Jones still believes Cowboys, Dak are SB-caliber

Todd Archer, ESPN Staff WriterOct 10, 2023, 01:02 PM ET
Close

FRISCO, Texas — After five weeks and a 42-10 thrashing, Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones acknowledged there is a gap between his team and the San Francisco 49ers.

“I’m not panicked. But the gap is — when something tells you what it is, don’t try to dream that it’s something else,” Jones said on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas Tuesday. “Now, what I’m trying to say is we can do better than what we did out there Sunday night. That’s a given.”

On numerous occasions, Jones repeated his belief in coach Mike McCarthy, the staff, quarterback Dak Prescott and the roster that they can have the type of season they want by getting to the Super Bowl.

The 32-point loss was the second-most lopsided defeat of McCarthy’s career and the largest of Prescott’s time as the Cowboys starter.

“We ran into an outstanding team, and we didn’t play well,” Jones said, adding, “We have players on field and on the roster that can get it done.”

Jones’ belief in Prescott, who has lost three straight games to the 49ers, remains strong.

“I believe Dak is a quarterback that can get us to the Super Bowl, and that’s the way that’s going to be,” Jones said.

Jones said he has given no consideration to having Brian Schottenheimer call plays and have McCarthy move back to the CEO role he had his first three seasons when Kellen Moore was calling plays. While most of the Cowboys’ offense remains the same under McCarthy, there are more West Coast elements to the scheme.

“Should we change at this juncture back to where we were at this time last year? No, we should not,” Jones said. “We should go with the kinds of things we’ve been working on. We should recognize we had a very bad outing and San Francisco had a very good outing. We should recognize that and call it what it is and not mislead ourselves to sit here and say, We should completely change out the cards … You couldn’t if you wanted to, to reinvent your offense.”

The Cowboys will see Moore on Monday when they take on the Los Angeles Chargers and their highly talented offense. The Cowboys are 10-1 after a loss over the past two-plus seasons.

“Of the things that we need to do better, their resolution, that locker room is one of the best I can remember,” Jones said. “And the individuals that are involved in there are they not only resolved but they take what they’re doing mentally, they take what they’ve done in the classroom, they take it to the practice field, and they take it out to the game.

“My point to you is, that I feel as good about the quality of players, feel as good about their resolve as a team, about their resolve individually and we’ve got to get out here and we’ll prepare for the Chargers, and we will use what happened against San Francisco to be a better team when we go on the field against the Chargers.”