Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has made clear that he has no intention of firing himself as general manager. But he also promises that after falling short of the playoffs, the Cowboys will make changes. And he hinted that those changes will include evaluating his own performance.
“We’ll make some changes. I’ll assure you we’ll make changes,” Jones told WFAA. “When you work for yourself, there’s not but one thing to change — that’s what’s in that mirror.”
But if Jones has already ruled out delegating the personnel decisions to someone else, it’s tough to see what changes he can impose on the man in the mirror. Jones has built this roster, and the roster he built fell short of the playoffs. If he’s not going to delegate the personnel authority, then the changes he’s making to himself will be merely cosmetic.
Jones’s comments came on Sunday night after he had watched the Giants beat the Falcons, and he said he was impressed with the Giants and disappointed that it wasn’t the Cowboys representing the NFC East.
“You just realize when you’re watching these playoffs how important it is, and I really hate it for our fans as much as I do my feelings, because it’s just a different game when you get in the playoffs,” Jones said. “But we were particularly proud of the Giants, because boy are they playing well, and they’re peaking at the right time, and certainly their defense really were imposing against Atlanta’s offense -- their front -- and they did the same against us.”
Ultimately, Jones is the one who has to make the changes for the Cowboys to get better than the Giants next season. Because he’s not giving anyone else the authority to make those changes.