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Cowboys owner Jerry Jones says ‘sky has not fallen’ despite disappointing losses

Jones also discussed how the league can better adjudicate game-changing penalty calls.

Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones recently spoke with “Shan & RJ” on 105.3 The Fan [KRLD-FM] to talk all things football. Here are some highlights, edited for clarity:

Can you tell us about your frustrations regarding the last three weeks?

Jerry Jones: “I’m very disappointed that these last four ball games have evolved the way we have. On the other hand, I’m going directly to how we look as get into the last six games, and hopefully into the playoffs. Yesterday is as dead as Napoleon. It’s gone. So, we have to look at how to improve. So, that sky has not fallen. When you look at the six games ahead that we have, the cavalry is coming. We got to remember that this time of year is normally when you’re dealing with attrition. You’re normally dealing with a depleted situation in your personnel.

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“Here we come with fresh legs and a healthy Randy Gregory, DeMarcus Lawrence to go along with Micah Parsons to create some problems for the offenses that we’re going to play. They’re coming in quickly. We got [Neville] Gallimore that should possibly have been a starter from Day 1 for us that we got coming in on the defense now. We’ve had a lot of young guys play. I’m not just trying to arm wave. They have played and got a lot of reps in. They’ll be a lot better for it as we get into the last six games.

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“So, I do see the ingredients for improvement and names — more than names — but you really got to make sure that we realize where our shortcomings are, and I believe very candidly that those are so obvious. We went into that game [Thursday] to put pressure on that quarterback. He’s outstanding when he’s not pressured. And while we had some pressure from time to time with Parsons and some from the interior, we just didn’t get the kind of pressure that you got to get on him.

“We went into that game wanting to run our running game being a dominant part of it, and we didn’t get to get that done. I see ways that we can get it done because the more we play on defense, the more opportunities they give us on offense.”

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What can the NFL do differently to better adjudicate game-changing penalty calls, like defensive pass interference?

Jones: “The thing that is always hovering over is do you want more offense or do you want to help the defense in terms of the game? How you want the game? The game itself, I think, has never ever been more entertaining since the 30 years I’ve been involved in the NFL. … And [Thursday], we had a game that probably had more viewers than any game other than the Super Bowl. And that game was frankly decided -- it really wasn’t biased -- but it was decided by an understanding of how the game was going to be called. When you realize that that ball was going to get a pass interference call when it goes down the field with any contact at all -- there are games where they are bumping and grabbing and doing all kinds of things and those aren’t called -- that’s part of the nuances of basically making adjustments.

“I can sit here with you and we can change some of those key things out on detail, and I assure you we’ll be going over it ad nauseum. Stephen [Jones] is on the competition committee, and they’ll take this issue and they will look at literally thousands of plays and come up with how to go forward with the idea in mind how much do we want to move the game as to being able to have plays, really have the scoring be where we want it to be in the league. ... It’s just something that will be always be a subject when we’re trying to look at how the game goes forward.

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“You know on our offensive line, for instance. Years ago we let the tackles put a foot back. Used to be the tackles had to have their feet, both of them, right on the line of scrimmage. Now, you can line up at an angle. Well, that really assists the tackles and protecting the quarterback. We did that to better the offense. We did that to protect the quarterback.”

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