Jerry Jones said Andy Dalton (and more Zeke) can lead Dallas Cowboys to championship
Jerry Jones thinks Andy Dalton can take the Dallas Cowboys to the Super Bowl.
Jones told KRLD/1053. FM “The Fan” that expectations for the rest of the 2020 season perhaps should be adjusted, but Dalton replacing Dak Prescott for the final 11 games need not damper the optimism.
Of course, the Cowboys are 2-3 and Dalton helped rally the team for the win last week after Prescott’s season ended with a broken right ankle. So it’s not as if Dalton is taking over for a 5-0 team as the Cowboys prepare to host the Arizona Cardinals (3-2) at 7:15 p.m. Monday at AT&T Stadium.
“Dak is a very, very integral part of the success of this football team,” the Cowboys owner and general manager said. “On the other hand, if we don’t reach where we want to go ultimately, and the ultimate success is to win the championship, it will not be because of Andy Dalton. It will not be because of where our play at quarterback is. He is capable of stepping in and playing at that level.”
Jones said Dalton is probably the best backup quarterback the team has had since Bernie Kosar stepped in for an injured Troy Aikman in the 1990s. Jones called Dalton “very accurate with a “quick delivery.”
“I think you couldn’t ask for a better experience, background,” he said. “He’s proven. He’s a proven player, a proven player under pressure. He brought with him from the get-go that he will rise to the occasion. He does his best in a challenge. We saw a little bit of it the other day.”
In fact, Jones said, signing Dalton as a free agent after a very good run with the Bengals was an opportunity “we just couldn’t pass up.”
“He is a starting quarterback, and I don’t mean just a starting quarterback. He’s legitimate, go get ‘em, designed, starting quarterback in the NFL, and I’m proud that we have him under these circumstances to be starting for the Dallas Cowboys,” Jones said. “We couldn’t be in better shape, if you take into consideration we lost Dak, than to have Andy Dalton step in.”
Jones said the Cowboys’ offense is likely to change going forward but that isn’t necessarily because Dalton has taken over for Prescott. Even with Prescott healthy, the Cowboys were aiming to have a more balanced offense with Ezekiel Elliott getting more carries. They haven’t been able to do that as much through the first give games because too often the team was trailing. And most cases, they were trailing big.
“The facts are we wanted to change and have Zeke running the ball more anyway. It’s called balance our offense out, which means complement the defense,” he said. “We want the offense to stay on the field more than it was on the field throughout most of this season. And, so, by sheer desire we’d like to have Zeke more involved in the ballgames.”
