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‘Disappointed’ Jerry Jones says has no plans to make a Dallas Cowboys coaching change

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones chose his words carefully and purposefully

The shock and disappointment over his team’s 23-17 NFC wild card loss to the San Francisco 49ers Sunday before more than 100,000 fans at AT&T Stadium was palpable.

He didn’t see this coming, not with the team the Cowboys assembled and not after the season they had.

Jones, however, refused to attach any action to his dejection, specifically with regard to any possibility of replacing head coach Mike McCarthy.

“I don’t even want to discuss anything like that at this particular time. No discussion about anything,” Jones said.

When pressed further about McCarthy having his team “unprepared” for such an important game, considering they fell behind 23-7, as well the Cowboys’ undisciplined play with 14 penalties, Jones stood firm — even as he readily admitted that the Cowboys were outcoached and outplayed.

“I’m not going to discuss coaching, preparation, any of those things. That is not on the table,” Jones said of a coaching change. “The game speaks for itself.”

McCarthy said he is unconcerned about his future in Dallas after two disappointing seasons. The Cowboys went 6-10 in his first year after quarterback Dak Prescott suffered a fractured ankle and missed the final 11 games of the 2020 season.

McCarthy is coming off a 12-5 regular season, an NFC East title and a No. 3 seed in the conference, but losing a first-round home playoff game will be forever gut-wrenching.

“I don’t have any concerns,” McCarthy said of his job status. “I’m proud to be standing here today. I’m proud of my football team.”

Jones, however, is anything but proud. And that’s where the two divide.

He said he can’t remember when he was this disappointed in a loss. Jones said he thought the Cowboys had finally put together a team that could possibly end the soon-to-be, 27-year gap since they last won a Super Bowl following the 1995 season.

“We had about as good a putting-it-together and good fortune with some of the decisions we’ve made,” Jones said. “We had it come together about as good as you could do it, and we had it come together about as healthy as you can be.

“This was a game that we needed to show,” Jones said, “against a team like San Francisco, as solid a team as they are, no matter how good we looked on paper we needed to make this happen. I’m really disappointed for our fans. They really deserved to see this team advance on into the playoffs. Extremely disappointing and surprising. It was quite a letdown.”

It all has Jones uncertain about a path forward for the Cowboys.

This was supposed to be the year that his team got over the hump.

That’s why he hired McCarthy to replace Jason Garrett following the 2019 season, and why he signed Prescott to a $40 million annual contract.

“When you get this combination of players together, you need to have success because we all know how it goes in the NFL,” Jones said. “The whole thing is set up to take away from the best and add to the ones that need improvement. And personnel-wise, I think we have one of the best.”

“The hump is advancing in the playoffs,” Jones said. “There have been some good quarterbacks not advance in the playoffs. I am sick, we are one of them. I am surprised and sick.”