ARLINGTON, Texas – Jerry Jones has seen three Super Bowl championships and plenty of playoff disappointments in more than 30 years as Cowboys owner and general manager.
When was the last time you felt so disappointed after a loss?
“I can’t remember,” he told reporters in the field-level tunnel at AT&T Stadium.
Sunday’s 23-17 wild-card loss to the San Francisco 49ers could be in a separate category.
“Extremely, extremely disappointing and surprising,” he said.
The reason is simple. Jones, along with the team and many others, believed that this year’s Cowboys were headed for a special race.
The Cowboys (12-5) had a six-win improvement in the second year under head coach Mike McCarthy, jumping from 6-10 to the NFC East title. Led by first-round pick Micah Parsons and league interception leader Trevon Diggs, a revamped defense led the league in steals. And despite a drop in production after the break, the offense still entered the playoffs as No. 1 in scoring and yards.
On paper, that’s a perfect recipe for going deep in the postseason.
But the same problems that plagued the Cowboys against other playoff-caliber teams during the regular season resurfaced in the postseason: slow starts, penalties, big wins after the catch.
“Quite a disappointment,” Jones said.
“This was a game we needed to show. Against a team like San Francisco, as solid as they are, no matter how good we look on paper, we needed to make this happen. I’m really disappointed in our fans. They really deserved to see this team move forward.” in the playoffs.”
Jones deflected reporters’ questions about McCarthy and the coaching staff — the team’s level of preparation, whether a loss like this might lead him to consider coaching changes, etc.
“I’m not going to talk about the coaches, the preparation, any of those things. That’s not on the table. The game speaks for itself,” Jones said. “Really, I thought the score wasn’t indicative of the game. But the way our team fought back and got back in the game, it gave us a chance to try. I was really proud of (it).”
Frankly, Jones’s focus after the game, reluctantly, was immediate reflection, trying to process a scenario he couldn’t imagine on Sunday morning:
The end of the postseason has come for the Cowboys.
“This is one of the best teams I’ve ever been a part of to have this happen to,” he said.
