FRISCO, Texas – With five games remaining in the regular season, the Cowboys are heading down the closing stretch while trying to make a push for the playoffs, a lot of which lies in their own performance.
On Tuesday, Cowboys owner/GM Jerry Jones went on 105.3 The Fan to discuss the best route for his team to reach the postseason, as well as provided injury updates on Jadeveon Clowney and Trevon Diggs.
Let's dive into that and more that Jones had to say:
Does the Quinnen Williams trade feel like the Amari Cooper trade in 2018?
When the Cowboys acquired WR Amari Cooper from the Raiders in 2018, they went from a 3-4 team heading into the bye week to winning seven of their eight last games to finish 10-6 and earn a spot in the wild card. Since acquiring DT Quinnen Williams this year, Dallas has won three straight. It's deja-vu of sorts for Jones, and it's also a move that Jones had wanted to make since the offseason.
"The answer is yes…" Jones said when asked if Williams' acquisition reminds him of Cooper's. "I tried to make the trade by giving Micah [Parsons] to the Jets and getting Quinnen [Williams] and a [first round draft pick] coming back to us… That's what I wanted in training camp, and we couldn't get that done."
"In my mind, Quinnen is not only just what you want in the middle, and frankly he puts pressure there on the run and pass. But the most important thing is his football character. And it's outstanding, it's off the charts."
Keeping Dallas' interior defensive line trio together
Speaking of Williams, Jones was also complimentary of how he has fit in with, and opened things up for his teammates like Osa Odighizuwa and Kenny Clark. The three of them are paving the way up front for Dallas' defensive turnaround the last three games.
After this season though, it'll cost around $60 million in cap space to keep the three of them together as things stand right now, which brought up some doubt about whether the Cowboys would be willing to navigate that situation. Jones made it no secret that he's willing to find a way.
"All three of those players have, again, tremendous football character. We knew that when we extended Osa this year…" Jones said. "When you line those three up in there, and you've got them either in rotation or you've got them in there together, you really create a dominant feature to our team. A combination of all of them, someone asked 'Well, you're not going to be able to keep them all three.' That's not right. We can, and we can build from that."
Injury updates on Jadeveon Clowney and Trevon Diggs
Defensively, the Cowboys have dealt with injuries all season and are continuing to do so heading into their Thursday night game against Detroit. Defensive end Jadeveon Clowney (hamstring) was limited in practice on Monday, but Jones is optimistic that he'll have a chance to play, although it'll likely be a game-time decision.
"I look to him to be available this [week], but we don't have many days left for him to be out there," Jones said. "Planning on him playing, but that's not a given. This truly is warm him up out there before the game on Thursday, and if they can play, then you'll make them active… He has had two games back-to-back that are very noteworthy."
In the secondary, Dallas opened CB Trevon Diggs' 21-day practice window on Sunday, and he too was limited on Monday as he returns from a knee injury. Diggs said on Sunday that he hopes to play Thursday, and Jones feels the same.
"I hope he's able to go," Jones said. "We'll see how this week's practice goes, and if it goes like we would draw it up, then you could see him out there."
Not-so-fond recent memories of playing the Lions
The memories of last year's Cowboys-Lions game do not sit very well in Jones' mind, as Detroit came to AT&T Stadium and 47-9 to begin what would end up being a five-game losing streak for Dallas.
"I can't get that 40 points they hung on us last year out of my mind, right out here at home," Jones said. "That hook and lateral they did back there on that one pass play that was just embarrassing, really."
With a chaotic and controversial finish in a Cowboys' win in 2023 over Detroit, this game has become a bit of a rivalry of sorts, with Jones going on to compare the want to beat them a little bit more to the feeling of playing divisional opponents.
The Cowboys' best chance to reach the playoffs is…
Winning the NFC East, in Jones' mind.
"Sometimes when you know that it's hard to figure, that's when you just have to put your head down and say, 'listen, I can't get this rationalized or coordinated in my mind, so we're just going to go out here and win these ball games,'" Jones said. "Then it can happen, then it can happen for you… Our best shot, I think, is to win the division."
As it stands, Dallas is a game and a half behind the Eagles for the top spot in the NFC East. That means if they win out, they'll need Philadelphia to lose two of their remaining five games, and so on and so forth should the Cowboys not be able to win out.
