Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is the one that started talking about windows.
And from his comments Tuesday, he clearly still thinks about them, even if that particular metaphor has gone by the wayside.
Jones emphasized during a radio interview on KRLD-FM (via ESPNDallas.com) that he thought the 2-3 Cowboys could compete for a championship.
This year.
“We’ve got to have some wins to make sure we’re in the hunt, but I keep pointing out we’re fresh off a world champion [Giants] that won nine of 16 ballgames last year,” Jones said. “We know you want your team as healthy and as in sync as it can be as we get on into the end of the season. We know we’ve played one division game and won it. We got those guys [the Giants] coming back in here. We know that’s going to be a big game for us.
“All of those things give us a chance to take a team that is, if you look at the pluses [Sunday], evolving into a team that can compete for the championship. Not next year. This year.”
The hosts, justifiably perplexed, asked if he meant to say they could win a title this year.
“Correct,” Jones said. “Let me emphasize that. I’m not into everybody getting better or learning for years to come. It’s this year.”
The Cowboys are more style than substance in recent years, with two playoff wins since their last Super Bowl in 1995, and a 122-123 record since 1997.
They’re also coming off a loss to the Ravens that saw them run well, but featured ridiculous clock management by coach Jason Garrett, and plenty of mistakes by his players. But he was hesitant to feel too good about it.
“I’m not either and I would agree, and I don’t want you to have to feel good about a moral victory,” Jones said. “We went up there, and everyone, before that ballgame on our team, thought we would win and we could win that ballgame, and we recognize that Baltimore has a good team and we recognize we were playing them away. But everybody thought we could win that ballgame.
“It’s terribly disappointing, but we played physically, we did things we can win with in the future. I think we are preparing ourselves, now let me say this, we’re 2-3, and so that’s five games into a 16-game season. We don’t have time to have a bad time here.”
Sounds like he’s saying, . . . oh, never mind.