Jerry Jones: Give Me an “F” for Handling of Backup QB Situation

It’s not often that you see such humility out of the owner of arguably the world’s most famous sporting franchise, but even the richest and most powerful of men know when they’re beat. Such was the case for Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who went on CBS Sports radio on Tuesday and spoke very frankly about how his team’s season had panned out.

“I think we have made a ‘D’, if you want to give it that,” said Jones optimistically before changing his grade. “Make it an ‘F’, relative to how we have approached this situation if Romo should get hurt. We should be building for the future as well as have an operable quarterback behind our starter. And that’s where we’re going to try and get to.”

The Cowboys’ early-season hopes of a return to dominance in the NFC quickly shattered along with the shoulder of their starting signal caller. Dallas was 2-0 to open the year, but were winless for half a season under Brandon Weeden and Matt Cassel. Romo returned with a win against Miami, but any plans of a late run for the division were obliterated when his season ended for good on Thanksgiving.

Regardless of what you think of Jones, his business tactics or his football acumen, it’s hard to place much of the blame on him. During Romo’s injury, Jones said all the right things to the media, frequently proclaiming his faith in his backups and steadfastly believing that they could hold down the fort without the heart and soul of the offense in uniform.

It is now apparent that quarterback was not the only cause for concern during the Cowboys’ forgettable season; a lack of strike power on offense and a return to the yardage-haemorrhaging Dallas D of a few years ago can only be addressed so much from within a luxury booth on game day.

A big offseason of change could be in the works. Maybe not in terms of starting line-ups, but improvements certainly need to be made to the team’s depth. Some are already turning to Cleveland’s Johnny Manziel as a possible backup, citing Jones’ interest in him during the 2014 draft. Only time – and Jerry’s checkbook – will tell.