One of the downsides to having an old oil wildcatter for an NFL owner is that he always believes a gusher's just around the corner. Jerry Jones doesn't have the normal response to failure. It almost seems to embolden him, which is why he can see the beauty in the Cowboys' 4-4 record instead of the mediocrity.
Close only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades and Sundays at AT&T Stadium. And Jerry was at it again Friday when he was asked to evaluate head coach Jason Garrett's performance now that he's no longer calling plays.
"I think when I look at where we are or where we can be as a team, then we've definitely benefited from how he is coaching the team as opposed to where he was as coordinator as well as head coach," Jones told 105.3 FM. "We've benefited from that. Now, we're 4-4. It looks like we're in a rut. But when I look at how close those games have been, then I can see it could've been better than 4-4. That's the way I would look at it if this were it."
It would be helpful if Jones prefaced those type statements with, "I'm about to make our fans pull their hair out." I don't understand how Jones can be so upset after .500 seasons when he doesn't believe they actually exist. He doesn't subscribe to Bill Parcells' "you are what you are" philosophy at all. And that honestly undermines everything about this organization. In Jerry's mind, this Cowboys team is 6-2. That's really what he thinks. He can go on and on in the offseason about how he's going to make everyone uncomfortable, but in reality he provides the most comfortable residence for mediocrity in the NFL.
He doesn't plan for a rainy day because he's wired to think it won't arrive. That's how you end up on draft night saying you didn't select defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd in the first round because your team is already stacked at that position. Never mind the fact that a 4-3 scheme begs for great depth along the defensive line. Someone, perhaps Monte Kiffin, had been whispering to Jerry that Floyd wasn't a "quick-twitch" player, so that's what he repeated that fateful night. Floyd is considered the heir apparent to perennial Pro Bowler Kevin Williams in Minnesota. He has only played about 40 percent of the snaps this season, but the number would've been higher on a Cowboys defensive line that has been ravaged by injury.
The Cowboys seemed to hang their hat on this notion they'd never again experience all the injuries that hit them in 2012. And once again that might have something to do with Jerry's blind optimism. They have been compromised in the secondary due to injuries to rookie safety J.J. Wilcox and second-year cornerback Morris Claiborne. Even a quarterback like Christian Ponder has to be excited knowing that rookie B.W. Webb will play a prominent role in the Cowboys' nickel defense.
The good news for the Cowboys is that Jerry's son Stephen seems to have a better grip on reality. He's trying to hold to the old Parcells mantra.
"It's disappointing for us," Stephen told reporters at Valley Ranch on Friday. "I think we're a better football team than 4-4. But at the end of the day, Bill Parcells used to say, ‘You are what you are.' We've won four games pretty solidly. We unfortunately can't win a close one right now. But that's going to change. We're going to get better. We'll continue to improve. I do think that will change. I think we've got a good football team. We just haven't been able to pull out one of these tight ones. We've lost four really close ones. We're 0-4 in the close ones, and you'd like to think one or two of those would go your way. But you are what you are. We're 4-4. We're disappointed. But we're certainly optimistic about what lies ahead of us."
The Cowboys appear to have three automatic wins on the schedule, and one of those happens to be Sunday. If you drop a game to the Vikings, Raiders or Eagles, then you really have an uphill climb on your hands. But the climb to Mount .500 is in full effect. And Jerry feels better about it than ever.
If you're OK with average in the NFL, this is a destination spot.
