This is why Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is not ready to hit the panic button

The question was simple and straight to the point.

As soon as owner Jerry Jones picked up the phone for his Tuesday radio show on 105.3 The Fan, he was asked if he hit the panic button yet over the Dallas Cowboys inept offense and 1-2 start following Sunday’s 24-13 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

To his credit, Jones didn’t blink but his answers are becoming more and more curious.

Jones interestingly blamed the crowd noise in Seattle as well as them knowing what the Cowboys were going to do because of their knowledge of secondary coach/defensive play caller Kris Richard, the former Seahawks defensive coordinator, better than the Cowboys knowing what they were going to do because of his insights into them.

Got it?

“No. We obviously are disappointed,” Jones said. “Disappointed that we know we can play better than we played. But I’ve got to make the point that part of the challenge of going to Seattle is that they play the game there and it’s always you’re seemingly out of sync. They use the noise. They use the style of play there to basically really frustrate, if you will, how you play the game. And I think they did a good job. We thought we could go in there with both sides of the ball and we could play better.

“They knew some tendencies. They should have -- that you can get that when you play coaches that have been on your staff. Certainly, that was the case. We were ready too. We had taken the advantage of having one of our top coaches on their staff over the years. And, so, we were able to understand, have a little better heads-up on what they do because of Richard, our new secondary coach. That didn’t give us the edge that they got from more familiar with what we were going to do. So, I think overall you just have to look. A part of that was playing in Seattle.”

Jones pointed out as coach Jason Garrett did that the Cowboys are not getting enough explosive plays in the passing game.

What gives him hope that this will change? This Cowboys team has only one pass play over 20 yards in three games and averaged a minuscule 4.8 yards per pass play against the Seahawks with no attempts down the field.

“I like our players. I like our coaching staff,” Jones said. ”I think we’ve got players that can -- we’ve seen them perform the way if they can play at those levels. And you can go right down through the positions, through the offensive line. Yes, you can go to the receivers. It’s never as bad as it seems as far as the players doing some of the things you do. You can always find some bright spots. The opposite is true when you win. You can go in and you can be surprised by some of the things you can improve on. That’s just the nature of what we’re doing. I think your question is ‘have I hit the panic button’, and the answer is no.”

Jones does not think the Cowboys offense is outdated and has been passed by in terms of innovation in today’s NFL.

“No. I do not,” Jones said. “I think some of the things we’re doing, or want to do, let’s put it like that. You can’t help but refer to the execution aspect of it, but some of the things we’re doing are very progressive. The stuff we’re trying to do with Dak on a lot of the play-action stuff, the run-pass option. Those are things you see other clubs doing. No, I don’t think either in technique or at the different positions on the team, I don’t think we’re antiquated in any way.”

More importantly, Jones said there have no thoughts of making major changes on the coaching staff because the team made wholesale changes in the offseason and there have been no discussions of Jason Garrett taking the play-calling duties away from offensive coordinator Scott Linehan.

“There have not been any discussions or plans to have him become the play-caller,” Jones said.

Jones also said he is not considering any major personnel moves to shake things up and wouldn’t at this time. He said the Cowboys simply need to do a better job at executing what they are being asked to do.

And regarding quarterback Dak Prescott and his passing inefficiency that dates back to last season, Jones expressed patience while making a point to express optimism and emphasize positivity about a young Cowboys team being able to improve as the season goes along.

“I think we’ve seen Dak really compete and do well with what we want him to do in areas that Dak can play better in,” Jones said. “We’ve seen him perform those things and do it well. We’ve seen him do it this year. We’ve just got to put it together. We can take the positives that we have right now. One thing I want to do is knock on wood. Injury wise, we’re relatively speaking in good stead right now. We’ve got guys who have had a lot of reps, youngest team in the NFL. We’ve got guys that have got a lot of reps over the last three games. Those are important to us. We’ll build on that.

“But I think as much as anything I think some of the things I’m seeing us do defensively that I haven’t seen done this well in several years will hold us in good stead, and this running game will hold us in good stead, and Dak can do the things we’re asking him to do, some of those circumstances or decisions can completely change the game. So, you look at a lot of things like that as a positive as we move ahead.”

So why is he being so patient and understanding rather than chopping heads off? He thinks the Cowboys are still headed in the right direction and not ready to cut short.

“The word ‘patience’ and ‘decision-making’ is relevant,” Jones said. “I would like to think that you have some judgment. You know, decisions so often you’re 50-50 on any decision. It’s when you let your good one go long and you stop as quickly as you can your bad ones. That’s really the trick. No one is smart enough to do better than 50-50 in my mind. But you can cut short going in a direction you don’t want to go. I don’t think that’s the case in general as we’re sitting here right now.”

This story was originally published September 25, 2018 at 12:24 PM.