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Todd Archer, ESPN writer
ARLINGTON, Texas — While his time as owner and general manager of the Dallas Cowboys focused on winning three Super Bowls in the 1990s, Jerry Jones has also had his down moments.
“We won a game my first year,” Jones said after the Cowboys’ 34-10 loss to the Houston Texans on Monday night, which dropped Dallas to 3-7 on the season. “One. And so we’ve had tough seasons? Yes. Yes, I’ve been around. We certainly have. And we’ve had other tough years. And this one, we didn’t anticipate the record. And the way we’re playing right now, “We wouldn’t have anticipated it, but no, this isn’t it, you’ve all heard me tell these old stories until you get sick, but no, stay in this league long enough, you’ll have moments like this.”
The 1989 Cowboys, however, were not considered one of the best teams in the NFC at the beginning of that season. Neither were the teams that finished 5-11 three years in a row in 2000-02. In 2010, Jones made the only in-season coaching change during his tenure, replacing Wade Phillips with Jason Garrett after a 1-7 start. In 2015, the Cowboys finished 4-12.
At 3-7, the Cowboys are projected to have a top-10 pick in next year’s draft. With Mike McCarthy in the final year of his contract, there could be a new coaching staff in 2025, but Jones says he believes the players still believe in McCarthy.
“This thing about losing the team is very exaggerated,” Jones said. “These guys are, first of all, natural competitors. Secondly, they are very proud of the fact that they are professionals and disappointed maybe in the way they executed the play, but that is not something that is brother or first cousin.” . give up… Everyone is certainly disappointed, but that’s a big difference between not knowing that you have to put one foot in front of the other to go.”
For the first time since 1989, the Cowboys have lost their first five home games of a season. They have been outscored by 118 points, the third-highest total in five home games in the Super Bowl era.
The five-game losing streak is the longest since the Cowboys lost seven in a row in 2015. It ties the longest losing streak McCarthy has had as a coach. In 2008, the Green Bay Packers lost five straight games on their way to a 6-10 finish.
“Explain it? I think it’s very frustrating. It’s frustrating for everyone. Frustrating for the players, frustrating for the coaches. I know it’s disappointing for the fans,” McCarthy said. “But we just have a lot of moving parts in play, and we just have to be cleaner and more detailed at certain points. We’re not playing well enough, we’re not executing well enough, we’re not training well enough to overcome some of the obstacles, mistakes that we are making at critical moments in the game.
On their first drive Monday, the Cowboys attempted their second fake punt in their last three games and Bryan Anger’s pass to Juanyeh Thomas fell 5 yards short of a first down.
“They won the chess game there,” McCarthy said. “That was a bad decision on our part.”
Trailing 20-10 in the third quarter, McCarthy missed Brandon Aubrey’s short field goal attempt for a fourth-and-2 at the Houston 8-yard line, and Cooper Rush’s pass fell incomplete.
“You can’t have it both ways,” McCarthy said. “We are trying to play exactly well, managing the game, 14-play series… We needed seven [points] there.”
The next time the Cowboys had the ball, Rush fumbled on a sack that rookie left tackle Tyler Guyton recovered but subsequently fumbled. Texans defensive end Derek Barnett, who sacked Rush, scooped up the loose ball and ran 28 yards for a score.
“We are not teaching [offensive] linemen to carry the ball,” McCarthy said. “That’s twice. Obviously, that’s a big play in the game. “We need to fall on the ball.”
Guyton suffered a shoulder injury during the play and did not return. Two series later, the Cowboys lost right guard Zack Martin and left guard Tyler Smith to ankle injuries and neither returned. In the first half, tight end Jake Ferguson was forced to leave the game due to a concussion.
Quarterback Dak Prescott, who was placed on injured reserve Monday following his hamstring surgery last week, watched the game from the coaches’ box.
“I feel like in times of adversity, confirmation comes from what you know from your past experiences, but also from trusting the people in the room, the people who are doing the work. And I do,” McCarthy said. “I believe in this locker room. Our leadership, most of them have been injured. There are good things that come out of this. You don’t see it because we are not winning games, but there are young men who are having the opportunity to do more. And I think that It will pay off. They need to hurry because we need it in six days. But this is simply the reality of what we are going through because of the organization but because of the energy and effort that they give me. play better.”
The Cowboys will play the Washington Commanders next week, followed by a Thanksgiving game against the New York Giants.
The Cowboys currently only have one game left against a team with a worse record than theirs (the Giants).
“This is it, man,” McCarthy said. “We have seven losses. We have to move forward. We are against the wall. We have to fight, claw, claw. We have to do everything we can to win the next game. That’s where my mind is. That’s the way we train and that’s the expectation. We have to win. We deserve to win. We deserve the opportunity to win and that’s about putting the best people there. Right now, those guys, our young guys, are getting a lot of experience.
“But we have to do whatever it takes to win.”
