The Cowboys love Kris Richard’s passion most of the time. But executive vice president Stephen Jones admitted after Sunday’s win over the Eagles that he was disappointed the secondary coach was involved in the pregame scuffle between the teams.
Richard, 39, was caught by TV cameras trading shoves with Eagles cornerback Jalen Mills.
“It was a really interesting moment,” Richard said Thursday, via Kate Hairopoulos of the Dallas Morning News. “I look fairly young and people probably don’t know or recognize the level of being a coach, right wrong or indifferent. I know they’re really good guys over there. They’re honorable and obviously they’re Super Bowl champions. Everybody over there in general, they have good conscious about doing things right.
“And we also feel that way, and it’s one of those things to where you kind of get caught up in the heat of the moment and things of that nature. But absolutely no disrespect was taken or wanted to be given by any means. It was one of those deals to where everyone’s prepared to kind of go out and do battle and things happen.”
Richard did not go into detail about how the disagreement began and downplayed any notion that it motivated the team.
The Seahawks former defensive coordinator has designs on becoming a head coach.
Richard no doubt will draw interest in the offeason from teams with openings, and he no doubt now will have to answer questions about his part in the pregame exchange last week.
But Richard is thinking about nothing else except trying to get the Cowboys back to .500, which can happen with a win in Atlanta this week.
“It’s the same thing we preach to our players,” said Richard, who also doubles as the Cowboys’ passing game coordinator. ". . .You have to look at the next step in front of you or you may fall flat on your face.
“It’s no secret I’ve been in an interview and had the opportunity to prepare. Will I be prepared? Yes. I am preparing. But is it so important to where it’s a distraction? Never ever.”