NFL

Jerry Jones: Why hire a GM, I’d just overrule him

Bad news, Cowboys fans: Meddlesome owner Jerry Jones doesn’t sound like he has any plans to be less hands-on.

“It’s often been said, ‘Well, why don’t I get someone to be the GM, why don’t I get someone to pick the players?'” Jones, who acts as the team’s general manager, told Dallas’ KRLD-FM on Tuesday.

“Well, who in the world do you think that person, when they walk through the door and say we want to get this player and we want to pay this player, what in the world do you think I’m going to do? I’m going to sit down, and I’m going to go through it, and I’m going to say, ‘Show me the player. Show me everything about the player. Before I write the check. Show me the player, and let me see everything about the player.’ Well, rather than that have happen, I get involved and know everything there is to know about the players before they get to the door. Now that, if you’ve got the time to do it, that’s a better way to do it.”

Jones also discussed his style of managing the Cowboys, saying he developed his aggressive mentality from his time in the oil and gas industry.

“I do it on a risky basis. We go for it,” he said. “We step out here before the year, and we knew we were taking a risk, but we gave [defensive end Anthony] Spencer franchise money, which is approximately $11 million, I think. It may be closer to 10. But about $11 million. We put quite a bit of money in that defensive front.

“We thought that would be the strength of our team. I got to the Cowboys drilling oil and gas wells. You don’t have more ups and downs than you do drilling oil and gas wells in your everyday. With the left hand, you pick up the phone and they tell you, ‘Buddy, you’ve just hit a dry hole. Every dollar you put in is gone.’ With your right hand, you’re on the other phone making a deal to go again. And to some degree, I guess that style is still there, and that’s what we do with the Cowboys.”

Jones was asked whether he feared fan apathy following games like Sunday’s devastating home loss in which the team held a 26-3 lead at halftime over the Packers, who were without star quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Backup Matt Flynn rallied Green Bay to an improbable 37-36 victory, and Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo threw two interceptions in the game’s final three minutes to seal the team’s fate.

“Not with games like the other day,” he said. “That’s, you know, that’s a show, if you want to look at it that way. That’s not what we’re there to do. We’re there to win the ballgame and go forward and win the next ballgame. But it’s, there’s no orchestrating that the other day. I think everyone knows what’s at stake. We spent more money on this ball team than anybody in the NFL did this year … We let it all hang out. And we should. And we’ve got players that I believe, if you stack them up around the league, if you talk to different people around the league, we’ve got quality players on this team that can win. Our coaches, Jason [Garrett] has had over the last six, seven years, he’s had experience that you can’t replicate. All of these things can kick in and make us a winning combination. We’ve had that before.”

Despite their uneven season, the Cowboys still control their own destiny to win their first NFC East title since 2009. If they win their final two games of the season (at Washington and home against Philadelphia), they will claim the division crown.