Summary: The Devil & Mr Jones

[BringBackThatOleTimeBoys]

An old classic article. Just want to put a few quotes since it's a long read. I highlight a few points.

delusions of adequacy

Jones does not have the humility to be a caretaker. Or, apparently, the stability. I didn't realize it back in 1994, but Jones is haunted almost to the point of neurosis by Jimmy Johnson's ghost. Haunted men act out of desperation, and Jones is desperate to prove one thing: that he can win without Johnson. A man this bullheaded, this self-righteous and self-assured, will destroy the team if that's what it takes. After all, in his view, this is his property.

The most disheartening aspect of the way Jones runs his team is the way he treats his coaches. He controls them as if they were puppets. They parrot the party line, then watch in dismay as he undercuts them on a whim.

Some will accuse me of saying it's all Jerry's fault, but Jimmy helped make the split happen and encourage Jerry to behave the way he has since.

Some of Johnson's act was smoke and mirrors, but he had luck and timing. He had talent too, a rare combination of Schramm's gift for legerdemain and Landry's genius for strategy. All Jones had was a big mouth, a bigger ego, and a bulging wallet that included $140 million he acquired from a sweetheart natural gas deal in Arkansas. The media loved Johnson and made fun of Jones, frequently with Johnson's encouragement. Johnson dropped hints that his boss was a lightweight, a whiner, a hillbilly buffoon whose only talent was carrying the checkbook. After the 1990 season, Jones is said to have whined to his coach: "I want it to be Jerry and Jimmy . . . not just Jimmy."

I'd saved the hard one for last, and now I let him have it. "Since you dictate every detail in this organization, are you willing to accept blame for the team's steady decline?"

The smile again, only slower, steadier, the smile of a man who has waited hours for this moment. "Are you giving me credit for three Super Bowls? Are you giving me credit for having the best team of the nineties with three different coaches? What you are seeing now are the constants in the system: guys on top losing players to free agency, drafting low, paying big salaries to keep star players. I know that we are exactly where we need to be, biting the bullet for a year, but I want our fans to know that too—to know that I know what I'm doing. So I'll accept responsibility if it's articulated where we are."

Jones followed me out of the room and to the elevator, smiling all the way.Me! me! me! was echoing in my aching brain.

Implication of the last quote is he had as much or more with those three SBs than Jimmy. Try to reconcile that with one playoff victory the last 17 years.

I expect to get flames for this from the fans of the wrecking ball of Valley Ranch. But I do love what the Cowboys were, suffered for many years from the Don Quixotic attempt to bring them back JJ's way.





http://www.texasmonthly.com/story/devil-and-mr-jones?fullpage=1

 

[WV Cowboy]

ZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz .....

Don't care Jerry, ... win something.

 

[Rockport]

Frank Luska sees the obvious.

 

[OhSnap]

Another old writer from Texas that doesn't like Jerry. Hard to find these kinds of articles.