Jerry Jones: ‘By no means have I given up on Doug Free’

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Doug Free is certainly in the argument for most criticized Cowboys player this season. Being called for a league-high 14 penalties and constantly struggling to keep pass rushers off Tony Romo, the right tackle has significantly underperformed.

In Sunday night’s 38-33 Cowboys victory over the Philadelphia Eagles, Free allowed his sixth sack of the season, according to ProFootballFocus.com, and was called twice for holding. His poor play in the first half led to a reporter asking Cowboys coach Jason Garrett if he thought about benching Free at halftime. Garrett said he did not.

Jerry Jones gave his assessment of Free on Tuesday, saying that the 28-year-old needs to improve his punch and technique. Part of the reason Free is heavily criticized when he struggles is because Jones gave him a four-year, $32 million contract extension last year.

“I think that, first of all, we put some pressure on our tackles,” the Cowboys owner and general manger explained on 105.3 The Fan [KRLD-FM]. “A lot of play action helps your tackles. Some of the things we do in our passing game, we ask a lot of our tackles. So you got to take that into consideration.

“The other things is, I just think that Doug Free’s biggest asset is quick feet. You can make a case, believe it or not, that he plays better left tackle than he does right tackle. Be that as it may, he should be an outstanding right tackle. A couple years back we had him in the top five to 10 tackles in the league. I think that we can see that from him.

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