At a time when the team he owns could use some enhanced accountability, Cowboys boss Jerry Jones wants even more of it from the guy who runs the sport.
“To sum it all up, what I want of all is I want accountability, more accountability [from the Commissioner],” Jones said after Sunday’s loss to the Eagles, via Brandon George of the Dallas Morning News. “I want unprecedented accountability to the ownership. That simple.”
It’s simple in concept, difficult in execution. Jerry Jones and every other owner voted to give the members of the Compensation Committee essentially a blank check to fill out however they see fit when negotiating a new contract with Roger Goodell, Jones has plenty of work to do in order to undo what already has been done.
That work has, to date, caused Jones to incur the wrath of multiple owners, some of whom want to see the league impose real sanctions against him. Jones insists, however, that he’s acting not to the detriment of the league but to its benefit. He made general reference to that notion during halftime of Sunday night’s game, when he received his Hall of Fame ring and addressed the crowd at the stadium he owns.
“What I’ve tried to do with every breath is to make the Dallas Cowboys better, and to make the NFL better,” Jones said. “That’s what I try to do and that’s what I’m going to do.”
Whatever he’s going to do, the mainstream media has become infatuated with the Goodell vs. Jones kerfuffle; Jerry’s comments from intermission became the basis for a Daily Mail story with a headline that suggests Jones “blasted” Goodell publicly. (It was hardly that.)
Regardless, everyone is paying attention to how this one plays out, and no one quite knows how it will. More importantly, the other owners don’t know whether this is a one-time play from Jones, or whether it’s the new normal. If it’s the latter, get ready for a lot more Daily Mail stories about Jerry Jones.