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ADVERTISING INFO
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Jennifer Floyd Engel 
Think the pressure was already high?
Give Owner Jones an "A".
Not for the Cowboys draft. Please. How can experts possibly affix a grade on what at this moment amounts to a bunch of maybes and possiblys?
Every year, every team claims the draft broke exactly right for it and insists it landed the greatest class ever until one or two (or in Detroit’s case all) of said players fail to do anything. You just cross your fingers and hope you hit on a few.
No, the "A" belongs to Owner Jones alone, for saying what every GM always wants to tell his coach.
I did my job. Now, you do yours.
He didn’t phrase it quite this harshly, but close.
"If we get some coaching, it’s unbelievable what this team might be," were his exact words.
Owner Jones laughed as he said it, presumably because Coach Wade was sitting beside him, trying to giggle through an otherwise tense moment. Or possibly to convey he was just kidding.
He was kidding. Kind of. Not really.
And not at all, if this Cowboys team fails to win a playoff game this go-around. Coach Wade is 0-4 in playoff games and, after what has transpired this week, says he is not going to have a chance at 0-6.
Never has "just win, baby" applied more.
Owner Jones shoved a lot of chips to the middle of the table this week, and the only clear potential loser in this scenario is Coach Wade. It is on his butt to make the gamble pay off.
Nor will Coach Wade be able to golly-gee-whiz his way out of this. Owner Jones did not sell another hunk of his football integrity, risk his rep with Rog and hop into bed with a repeat idiot to celebrate winning bye weeks. The days of the "We were 14-3" T-shirts have officially ended.
And why he insists on this silliness is still a mystery to me.
Coach Wade needs at least a Super Bowl berth or it will be The Redheaded Genius deciding whether to over-laugh Owner Jones’ jokes next season. Because what Owner Jones basically said, while selling his Pacman decisions, was you take gigantic risks, such as Pacman, only to win big. Super Bowl big.
"If I tried to pick all the things that I could do to help the Cowboys that, if you weren’t successful, you didn’t get disappointed, all the safe things, all the things that didn’t hurt you feeling-wise or financially," Owner Jones said, "I wouldn’t get many worthwhile projects.
"They usually come with risk and inordinate pain when they don’t work."
Risk and pain remain distinct possibilities for Owner Jones and his Pacman crush, despite what the short-skirt and pom-pom patrol have been selling.
Risk is not simply defined by a dumpable, incentive-laden contract or what picks were given. It also includes possibly alienating a locker room full of good guys and counting on a player to be there on Sunday when facts say he’s a strip-club visit away from Rog permanently banning him.
And contrary to popular local jockosphere opinion, Rog hardly seems prepared to welcome Pacman back with open arms. Or even to allow him to join in Valley Ranch activities.
He specifically told reporters that he had no plans to talk to Pacman until June. Does anybody really believe Rog allows his least fave player to step foot into Valley Ranch and, thereby, within spitting distance of a vibrant nekkid-dancing scene without a veiled threat or two?
Hardly. Not with Pacman still being a running punch line.
A popular gaming www has posted odds on which month Rog’s least favorite Cowboy will be outed for visiting the nekkid clubs and will he go with T.O. and will Rog reinstate him in time to play in Week 1?
Give me during the 2008 NFL season at 3/2.
No. And yes.
Because while I believe there remains a chance that Rog says buh-bye, I think Owner Jones has enough sway as one of the most influential owners to get Pacman on the field by Cleveland. The catch is he is going to be leveraging a little of his good name for a guy who he admits to having no clue if he’s truly reformed.
"To say I’m totally convinced [that Pacman has turned a behavioral corner], no, I don’t know that," Owner Jones said. "I don’t know that at all. But I do know enough to do what we’re doing."
You can hate his decisions, and I happen to vehemently disagree with his thinking on Pacman. But you can not hate the man. Owner Jones is putting his you-know-what on the line because he wants another Lombardi in Dallas.
He is also putting Coach Wade’s you-know-what on the line. If it was not already.
The whole weekend — from the second they traded for Pacman through their draft day decisions — was about this year. The whole line about no receiver worth taking was really them saying none of them would be able to help this season.
So the Cowboys are still digging away at trading for Roy Williams (the good one) or Chad Johnson to join T.O., Witten and Romo.
Of course, Owner Jones always has preached the gospel of winning now. He had this team going to the Super Bowl every season, even in the Campo days.
He is being very serious this time. He believes he has assembled a team worthy of that "A".
In other words: He did his job. Now, Coach Wade, do yours.
Because if this team is not as unbelievable as Owner Jones thinks it can be, he will not be laughing.
He’ll be snagging himself some coaching.
Jennifer Floyd Engel, 817-390-7760
