IRVING, Texas – When the Dallas Cowboys won Monday night against the Washington Redskins, Jerry Jones sounded more relieved than impressed.
"We won on will out there and not on tactical mastery," Jones said. "That's not a criticism, but that's where we are a as a team."
That sure sounded like a criticism of Jason Garrett and the coaching staff.
On Thursday, Garrett was asked about Jones’ comments.
“Oh, I think everybody has to do everything better,” Garrett said. “You start with us as a coaching staff, me as the head coach, the coaches throughout the staff, how our players play, and we all have to do better. That’s what we focus on when we come to work every day.”
Before beating the Redskins, the Cowboys were winless without Tony Romo, dropping seven straight games with Brandon Weeden and Matt Cassel as the starter. The Cowboys had the lead or were tied in the fourth quarter in six of those seven games. They lost two games in overtime (New Orleans Saints, Philadelphia Eagles).
The defense could not make a stop when it mattered and the offense could not score a touchdown when it was needed.
“I am stunned that we haven’t been able to win more games without Tony,” Jones said after the game. “And I would have thought that we could have coached it up enough, and put it together enough, that we would not have lost those games without Romo early. We would be in better shape than we are right now.”
By singling out the coaches, Jones put the work of the front office above the fray. Last week, executive vice president Stephen Jones was more accountable.
He said the Cowboys did not handle the backup quarterback spot correctly, perhaps should have handled the Dez Bryant negotiations differently because of all the practice time the receiver ended up missing. While not regretting the decision to let DeMarco Murray leave via free agency, Stephen Jones said how the club handled the replacement plan could have been better.
“We take more accountability than that, than bad luck,” Stephen Jones said. “At least I think we should, and I think Jerry does, too. I think obviously we didn’t handle the quarterback situation in a way that allowed us to have some success while Tony was out.”