Cowboys defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin could do nothing to stop the Saints’ offense on Sunday night, while Saints defensive coordinator Rob Ryan’s defense held the Cowboys in check. After the game, Cowboys owner and General Manager Jerry Jones admitted that his decision to fire Ryan and hire Kiffin is now open to criticism.
“We thought it was best for us to go in the direction we are, and it doesn’t look good right now,” Jones said. “Hopefully we can make it look good, but I have all the feelings you have any time you look back at a decision, and I realize when some of them work you have to have a few things go along with it.”
Jones credited Ryan for getting the Saints’ defense ready.
“I thought Rob’s defense was outstanding. They got after us good,” Jones said. “This is not only a tough place to play, but we know, where we are right now with our personnel on defense, we’ve got to go out and score. We’ve got to get in there and score some points. To their credit, they didn’t let us keep our offense out there.”
Although Sunday night’s loss stung, Jones said he still hopes the Cowboys can face the Saints again in the playoffs, and have a better showing.
“It’s embarrassing to lose, it’s embarrassing to not be representative, not be competitive – all of those things. But more importantly, the real issue, can we do something about it,” Jones said. “Can we get in here and use this time off, get some of our guys back, get a little healthier, come up with some ideas of how to go against the rest of the schedule and see if we can have a happier day this year – not next year but this year.”
Dallas does still lead the NFC East. But unless the Cowboys get a whole lot better, a playoff rematch with the Saints would not be pretty.