The Cowboys earned their first win this season without Tony Romo on Monday night, upending NFC East rival Washington, 19-16, to improve to 4-8 and remain in the hunt for the division title. Despite the victory, owner Jerry Jones wasn’t happy after the game. The 73-year-old criticized his club’s Jason Garrett-led coaching staff both for not getting star receiver Dez Bryant more involved and its end-of-game clock management, according to Drew Davison of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Jones said that the Cowboys beat Washington “on will, not tactical mastery.” He also expressed disappointment in the team’s 1-7 record sans Romo.
“I am stunned that we haven’t been able to win more games without Tony. And I would have thought that we could have coached it up enough, and put it together enough, that we would not have lost those games without Romo early. We would be in better shape than we are right now.”
Even though they’re well under .500, the Cowboys are still in the playoff hunt because of their division’s general incompetence. Jones doesn’t sound particularly hopeful about their postseason chances, though.
“I look at it at 4-8 and won’t look at it any differently as we move up the ladder until something really special happens,” Jones stated.
More from both the NFL’s two East-based divisions:
- The Bills won’t have any in-season discussions about the future status of general manager Doug Whaley, according to The Buffalo News’ Vic Carucci (Twitter link).
- Giants receiver Rueben Randle has garnered 66 fewer targets than last season, when he totaled career highs in catches (71) and yards (938), and he voiced his displeasure about it Tuesday. “My opportunities have been cut down a little more,” Randle told WFAN, per the New York Daily News’ Ebenezer Samuel. “It’s definitely frustrating. As a receiver you want to get more involved. It can be kind of tough when the opportunities are limited.” Randle is averaging just over five targets per game this year after piling up almost eight per contest last season.
- The Bills made a surprising roster move today, releasing veteran tight end Matthew Mulligan in order to promote rookie TE Nick O’Leary. The transaction sparked some speculation that Buffalo had wanted to protect O’Leary from a team that might sign him away, and Mike Rodak of ESPN.com confirms (via Twitter) that the sixth-rounder did have some clubs “fishing around” on him.
Luke Adams contributed to this post.
Fire Whaley, he never addressed OL, and made terrible trade up for Wadkins. Hire new GM, give Rex one more year to make playoffs. If he can’t get it done, let the new GM bring in his own guy.