Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones essentially blasted the team’s coaches after Sunday’s loss to the New England Patriots, but it doesn’t sound like it’s having any impact on the players.
Jones said after Sunday’s loss that the coaching had not been good enough, and that he “shouldn’t be this frustrated” considering the “makeup” of the team. Longtime Cowboy Jason Witten, who has been associated with the organization since 2003, essentially backed Jones’ assertions.
“Passion, emotion, the energy he brings, that is Line 1 for Mr. Jones, I feel like from my perspective,” Witten said Tuesday, via Todd Archer of ESPN. “He wants to win. He expects to win. He feels like he’s put a great team together, which he has, and we haven’t played to our expectations of where we should be. That’s completely fair. I think it’s just the raw emotion of it all. He’s been around a lot of great football and knows what he wants it to look like.”
The Cowboys are 6-5 and only hold down a playoff spot at the moment because they lead a mediocre NFC East. Jones, who has a Super Bowl or bust mentality, is understandably furious. That has lame duck coach Jason Garrett coaching for his job. The criticism might put the players in a tough spot, since they’ll be directly asked about criticism of their coaches from the top, but Witten is diplomatic while admitting that the Cowboys just haven’t been good enough.
