Jones said Wednesday on 105.3 FM “The Fan” that change will be necessary after another 8-8 finish, but going a different direction at quarterback isn’t in those plans.
“I don’t like what’s on the other side of that page,” Jones said. “We’ve got better chances to get to the Super Bowl relative to Tony Romo.”
Rather than change the quarterback position, Jones’ focus is on figuring out a way to build around Romo to make him more comfortable as the signal caller. Romo finished No. 3 in the league with 4,903 passing yards and No. 10 in the league with a 90.5 passer rating, but he was tied for the NFL lead with 19 interceptions.
Jones said he’s proud to have Romo as his quarterback, but after six years of development between Romo and head coach Jason Garrett, he said the Cowboys shouldn’t be playing with the lead at a 23 percent clip, better than only the Raiders and the Chiefs.
“We’ve got to have a way to play football that maximizes what Tony does the best,” Jones said. “I can assure our fans this, that it’s going to be very uncomfortable, from my standpoint, for the next few weeks and months at Valley Ranch.”
Jones won’t accept mediocrity, but he also won’t divulge what changes could happen until staff meetings occur at a later date and those plans are fully discussed. His patience wears thin every time the Cowboys miss out on the playoffs, but he also realizes a lack of patience isn’t the issue.
“The real issue is we have Tony Romo, and we have a quarterback that I have all the confidence in the world in him, and our team needs to use his experience, use what he does the best,” Jones said. “We need to use that. We need to do things offensively that maximize that. That’s what the team that we played Sunday did. They used their personnel, those two guys, that quarterback and that running back, who were playing in college this time last year.”
Jones said he’ll meet with his most trusted guides and mentors outside the organization to help him evaluate how to get out of the current cycle of average football and “drive across the water,” as Jones put it. He said sometimes unconventional moves are necessary when doing so, referencing the Broncos’ decision to go get Peyton Manning and the Redskins’ decision to trade up for Robert Griffin III and model the offense around the rookie.
“I’m not ready to take the kinds of risks that the two teams that I just mentioned, that Denver took, the kind of risks that Washington took,” Jones said. “We don’t need to do that right now… Tony is a tremendous asset, and he’s an asset that’s going to be with the Dallas Cowboys, as far as I’m concerned, for a long time.”
He didn’t specify whether he’s working on an extension for Romo or any other members of the team or coaching staff.
“You shouldn’t infer anything,” Jones said. “I’m just saying what I’m saying. We are fundamentally, as far as I’m concerned, pleased with what Romo does for our future.”
