Just a thought here: Jerry Jones might have been just a wee bit better off if he’d put his ego aside (granted, moving an item so large would’ve required the world’s biggest weight belt) all those years ago and made nice with Jimmy Johnson in order to keep helmet-hair in the fold.
Alas, JJ the owner just couldn’t abide, so JJ the coach/personnel guru/football god walked, leaving America’s Team in the hands of one forgettable coach after another (Bill Parcells excluded, naturally) -- and, of course, leaving Jerry Jones to run the show.
News flash: Jones stinks at it, as the Cowboys’ post-Johnson resume overwhelmingly attests.
Since 1996, Dallas has won two playoff games -- seriously -- and both were in the Wild Card round. In fact, there’s only one way for Jones’ squad to avoid lackluster play in the postseason: be bad enough not to get there at all.
That surely appears to be the case this season, although being lousy is no excuse to fall short of the playoffs in an NFC Least where seven wins will likely snag the division crown, which apparently is a relic left over from the set of the $1.98 Beauty Show.
The Jets come into AT&T Stadium Saturday night needing a W to keep their edge in their own playoff hunt. If they don’t get it, not only don’t they deserve to play in the postseason, they shouldn’t even bother with their final two contests.
In short, this may be the worst Cowboys team since Johnson first took over from fellow legend Tom Landry in the late 80s.
Things didn’t start out that way in September. Coming off of a 12-win season, Dallas was expected by many to be a contender. But without Tony Romo, who has been injured for most of the year -- and is out for the rest of it with a now twice-broken collarbone -- they don’t have a prayer. Indeed, they’re 1-8 this year when Romo hasn’t started, and I still can’t figure out how they won that one.
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Dallas can’t move the ball with Matt Cassel under center, and their defense isn’t stout enough to win games on its own.
This contest really shouldn’t be much of one.
Jones, now 73, can’t run the Cowboys (into the ground) forever. Unfortunately for Dallas fans -- who, granted, may well be the world’s most-deserving of an awful team -- his kids are very involved, and they haven’t shown themselves to be any better at this whole football thing than ol’ Jerry himself. It looks like the Jones family will be keeping the Big D in dysfunctional for years to come.
Dallas may have the home-field advantage vs. Gang Green. But they’ve also got the Jones field disadvantage, which gives the visitors an enormous edge. When it comes to the rest of the NFL, Jerry is the gift that keeps on giving -- in this case, just in time for the holidays.
