Jerry Jones’ surprise over Cowboys slow start is hard to buy

Another week, another sound bite from Jerry Jones to continue to frazzle Dallas Cowboys fans. His latest discourse is claiming his shock in how his Cowboys have looked this season. But anybody that’s been paying attention to this year's Cowboys shouldn’t be surprised. 

We all knew when they refused to be active in the offseason that an outcome like this was possible. 

No team goes "all in" by not doing anything. That’s quite literally the opposite of what "all in" means. Jones refused to give Dak Prescott any sort of help in the offense, and it’s showing why that was not a smart move. 

Prescott is in the middle of an unprecedented turnover run, throwing six interceptions in the last three games and suffering two losses in the process. They let Tony Pollard leave in the offseason and re-signed Rico Dowdle and Ezekiel Elliott as the new running back duo for 2024. That’s earned them the worst running offense in the NFL by a long shot. 

So nice try, attempting to distract us, Jerry. But we know you can't possibly be that shocked. 

Jerry Jones was so focused on re-signing his top players he forgot his team needed more help

Perhaps we should give Jones a little credit. He said he was going all in and then said he was focused on bringing back the core players. And he accomplished that. Just before Dallas’ Week 1 game against Cleveland, Dak Prescott inked a four-year deal. Before that, CeeDee Lamb inked his own long-term deal. 

But because Jones spent all offseason trying to figure out how he’d bring back his quarterback and wide receiver, he also neglected to address other concerns within the team. The biggest issue for Dallas right now is depth on its defense. 

He let Stephon Gilmore go, but opted not to find a veteran replacement. 

I get Jones wants to take the cheap route to fill out the rest of the roster, using younger players to fill in the gaps and develop them over the length of their contracts, but this Dallas team isn’t a team that needs to be putting pressure on its young players. 

They don't deserve that. Dallas is a team that should be getting whatever pieces it can to remain competitive now while it still has the bulk of its core under contract. That means making trades and finding cheap veterans that can get the job done. 

Jones, you were so focused on one thing, you didn’t look at the bigger picture of this season. Clearly this team wasn’t expected to be any better than last year. Even if they manage to hobble to the postseason, you can’t expect them to be any better when they get there. 

There were no moves made that convinced anybody this team could be dangerous. And that should be a surprise to nobody.