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Bell Tolls: Jerry Jones still won’t hold back when speaking his mind
IRVING, Texas — If you know anything about Jerry Jones, it should come as no surprise that the loquacious owner of the NFL’s most valuable franchise would not completely zip his lips as he lay on the
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Jarrett Bell, USA TODAY Sports 7:43 p.m. EDT October 10, 2015
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USA TODAY Sports’ Tom Pelissero makes his bold predictions for Week 5.
Dallas Cowboys owner and Arkansas Razorbacks alum Jerry Jones appears on the field prior to the game against the Texas Tech Red Raiders at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium.(Photo: Nelson Chenault, USA TODAY Sports)
IRVING, Texas — If you know anything about Jerry Jones, it should come as no surprise that the loquacious owner of the NFL’s most valuable franchise would not completely zip his lips as he lay on the operating table recently for hip replacement surgery.
Jones, who had two surgeries six weeks apart over the summer, had epidural injections to numb his body from the waist down.
Otherwise, he figures he was completely out for 45 minutes during each surgery, awakening groggy, with his mouth intact.
“The doctor told me I talked to him during surgery,” the Dallas Cowboys owner recalled of the first procedure, in July, during an extended chat in his office Friday. at team headquarters. “I don’t remember everything I said, but I remember one thing I asked: ‘Did you put my knee behind my head?’ He laughed and said, ‘No, but I pulled it back real good.’ “
Given recent events, you might wonder if Jones needs surgery to take the foot out of his mouth.
After defensive end Greg Hardy fueled intense backlash for his tone-deaf choice of words to illustrate his eagerness in returning from a four-game suspension that stemmed from a domestic violence incident, Jones doubled down and made it worse.
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After Wednesday’s NFL meetings in New York, Jones told a Sports Illustrated reporter that he didn’t have a problem with Hardy’s “guns ablazing” reference, nor did he see an issue that Hardy referring to the beauty of supermodel Gisele Bundchen, supermodel wife of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, Sunday’s foe at ATT Stadium.
“I probably said a couple things that I’d take back, simply because of the way it was interpreted, that I might be a little less than serious about domestic violence,” Jones told USA TODAY Sports. “No guns. I see it. I really do. That’s being a little cavalier. Same thing with Brady’s wife.”
You’d think that Jones should know better. The Cowboys exist under an intense spotlight and have had so many controversies over the years that damage control should be listed on the first page of the playbook.
But Jones has always been one to speak his mind and get cute with words. This time it backfired, his initial response undermining the efforts that many don’t know he has made over the years to support entities that support domestic violence victims.
Of course, Jones also gave Hardy a job — for a reason, as a difference-making pass-rusher — when other teams would not touch him with a 10-foot pole. Jones reiterated that he felt comfortable signing Hardy after an evaluation and background check.
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Hardy’s legal case was dropped in the appeals process in November, when his former girlfriend, Nicole Holder, became unavailable to authorities. When he received his bench conviction, which laid the foundation for the NFL suspension, he was accused of throwing Holder on a bed that contained several weapons and threatening to kill her.
The allegations were so serious that it’s nothing to joke about. Yet before even playing a regular-season snap for the Cowboys, Hardy ignited more backlash — which followed the wave after he signed a one-year, $13 million deal — because his analogy about blazing guns hit too close to home.
Maybe Jones, trying to make things work with the pass rusher he desperately needed, was trying to take heat off Hardy.
“The world knows I was trying not to scold him,” Jones said. “They wanted nothing but me to say, ‘He shouldn’t have done that.’ Looking back, I should have said, ‘I know he’s contrite. He really hates that this happened, and he was using terms he didn’t mean.’
“What I mean is don’t tie that to how contrite he is.”
Jones said after he was approached by the SI reporter, who hopped on an elevator with him and his daughter, Charlotte Jones Anderson, a Cowboys executive, he was pleased by his comments.
PHOTOS: Best of Week 5 NFL action
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Then came the fallout, and another lesson about perceptions.
Even now, Jones doesn’t hold back when trying to put some of the remarks in perspective. He compares the Brady-Bundchen union to the marriage of Hollywood stars from a generation ago.
“Anytime you heard about Richard Burton, you were going to hear about Elizabeth Taylor,” Jones said.
Models and actresses, Jones added, shouldn’t be offended when praised for their beauty. But he understands the fuss about Hardy’s reference, to a degree.
“Of course, the deal is, ‘What the hell is he doing, bringing up somebody’s wife?'” Jones said.
Still, it’s puzzling to think that the Cowboys, who have developed one of the NFL’s most involved player-support networks, need a refresher course.
“People look up to us in the NFL,” Jones said. “We’ve asked for that. We continually say, ‘Look at us.’ With that comes a higher degree of obligation and responsibility. That’s not what I signed up for 26 years ago, to change the world socially and intellectually. You may not have signed up for it, but you’ve got the responsibility.”
This is shaping up as a year of damage control for Jones, whose defense is getting a huge boost with the return of Hardy and linebacker Rolando McClain from suspensions. After entering training camp with aspirations to follow last season’s impressive playoff run by taking another step as a Super Bowl contender, they have been derailed by injuries.
They might become formidable down the stretch, after Dez Bryant (broken foot) and Tony Romo (broken collarbone) return. And promising rookie rush end Randy Gregory is on the mend from a high ankle sprain.
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But there are still ifs, including whether Dallas (2-2) can win enough games to stay in position until more reinforcements arrive.
“With my hip surgeries, Dez’s foot, Romo’s shoulder, Gregory’s ankle, I have completely gone through orthopedic medical school and have a current education,” Jones said. “It seems that all I’m talking about are pills, pain killers and surgical procedures.”
Of course, that’s not all that Jones is talking about.
A look at Week 5 in the NFL:
Who’s hot: Tom Brady. Talk about getting revenge. For a man who set an NFL record with 50 touchdowns in 2007 and threw for a career-high 5,235 yards in 2011, it says something that the New England Patriots star is off to one of the best starts of his career. Brady has completed 72.2% of his throws, with nine TDs and zero interceptions, during New England’s 3-0 start. What has changed? One of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history has been more efficient than ever, at least at this point in the campaign. He never has had a more impressive TD-to-interception ratio through three games, and if his completion rate and staggering passer rating (119.6) hold up, they would be career bests. No, he doesn’t need deflated footballs to excel.
Pressure’s on: Matthew Stafford. The winless Detroit Lions (0-4) are off to their worst start since 2008, which was the year they became the first NFL franchise to go 0-16, the result that allowed them to draft Stafford with the No. 1 pick overall in 2009. He has regressed in the two seasons since Scott Linehan left, struggling in the system that coach Jim Caldwell and coordinator Joe Lombardi installed. Last season, the Lions made the playoffs with complementary football. They didn’t need to win shootouts. But at the moment they need Stafford (five TDs, five interceptions, 79.7 passer rating) to raise his game in the face of assorted issues around him. He’s getting spotty offensive line protection, and the running game is averaging an NFL-worst 2.7 yards a rush. Now an aggressive Arizona Cardinals defense comes to town, blitzing on nearly half of its snaps under coordinator James Bettcher, a rate higher than it had in 2014 under Todd Bowles.
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Rookie watch: Thomas Rawls. With Marshawn Lynch to miss consecutive games with injury for the first time during his Seattle Seahawks tenure, it’s just like the Seattle brain trust to find a tough, undrafted free agent whose Central Michigan teammates called him, well, “Beast Mode.” Rawls (5-9, 215 pounds), a football version of a Flintstone (he attended Flint Northern, the high school that produced former Michigan State basketball star Mateen Cleaves), rushed for 104 yards in his first NFL start against the Chicago Bears in Week 3, but averaged 2.8 yards against Detroit on Monday. The Seahawks need Rawls, facing the Cincinnati Bengals’ sixth-ranked run defense, to resemble Lynch in the worst way. They don’t have a rushing touchdown this season, and Russell Wilson, playing behind a shaky offensive line, is the leading rusher.
Key matchup: Peyton Manning vs. Charles Woodson. It’s amazing that Manning and Woodson, drafted No. 1 and 4 overall, respectively, in 1998, are still ticking in their 18th NFL seasons. Their game-within-a-game matchup, featuring a pair of 39-year-olds, adds intrigue to Sunday’s game at Oakland, when the resurgent Raiders (2-2) will see how they measure up against the undefeated Denver Broncos (4-0). What’s also amazing is that Woodson, who handed Manning one of the most stinging defeats of his football career when he beat him out for the 1997 Heisman Trophy, has never intercepted Manning, one of the most prolific passers in NFL history. The Oakland safety, gutting it out while playing through a shoulder injury, has picked off two passes this season to continue climbing the chart for all-time list NFL interceptions. He’s tied for ninth with 62, but it has been a long time since he has gotten the better of Manning.
Next man up: Marlon Brown. With Steve Smith Sr. ruled out with a back injury, and emerging tight end Crockett Gillmore also out with a calf injury, a glaring problem — a dearth of proven targets for Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco — has become a critical issue as the Cleveland Browns bring the NFL’s worst-ranked defense to Baltimore. Brown, the No. 3 receiver, is projected to start opposite Kamar Aiken. Through four games, Smith’s 29 catches were more than the combined total of the other wideouts on the roster. That underscored Flacco’s trust in Smith, but also reflected his lack of options, with running back Justin Forsett the second-leading receiver. Brown, though, will get a chance to make an impression and earn trust, especially if he can connect with strong-armed Flacco on the deep throws that Cleveland has had such a difficult time defending.
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Did you notice? Jeremy Maclin has quickly found a groove while reuniting with Andy Reid as the deep threat with the Kansas City Chiefs. Maclin has notched back-to-back games of at least 140 yards — the first time that has been accomplished by a Chiefs receiver in 51 years, since Frank Jackson hit the mark in three consecutive games in 1964.
If the playoffs were today: Three teams from the AFC East would be in, with the New York Jets (3-1) and Buffalo Bills (2-2) claiming the two AFC wild-card slots while chasing the perennial champion Patriots (3-0). The three are 5-2 in non-divisional games. After so many big offseason moves, the division is living up to the expectation of being more competitive — with one exception. For the Miami Dolphins (1-3) to make the playoffs from this point, it would have to make history. No team since the 1970 has earned a postseason slot after firing its coach so early in the season.
Stat’s the fact: Chip Kelly’s offense for the Philadelphia Eagles has converted 27% of its third-down tries, the second-worst rate in the league. That’s one reason DeMarco Murray’s touches have been limited (an average of 9.6 carries in his three games), while the same $42 million running back’s 1.6-yard average rush reflects the O-line issues and the long-yardage situations that have consistently confronted Philadelphia on third downs.
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