FRISCO, Texas – Cowboys owner/general manager Jerry Jones has moved past the 13-9 loss to New England.
The Cowboys (6-5) have a new opponent, the 8-3 Buffalo Bills, in two days. Each of their final five games is critical to their postseason prospects with a current one-game lead in the NFC East.
But Jones on Tuesday did address some critical comments he made regarding coaching after the game, particularly the Cowboys' special teams mistakes in rainy and windy conditions at Gillette Stadium.
"The same way that I felt then," Jones said on 105.3 The Fan. "When you're general manager which I am, those coaches are out there at my ultimate decision. And so just as I should and do expect our fans to when asked in a situation like that questions regarding how we perform. It's very much within my realm or purview, if you will, to basically not only be standing there as an owner but be standing there as the general manager that put the staff together to begin with."
In other words, as Jones said later in his weekly radio segment, "At the end of the day, the buck stops with me. … I'm highly critical and I'm continually evaluating the performance of everybody involved with the game."
That's his job as owner and general manager, even though his public comments Sunday might have been surprising to some.
"People seem to think that it's particularly harsh to have criticism, and they think that when you look at the other side of the field and call a job well done, that might mean that's extraordinary criticism of the job that you've done over on the other side of the field, which is me," he said.
"And so there's no question that we, given an opportunity, there were things that we could have taken advantage of, as there is in all games. But the other night, the name of the game was turnovers. The other night, the name of the game was weather. And the other night, the name of the game was how to play that game in those circumstances. New England plays a lot of games in those circumstances."
Jones reiterated once again that he has not considered making an in-season coaching change. His support of head coach Jason Garrett is well documented.
Their focus now is Thanksgiving Day against Buffalo.
"Let's start right now, which everybody wants to see, and that's come out here and play very well against an outstanding Buffalo team," Jones said. "We've got a chance to get this taste of our mouth by playing well against Buffalo.
"We're in position (where) we lead the East. We can play better. We are prepared to address the nuances or subtleties or however you want to describe them, we're prepared to take advantage of the detail that it takes to win a football game."
