Will the Cowboys Fire Jason Garrett? Jerry Jones Says Dallas Coach Will Be in the NFL Next Season
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has suggested his franchise's coach will have a job in the NFL next season.
Tellingly, however, Jones stopped short of confirming Jason Garrett will be taking charge of the Cowboys in 2020.
"Nobody has the exclusive skills to get the job done so that collectively you can win a Super Bowl," Jones said during his appearance on 105.3 The Fan on Tuesday morning.
"But there are qualified people. Jason Garrett is one of them. In my opinion, Jason Garrett will be coaching in the NFL next year," Jones said.
The fact Jones used the words "in the NFL" could be significant, as it comes a time when Garrett is under enormous pressure to save his job.
The 53-year-old is 83-65 since taking over as head coach in the 2010 season, and has guided the Cowboys to the postseason just three times since.
Dallas remains top of the NFC East but slipped to 6-6 with a 26-15 loss at home to the Buffalo Bills on Thanksgiving Day, the team's second consecutive defeat.
The Cowboys are 0-5 against teams with a record above .500 this season and have gone 3-6 after winning their first three games of the season.
Speaking after the defeat against the Bills on Thursday, Jones insisted he retained confidence in Garrett and ruled out dismissing the two-time Super Bowl champion before the end of the season.
"I wouldn't make a change and give us a chance to do what I want to dream about doing. I wouldn't do that for love nor money," he said, as per Pro Football Talk. "It would give us zero chance if we didn't have [Garrett]. [...] I'm going to look for ways to improve the situation. I'm still glad that when I get up in the morning, I can look for ways to help our team. One of them is not a coaching change. One of them is not reworking the offense or the defense."
His comments on Tuesday, however, will make Garrett's seat even hotter than it already was, particularly as they came less than two weeks since Jones openly criticized his head coach.
"It's a significant setback for our team," Jones said after the Cowboys lost 13-9 on the road against the New England Patriots in Week 12.
"We needed this win. We needed to win against an opponent like this. We haven't had them, and consequently, we are very aware of that and so we dig a hole that we really got a challenge as we look at the rest of the schedule," Jones said.
Despite their poor run of form of late, according to FiveThirtyEight's statistical projections the Cowboys have a 66 percent chance of making the playoffs.
That is largely down to the fact the Philadelphia Eagles—Dallas' only credible rival in the NFC East—have lost the last three straight games and dropped to 5-7.
All the same, unless Dallas rediscovers the form it showed at the beginning of the season, its run in the postseason is likely to be short-lived.
The Cowboys currently hold the No. 4 seed in the NFC and are on track to meet the San Francisco 49ers in the Wild Card round.
Dallas lost to the Los Angeles Rams in the divisional round last year and speaking on FOX NFL Sunday at the weekend, Jay Glazer of The Athletic suggested Garrett would have to win the Super Bowl to remain in Dallas next year.
Jones' comments are also intriguing as they come a week after Ian Rapoport of NFL Network suggested the New York Giants had emerged as a potential landing spot for Garrett, should he be fired by the Cowboys.
The G-Men are on track for their consecutive double-digit losing season for the first time since the three-year period between 1978-1980 and head coach Pat Shurmur's days in New Jersey appear numbered.
Shurmur replaced Ben McAdoo, who was fired after less than two seasons with a combined 13-15 record—which included a 2-10 record in his second year. Shurmur is 7-21 since taking charge of the franchise.
The Cowboys, meanwhile, will be looking to snap their two-game losing streak when they take on the Bears in Chicago on Thursday Night Football.
