ARLINGTON, Texas– Given the way the last three weeks have gone, it's no surprise that Jerry Jones spent his Thanksgiving answering questions about job security.
The Cowboys' owner and general manager watched along with the rest of the nation on Thursday as the Cowboys lost, 28-6, to the Chargers at AT&T Stadium. The defeat was the Cowboys' third-straight loss by 20 or more points, and it dropped them below .500 on the season.
But if this latest loss was supposed to sway Jones that drastic change is needed among his coaching staff, he rebuffed those questions with authority after the game.
"No, absolutely not -- and I mean it, no," he said.
It's a testament to the dizzying expectations of the NFL that Cowboys coach Jason Garrett's job security would be in question at all. Garrett was named the NFL's Coach of the Year just last February after leading the Cowboys to a 13-3 record. As ugly as the past month has been, he's also currently just one game under .500 at 5-6 on the year.
And yet, it's hard to avoid the obvious, either. Second half collapses have been a hallmark of this Cowboys' season, with Thursday serving as the latest installment. The Chargers held a lead of just 3-0 heading into the halftime break before outscoring Dallas, 25-6, down the stretch.
On top of that, the lopsided run continued a string of three such blowouts. Combined with the Nov. 12 loss to Atlanta and Sunday's loss to Philadelphia, the Cowboys have now been outscored, 92-22, in the last two weeks.
If the sense of frustration wasn't obvious, that should spell it out. But Jones was adamant when pressed that he feels he has the right coaching staff for the job.
"We all know that it has to get better, has to get together," he said. "I really think this coaching staff is tops. I think Jason is able to use everything that he's learned, as coordinator, as coach over these last years, and we've just got to get it together."
The Cowboys won't have a long time to linger on this latest loss. Traditionally, playing on Thanksgiving means the team will have a long weekend off before starting preparations for the next week. But the Cowboys' next game is just a week away, with a rare back-to-back Thursday game against Washington on the horizon.
With that in mind, Jones reiterated that he wants to press forward rather than look back. That might curtail the speculation from outside the organization, but it wasn't for lack of trying.
"I frankly, guys, have had some of real losing moments right before really knocked it out of the park," Jones said. "I really do believe in the old San Francisco gold miner that quit right before the next pick, and the guy came behind him and hit it and found it all. So I think you keep going."
[embeddedad0]
