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By sparring with radio hosts, Jerry Jones shows Cowboys are equal parts tragedy, comedy

Jones’ time would be better spent improving his team, like the NY Jets trading for WR Davante Adams on Tuesday.

The feistiness of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones finally surfaced Tuesday, two days after the most one-sided loss of his 36-year tenure in Dallas. As fans have hoped, Jones is finally threatening to hold some people accountable around here.

Starting with radio hosts.

Jones, as you cannot possibly be unaware, makes two appearances a week on 105.3 The Fan (KRLD-FM) during the NFL season. And when he was asked about his offseason mistakes and frequent unwillingness to spend money the team still has under the salary cap, Jones went off.

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“This is not your job,” Jones said. “If you think I’m interested on a damn phone call with you over the radio, sitting here throwing all the good out with the dishwater, you have got to be smoking something over there this morning. That’s not your job or I’ll get somebody else to ask these questions, men.”

When the hosts laughed, Jones said, “I’m not kidding."

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Finally showing some toughness.

While Jones was focused on questions he deemed unpleasant or inappropriate, the New York Jets were busy trading for wide receiver Davante Adams, sending a third-round pick that could become a second to Las Vegas. We tend to think of the Jets as having been just about the most unserious football franchise for the last half century … but maybe it has become the Cowboys.

Could Dallas have been in on Adams? Absolutely. It was during a similar bye week in 2018 that the Cowboys paid a higher price to the Raiders for Amari Cooper, a move that helped a 3-4 team reach the playoffs at 10-6. The need for wide receiver was more acute then, with the Cowboys having released Dez Bryant in the offseason and then proceeded with their usual bargain basement shopping for replacements.

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But look at this team now. The Cowboys scored three field goals against Detroit on Sunday, one of them solely the result of a kick return to the Lions’ 30-yard line. The offense did not move the ball, and Brandon Aubrey kicked a 47-yard field goal. So give Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb credit for a whopping six points against the defensively challenged Lions.

While Lamb now ranks fifth in receiving yards, the Cowboys have just one other receiver in the NFL’s top 50. Jalen Tolbert (290 yards in six games) checks in at No. 34. So you think a team with one go-to receiver and no running game to speak of — the Cowboys rank dead last with 77.2 yards per game — couldn’t use a receiver like Adams?

Meanwhile, Cooper was on the move again Tuesday going from Cleveland to Buffalo. It’s worth noting that the Bills paid more for Cooper than the Cowboys got for him two years ago. Just another suggestion to fans that Cowboys management is hopelessly out of touch.

Jones would dismiss Adams the same way he dismissed this club’s need for Derrick Henry when the veteran Tennessee back, having shown no signs of deterioration, expressed a desire to come to Dallas. He currently leads the NFL in rushing as a Baltimore Raven.

It’s not so much the failure to get Henry or the failure to get Adams as it’s the collective disappointment to do anything more than preside over “a soft rebuild,” a term Jones is now working to dismiss from his vocabulary. After three straight 12-5 seasons, the Cowboys are in full retreat at 3-3. Only Jacksonville and Carolina have allowed more points in the entire NFL. A few players returning from injury might lift the defense to league average. What could an injection of hope in the offense have brought?

The Jets think they’re still relevant at 2-4. And in the AFC East, that’s probably true since Buffalo seems like a flawed 4-2 team, one New York would have beaten Monday night if former Cowboys kicker Greg Zuerlein had not clanked two field goal tries off uprights.

The Cowboys are just one game back of Washington, yet it feels like the two are worlds apart. The Commanders, coming off a four-win season, have already matched that total with rookie Jayden Daniels and coordinator Kliff Kingsbury elevating that offense overnight. Meanwhile, Prescott has the lowest passer rating of his career, the offensive line is inadequate in both phases and the turnover machine Dan Quinn had created has been dismantled.

How does Jerry respond to all of it?

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He threatens to go after Shan Shariff and RJ Choppy at 105.3 The Fan.

Jones’ Cowboys are equal parts tragedy and comedy in 2024. A serious franchise, they are not.

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