Getty The Cowboys continue to be linked to trade rumors.
Jerry Jones has met Troy Aikman’s spit and vinegar with honey.
The Dallas Cowboys boss took the high road in response to the legendary quarterback and current FOX broadcaster, who grabbed headlines earlier this month by scathingly critiquing Jones’ ownership ability — or lack thereof, in Aikman’s estimation.
“He is someone that, I can’t tell you how much I respect him and how much I appreciate his lineage with the Dallas Cowboys” Jones said on 105.3 The Fan on Tuesday. “Apart from these kinds of issues, we’ve had business together, so we’re doing fine.”
Jones added: “He certainly would like to be, it sounds like, he would like to be involved in a long-term involvement in a team, maybe the Cowboys. I understand that.”
Aikman, who may be angling to follow the John Elway/John Lynch model of ex- players-turned-general managers, ripped into Jones amid the Cowboys’ now-extinguished losing streak, all the while defending embattled head coach Jason Garrett.
“I’m not worried about Jason Garrett. He’ll be just fine, and I think he’s proven the quality of the person he is and also the way he is as a head coach,” Aikman said, per NBCDFW.com. “There’s a lot to this job, there’s a lot to have to overcome. It’s not run traditionally the way most other organizations are. I think that’s to the detriment of the Cowboys.”
“I don’t think you can look at three playoff wins in the last 25 years and surmise that all of the problems over that time have been a result of coaching,” he said. “I think you have to look at the top, and say, ‘how we are doing it from the top’? I think businesses do that. I think organizations, I think anyone worth their salt evaluate it from the top down. And just simply changing the coaching, you know, I don’t know if the results would be all that much different.”
Aikman’s pointed remarks might have served as motivation for Dallas, who snapped its three-game skid with a 44-21 demolishing of the Rams in Week 15 — a contest the Hall-of-Fame signal-caller covered and after which emerged thoroughly impressed.
“I don’t think there’s a team in the NFC that wants to face the Cowboys if they’re playing as well as they’re capable of playing,” Aikman said.
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Jones Discusses Aikman as Potential GM
Aikman appears to be laying the breadcrumbs to one day take over an NFL front office. He admitted as much in a recent Dallas radio interview when he acknowledged a future GM role is the next “frontier” in his professional career. Aikman, though, clearly doesn’t expect Jerry Jones the owner to fire Jerry Jones the GM any time soon.
“It’s a real long shot,” Aikman said, per USA TODAY. “It’s unlikely Jerry will ever bring somebody in who can help this team in that regard because he’s been real stubborn and steadfast that he’s the one in charge.
“I think in a lot of ways, until that changes, this team is going to have some problems. But would he ever ask me to come be a part of it? That would be a real leap of faith. I don’t envision that happening and I don’t envision that happening at any point, quite honestly, no matter who’s in charge out there.”
For his part, Jones believes Aikman has earned the right to sit in the big chair, going so far as to discuss the 53-year-old in a possible ownership position.
“He emptied the bucket just like I did to become a Cowboy,” he said, via Maven Sports’ Mike Fisher. “I would wager that if he (’emptied the bucket’) to buy the team, he would do it exactly like I do it. I would wager that. Because … with that much on the line and that much at stake, you want to break any ties and make the calls.”
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