‘Better Every Week’: Stephen Jones Sends Playoff Message to 2-7 Cowboys

Cowboys QB Garrett Gilbert

Getty Cowboys QB Garrett Gilbert

The Dallas Cowboys‘ playoff hopes (don’t laugh) are on life support, but Stephen Jones isn’t ready to pull the plug.

Holding a midseason conference call with reporters Monday, the team’s executive vice president intimated Dallas still has a shot at the postseason despite dropping five of their last six games, sitting at 2-7 overall.

“We were playing the best team in the NFL yesterday,” Jones said of the Cowboys’ 24-19 loss to undefeated Pittsburgh, via The Athletic. “Our defense is coming around. We’re playing better every week.”

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Indeed, beleaguered defensive coordinator Mike Nolan’s unit played unarguably its best game in Week 9, limiting the lethal Steelers’ offense to 46 rushing yards and making quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s life difficult until the final moments. It was an inspired effort that does not show in the box score but anyone with eyes can see. And it may have represented the turning point in a cursed campaign.

“Today is a reflection of what we’re capable of doing. … I think we’re definitely taking steps in the right direction the last two weeks. … Everybody knows what our record is, we gotta start stacking wins,” head coach Mike McCarthy said after the game, via The Athletic.

The Cowboys, on their fourth starting QB of the year, dropped to third place in the NFC East behind the 3-4-1 Philadelphia Eagles and 2-6 Washington. Both rivals currently hold tiebreaker advantages, but they will face the Football Team again on Nov. 26 and Philadelphia again on Dec. 27.

Two games behind first with seven games to go, their surest (and only) path to January football in a hyper-competitive conference comes by snatching the division crown, a process that begins immediately following the Cowboys’ bye, in Week 11, when they battle the underachieving Vikings (3-5).

Lose that affair, and it won’t matter what Jones says.

The page will be turned, justifiably, to 2021.

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Cowboys Provide Latest on Dak Future Contract Talks

As it pertains to franchise quarterback Dak Prescott’s contractual standing, the news is that there is no news. Jones stated the Cowboys have “not had any conversations with Prescott since his injury,” referencing his right ankle compound fracture and dislocation sustained Oct. 11.

“The only interaction the front office has had with Dak has been to ask how he is doing,” beat writer Brianna Dix reported.

Jones did reveal, however, that Prescott is ahead of schedule in his post-surgical recovery and expects the two-time Pro Bowler — and impending unrestricted free agent — to return sooner rather than later.

“This is a four-month injury and so far, if anything, everything we’re getting from (associate athletic trainer Britt Brown) and the doctors is that he’s ahead of schedule. He’s been able to avoid any setbacks and if anything, he’s ahead of schedule, which shouldn’t be a surprise,” Jones said Monday, via ESPN.


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Follow Zack Kelberman on Twitter: @KelbermanNFL