever thought I had a gain in my character
15:15was when I was coming from adversity, not from everything going good,
15:19so that the real building block is when you hit adversity,
15:23if you can make the adjustment, then that is a real step forward in many things
15:30that are part of not only this game but life.
15:35But Brian has really shown the ability to self-assess.
15:41Look in the mirror, I call it, but self-assess.
15:44In his case, his self is our offense, our team.
15:50He's good at it.
15:51He understands how to do it.
15:53He's been around all his life.
15:54I feel good about our future with him.
15:56Yeah, to see a man truly succeed is to see him struggle through adversity.
15:59I always like that one right there.
16:01Jerry, you've been a football man for a long time.
16:03Well, who said that?
16:04Is that you?
16:06That is Seneca, B.C.
16:10So I think, yeah, that's way back in the day.
16:12No, but I totally agree with that.
16:15I've heard it manifested in many different ways,
16:17but certainly that's the case.
16:20Now, if that's the case, this last three or four weeks,
16:24just give it a warm, wavy,
16:26we ought to have really stepped up and improved
16:32because we've sure had the adversity.
16:35Jerry, you're a football man.
16:37You've experienced – you had a front-row seat to see in the all-time leading rusher
16:41in Emmitt Smith.
16:44The – is there anything cooler than just watching and knowing your team can run it
16:50down somebody's throat whenever they want to, though?
16:54Well, it is a daunting task when the defense realizes, whether it's early in the game
17:02or whether it's in the middle of the third quarter.
17:05When you just can't get them off the field and it's because of the run game,
17:10it really takes its toll.
17:12And we've been a victim of that.
17:14And so it is a great part.
17:18The time that Emmitt was here, for the most part of it,
17:21we had the great Troy Eggman and Boyd.
17:24And we had guys that out there that if they wanted to step an extra player up there
17:30on the line to stop Emmitt, well, Troy, it was the same almost a surety
17:35that he had hit Novacek or he had hit Michael Irvin
17:39or he had hit any other receivers we had out there.
17:43And they just couldn't stay up there trying to stop the run.
17:49They had to take care of that pass, albeit most of the time shorter passes.
17:54It was an outstanding one-two punch that nobody –
17:59I remember going to the competition committee and Marty Schottenheimer was there,
18:04one of the ones asking.
18:06Don Shuler was head of it.
18:07And he asked me, he said, Jerry, he said,
18:10do you know that everybody in this league read your plays all year?
18:14They knew which side the ball was going to.
18:17They knew who was going to get it.
18:19And we hadn't been able to stop you yet.
18:22That's a good feeling.
18:23So that's what happens when you've got that type of thing going for you on the ball.
18:29Now, boy, I can't say enough about that great offensive line we had back then.
18:34Nate Newt and Eric Williams, you had 2-1-A.
18:37And then had some really players that were really effective with that time in the NFL
18:49and what defenses were doing.
18:53Anybody can get back to that particular point, you can see some good offense, I'll assure you.
18:58Now, you mentioned the quarterback, Troy Aikman, and on Wednesday you told the media in New York
19:04that short of getting back on the field, which I thought was very funny,
19:08Troy Aikman is very capable of doing any one of a number of things,
19:12especially, certainly, anything to do with football.
19:16Could you see, or maybe more importantly,
19:18would you like to have Troy Aikman as part of the Cowboys front office?
19:23Well, that's a loaded question.
19:26And the first part of it would tell you nobody more qualified than Troy Aikman,
19:34and I can't tell you how much I believe that.
19:38He has, I know, maybe the best work ethic.
19:44Maybe the best work ethic.
19:47Now, I'd put Dak right there with you, but, boy, when he gets on the job,
19:53if it's commentary, there's nobody going to zero in on it any better than him.
19:58And, of course, I have all of the qualities of compete and his intensity.
20:06And, frankly, his makeup is he just, of himself, he asks the ultimate professional,
20:16and then he tries to say, I want that from everybody around me in his own way,
20:22whether it's body language or otherwise.
20:25There's just no doubt that he was the incremental part of success to win three Super Bowls.
20:34But I'm a big Troy Aikman believer in terms of his ability to get the job done.
20:39I don't know of anybody that knows more football.
20:42Yeah, I've always got the sense when you hear him call games that he loves doing that,
20:46but he would love being, like, back, back in the game even more than that.
20:52Well, I think there's no question, in my mind, there is no question,
20:57that he is involving himself in a way that has as a backdrop the interest in being involved in every
21:08way.
21:09That's part of what makes him a great broadcaster, which, by the way, I think he really is.
21:13You are always in tune with what's happening with the rest of the league as well.
21:18What do you think about the NFL Players Association calling for a full investigation
21:22into the Jalen Hurts injury situation,
21:25and do you have faith that the Eagles and their medical staff handled this correctly
21:29because, obviously, there's serious medical concerns there?
21:33I'm not trying to be guarded.
21:35I just don't have much to say about it.
21:37But the last thing that you said, how the Eagles handled this to the extent that the league
21:44is a part of how the Eagles handled it, and to some degree they are, we are as a group,
21:53there's not one thing that I'm aware of that was left unturned to make those decisions.
22:01It was handled with complete proficiency.
22:06This is just kind of a broad thing in the idea of being a player, being an athlete.
22:12Do you feel like those guys feel pressure to get out there and play?
22:19I think it's self-imposed.
22:23I don't know that I've ever seen, when I see it in degree,
22:27about just the intensity.
22:34But, in general, I don't know of a player that walks out there and plays this game
22:40that isn't giving it everything that he has to give.
22:47I've never seen that.
22:50You say, well, but I see some guys, don't they call it loafs, on grading them?
22:54Well, when you're out there and you're running 30 plays, 40 plays,
23:00then you do get tired, whether it be temporarily or whether it be for the rest of the game time
23:11that you've got to play, you get tired.
23:16When you get tired, that takes away a little bit of how intense you can be.
23:22You might save up for one that you're closer to the ball or can be more effective.
23:28But, boy, I don't know.
23:30I really mean this.
23:32I don't know of anybody that has the intestinal fortitude to be a part of the game of football
23:39that, when they get out there, doesn't want to do their absolute best.
23:44And it shows.
23:46I see more frustration about feeling like they have some limitation,
23:52whether it be fatigue or whether it be something that is injured.
23:57I see more frustration and more people just out of frustration
24:02because they're such competitors, make judgments of mental intensity.
24:12Well, we appreciate that.
24:14That's a mouthful.
24:14That's a mouthful.
24:15I'm not too sure.
24:19Well, you get used to us.
24:21We get used to you as well.
24:23Absolutely.
24:24Thank you very much for the time.
24:26Go get a win on Monday, and we'll catch you again next week.
24:30Hey, guys.
24:30It is good being on with you.
24:32And, boy, I'm anxious to get up there.
24:36This is going to be – it is always a challenge in that Philadelphia.
24:40And, boy, I don't think they don't have a roster full of football players
24:44that can compensate for missing a quarterback.
24:47We just have gotten beat two games ago by young rookie backup quarterbacks.
24:53So, you know the job we've got cut out for us.
24:56Absolutely.
24:57Thank you very much, good sir.