Jerry Jones Calls the Cowboys' Collapse 'an Indictment of the Whole Show' — and Rules Out Coaching Changes
The owner did not spare anyone after the 33-30 overtime loss, himself included by the wording. Then he closed the door the question was aimed at: no staff shake-up is in his mind 'at this time.'
Jerry Jones had a word for what happened to his team on Sunday, and it was not a kind one. 'This is an indictment of the whole show,' the Cowboys' owner told reporters after the 33-30 overtime loss to Arizona, according to Nick Harris of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, as reported by USA TODAY. 'This is a criticism of everyone.' Dallas had led 30-24 with 1:09 remaining, after Brandon Aubrey's 41-yard field goal, and lost anyway.
The numbers behind the word are stark. Dallas led 24-10 early in the fourth quarter after Dak Prescott's 5-yard touchdown run; before Sunday, the Cowboys had been 69-0 when leading by 14 or more points in the fourth quarter, according to ESPN. Gardner Minshew, playing in relief, took Arizona 80 yards in eight plays with no timeouts to tie the game, finished with 188 yards and three touchdowns on 17-of-23 passing, and Tyler Allgeier ran for 147 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries against a defense that had controlled the first half. Head coach Brian Schottenheimer called it a 'tale of two halves' and said Dallas's finishing touch in 'all three phases' was lacking. The loss was Dallas's fifth straight to the Cardinals and dropped the team to 3-5.
And then Jones closed the door. Asked about coaching changes, he said he was not considering shaking up the staff: 'That's not in my mind at this time.' So the indictment stands as a verdict without a sentence — everyone criticized, nobody replaced, and a 3-5 team that has not won consecutive games since last November left to fix in the film room what its owner described in the harshest terms available to him.
