IRVING, Texas - While the Cowboys will have a chance to get healthy and possibly make a few adjustments during the bye week, changes in the coaching staff are not expected.
Owner and GM Jerry Jones said Tuesday morning on his weekly radio show on 105.3 "The Fan" that he doesn't anticipate any staff changes, and that includes the defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin and the play-calling duties for Bill Callahan.
"I don't know if you have much choice as to what you're doing in the bye week," Jones said. "We certainly want to emphasize the good things that can be done. I'm not even going to address coaching staff, as to where they're safe or not. Obviously, here we've got 3-4 days this week and go into next week and we're 5-5, we're tied for the lead in our division. We've got players coming back. We've got one of the best quarterbacks in the National Football League. We're off a rough loss. That doesn't call for major changes out here at all."
Jones emphatically said "no" when asked point blank if Jason Garrett would take over for Callahan in the play-calling duties.
One change Jones did say regarding the defense is the play of more man-to-man coverage with the secondary and less zone. In fact, during the some 12-minute interview, Jones made two references to playing more man. [embedded_ad]
"We need to look at what each of these guys do the best," Jones said. "Basically, I'm talking about our corners. Can we get our corners playing more man and less zone, those are kind of things (to change) when the bye week comes along."
Here are some other points Jones said Tuesday morning:
- Wide receiver Miles Austin is expected to return to action against the Giants after the bye week. Jones said Austin should have a "clean bill of health" after missing six of the last eight games with a hamstring injury.
- Speaking of hamstrings, both Sean Lee and Justin Durant will likely be out 3-4 weeks with their injuries they suffered in the Saints game.
- Jones said losing to the Saints does not make him hit the panic button. He references close losses to the Chiefs and Broncos this year in helping him realize the Cowboys have a chance to be more than competitive against some of the NFL's top teams.
- With all of the injuries, Jones said the team evaluates the strength and conditioning staff to make a "comparative assessment around the league" to see how the Cowboys stack up regarding other injuries. In the past few years, Jones said the Cowboys haven't been much different than other teams.
