Jerry Jones hopes his criticism will inspire Cowboys

Jerry Jones had plenty of criticism for the Dallas Cowboys lately, and there apparently was a deeper reason behind his remarks.

Immediately after the team’s 13-9 loss to the Patriots, Jones spoke with the media and blamed the team’s coaching for not doing better. He did not back down from his criticism when speaking on his weekly radio show.

So why the criticism? Jones said on the team’s pregame radio show Thursday that he hoped his comments would inspire the Cowboys.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones told @KristiCowboy in pregame radio talk that he hoped his criticism would inspire team: “Absolutely. A dream is that something that I might have looked like or said might have caused us to do something that made a difference.’’

— Ed Werder (@WerderEdESPN) November 28, 2019

This is a tactic some use at times to coax improved performances out of their players and teams. But to inspire his coaches to do better? Maybe by throwing the coaches under the bus, Jones was trying to get the players to play harder to protect Jason Garrett’s job. Or maybe he just wanted to get Garrett’s attention to make some changes.

Against the Patriots, Garrett was conservative as usual, but on Thursday against Buffalo, he went for a 4th-and-1 early in the game. Maybe Jones’ criticism did result in some change.