Arlington, Texas — Jerry Jones got out his thesaurus, as has become an annual ritual at the end of a poor season for the Dallas Cowboys. If only to convey a single message to his fan base one again, a repeated plea along the lines of: Hey, I’m exactly like you. I can’t believe it either.
He stood there, diving deep into his suitcase of words in the aftermath of the Cowboys’ stunning 48-32 home loss to a much less skilled and monumentally less experienced Green Bay Packers squad. Despite possibly the most incomprehensible failure in the history of Dallas playoff teams—and having squandered a roster as talented as any of his 1990s Super Bowl winners—Jones harnessed nearly every emotion save the one that mattered to the team’s fans right now.
For those who scored Sunday night, Jerry was amazed, floored, beyond comprehension, pained, and surprised — but he also had no thoughts about the players, the coaching, the bigger picture, the timeline, or, apparently, the cyclical underachievement that has become the Cowboys’ trademark for nearly three decades.
“I certainly did not spend any time over the last three hours wondering how and why,” Jones said of his team’s latest postseason collapse. “What I’m focused on is the fact that I thought we were in a position — everyone in this room thought we were in a position — to progress this thing to the playoffs and possibly [go] as far as our ambitions would let us. We did not do it. This is one of the [biggest] surprises I’ve had in my entire sports career.
“On a personal level, I’m floored,” Jones added. “I don’t need the world’s smallest violin to be impressed. I understand that. I get it. I know where responsibility begins and ends. I’ve made that quite apparent.”
What feeling did Jones not convey? Feeling firm in the face of a disaster—about anything.
He wasn’t certain about his coaching staff. Not certain about his players. Not adamant about anything but informing supporters that he, too, was upset. This doesn’t amount to much.
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