Former exec: Jones is "horrific" as Cowboys' GM

Published Nov. 19, 2013 7:41 p.m. ET

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An anonymous former NFL general manager told The New York Daily News that Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones has been "horrific" in constructing the team.

The former GM is not named in the piece by longtime NFL writer Gary Myers. He's only described as a "former GM who once helped his team get to a Super Bowl." But his biting words mimic what a lot of disgruntled Cowboys fans have already been saying.

"As a general manager, he's horrific. Just horrific," the former GM said. "What makes him bad is everything he does is based on perception, star power, making a splash. Fourth or fifth on the list is soundness. Everything revolves around him. He undermines his head coaches with his antics. They don't have a lot of real harmony and he creates a lot of the storms."

The piece also describes, at length, the smart marketing and business ideas Jones has brought to the Cowboys and the NFL. But it also asks why Jones hasn't been smart enough to hire a GM who is good at making football decisions.

"His ego is so big," the article quotes an unnamed personnel director. "He's had so many chances to do it and won't. He's going down with the ship."

Jone's standard response as to why he won't hire a GM to replace him was repeated during an interview with CBS This Morning that was broadcast Monday:

"My experience has been, the closer your top management is to the man that writes the check, or the man that is the financial backbone of the team, the better operation you have," Jones said.

But in the same interview, Jones said he hears the criticism about the way he runs the team. He even listens to sports talk radio, where he is regularly roasted, but saying hearing the criticism drives him.

"I think I love the pain," Jones said. "Certainly, criticism hurts, but it, boy, fuels your ambition. It makes me think, 'I want to show them.'"

What the entire interview below:

Follow Keith Whitmire on Twitter: @Keith_Whitmire