INDIANAPOLIS - Saturday marks the 23rd anniversary of the day Jerry Jones bought the Dallas Cowboys. It's been 16 years since the team won a third world championship in four seasons.
The team has won only one playoff game since Super Bowl XXX, and Jones has been the general manager throughout that time. The team hasn't appeared in the postseason in three of the last four years. Fan and media criticism of the owner is rampant as ever.
That doesn't bother Jones, though. He's used to it.
"I didn't come to the Cowboys with a honeymoon," Jones said. "I don't recall a time when I haven't had my critics in 23 years. And so, first of all, you've got to have a sensitivity to it. I'm aware of what sells newspapers."
Jones has been unpopular with a considerable portion of Cowboys fans since firing longtime coach Tom Landry in his first act as the team's owner. In 29 years at the helm, Landry had led the Cowboys to five Super Bowl appearances and a record 20 consecutive winning seasons, from 1966-85. By the late 1980s, though, Landry's teams had hit a wall.
When Landry was fired, the Cowboys hadn't been to the Super Bowl since the 1977 season, the longest drought in club history until the present.
So even if Jones hasn't noticed an uptick in fan angst, he still senses pressure to return the team to a championship caliber. If there's a window to do that with the current core group, it's likely beginning to close.
"Coach Landry, I think, went 13 years," Jones said. "So, I know it can happen to good men. ... But candidly, we've got to. It's been very disappointing. As disappointing as anything has been to not have been in a Super Bowl in these key years in (Tony) Romo's career. This was a lot easier for me to live with when we were not where we wanted to be at quarterback. That's not where we are. We've got an outstanding quarterback, and we've got good talent and we ought to be knocking at the door. It is very frustrating, but it's happened to other teams and it happens. It's quite a challenge to get one of these teams in a Super Bowl."
Romo turns 32 in April and has two years left on his contract. As the Cowboys move forward, the most important decision they face is whether to continue to build around this quarterback and assorted group of veteran talent, or begin to move on. For now, Jones is committed to squeezing everything he can out of Romo in his prime years, saying he wouldn't trade the quarterback for any top prospect, including Stanford's Andrew Luck or Baylor's Robert Griffin III.
"Every decision that I'm making is about now," Jones said. "Philosophically, where we're going with this thing, every decision is principled about how does that line us up opening day, and how does that get us a chance to be a contender in December."
Jones, who turns 70 this fall, said he believes the Cowboys have the talent to compete for a Super Bowl on the current roster.
"I'm committed with every ounce of energy and financial resources that I have," Jones said. "And obviously I do intend to be, in every phase, ultimately responsible, but the ultimate decision-maker, too. In everything about what we're doing.
"Because you see who's going to get the criticism if it doesn't work."
The team has won only one playoff game since Super Bowl XXX, and Jones has been the general manager throughout that time. The team hasn't appeared in the postseason in three of the last four years. Fan and media criticism of the owner is rampant as ever.
That doesn't bother Jones, though. He's used to it.
"I didn't come to the Cowboys with a honeymoon," Jones said. "I don't recall a time when I haven't had my critics in 23 years. And so, first of all, you've got to have a sensitivity to it. I'm aware of what sells newspapers."
Jones has been unpopular with a considerable portion of Cowboys fans since firing longtime coach Tom Landry in his first act as the team's owner. In 29 years at the helm, Landry had led the Cowboys to five Super Bowl appearances and a record 20 consecutive winning seasons, from 1966-85. By the late 1980s, though, Landry's teams had hit a wall.
When Landry was fired, the Cowboys hadn't been to the Super Bowl since the 1977 season, the longest drought in club history until the present.
So even if Jones hasn't noticed an uptick in fan angst, he still senses pressure to return the team to a championship caliber. If there's a window to do that with the current core group, it's likely beginning to close.
"Coach Landry, I think, went 13 years," Jones said. "So, I know it can happen to good men. ... But candidly, we've got to. It's been very disappointing. As disappointing as anything has been to not have been in a Super Bowl in these key years in (Tony) Romo's career. This was a lot easier for me to live with when we were not where we wanted to be at quarterback. That's not where we are. We've got an outstanding quarterback, and we've got good talent and we ought to be knocking at the door. It is very frustrating, but it's happened to other teams and it happens. It's quite a challenge to get one of these teams in a Super Bowl."
Romo turns 32 in April and has two years left on his contract. As the Cowboys move forward, the most important decision they face is whether to continue to build around this quarterback and assorted group of veteran talent, or begin to move on. For now, Jones is committed to squeezing everything he can out of Romo in his prime years, saying he wouldn't trade the quarterback for any top prospect, including Stanford's Andrew Luck or Baylor's Robert Griffin III.
"Every decision that I'm making is about now," Jones said. "Philosophically, where we're going with this thing, every decision is principled about how does that line us up opening day, and how does that get us a chance to be a contender in December."
Jones, who turns 70 this fall, said he believes the Cowboys have the talent to compete for a Super Bowl on the current roster.
"I'm committed with every ounce of energy and financial resources that I have," Jones said. "And obviously I do intend to be, in every phase, ultimately responsible, but the ultimate decision-maker, too. In everything about what we're doing.
"Because you see who's going to get the criticism if it doesn't work."