Way back in July, back when everybody figured this Cowboys team to be pretty much screw-up proof, Owner Jones uttered a bunch of his typical hyperbole.
Like about how Pacman was so reformed and trustworthy and, therefore, a steal in exchange for a couple of second-day picks.
Or how signing aging talents like T.O., Flo, Terence Newman and Ken Hamlin to long-term, big-time contracts was pure genius. Or my personal favorite that this coaching staff is his best since coming to Dallas.
He slapped so many "most talented"
and "best-es"
on players and coaches that he seemed to be fishing for a little credit for a certain GM in charge who had managed to assemble this juggernaut under Jimster II. What he unwittingly also did was jack up expectations for everybody involved.
Super Bowl, baby, became a foregone conclusion.
Of course, this was probably not unwittingly. Super Bowl always has been Owner Jones’ expectation for this season, despite what revisionist history types have been trying to sell lately.
And we have seen two strains of this emerge lately:
1. Those who argue the injury to QB Tony Romo changed everything.
2. Those who say the Cowboys cannot win anything as long as GM Jerry is in charge, which is strange since a lot of them also predicted Super Bowl back in July for a team he assembled.
No hiding. Names were taken. Predictions written down.
Yes, a lot of media types now bashing GM Jerry were singing backup in his choir of hyperbolic gush this off-season. Almost everybody agreed that, for once, his Super Bowl expectations were realistic and warranted.
He had assembled a contender.
Pressure now shifted to Coach Wade and his players to deliver.
So listening to Owner Jones, after an ugly Giants loss and with his team in free fall, trying to ramp down expectations and pretending like "playoffs, just make the playoffs"
always has been the goal, feels disingenuous.
And pathetic.
It is also bull.
We are not talking about the Rangers, where approaching .500 warrants a parade and another ticket-price hike. We are talking about a team loaded down with 13 Pro Bowlers and supposedly hungry to finish what was started last season and who started the season talking about how they felt like this was their year.
Nor does this recent run of ugly injuries change anything.
The Cowboys have everybody, except for possibly running back Felix Jones, returning Sunday in time to play Washington, and this is plenty of time to live up to expectations.
Not outside expectations. Their expectations for themselves.
Cowboys linebacker Zach Thomas did not equivocate when asked if expectations had remained unchanged despite a rather disappointing 5-4 start to this season.
"Oh, yeah,"
he said. "Definitely."
And making good has to start Sunday in D.C.
Because no matter how Coach Wade tries to pretend this is just another game, it isn’t. It likely will determine if he has a job and if the Cowboys have any control over whether they reach the playoffs, or if they need lots of help down the stretch and if this team has any fight.
"This is as big of a game as we play this year,"
tight end Jason Witten said. "At this point, you have to be realistic with it. When you are 8-1, you have a little bit of room to lose. There is not a lot of room for error [for us]."
So it is time to hike up the big-boy pants and start playing like the team they think they are, like the team Owner Jones thinks they are, like a team good enough to reach the Super Bowl.
Of course, if, and this qualifies as a huge if, Dallas finds a way to beat Washington on Sunday, it will be the surest sign I’ve seen that they may have a playoff run in them after all.
They will have done something they have not done under this coach. They will have picked themselves off the ground, dusted themselves off and fought through adversity. Call this resiliency or heart or whatever, but it was a characteristic they never exhibited a year ago and what ultimately undid them in the playoffs.
The Giants were better for their adversity.
And in a shocking turn of events, Coach Wade actually has been preaching this to his players in recent weeks.
He has been telling them Super Bowl remains the expectation. Owner Jones’. And his.
"People think he is unrealistic and all that, but I think he’s done a good job of keeping us positive and trying to keep guys understanding what we have to do,"
Witten said of Coach Wade. "And really we have everything we want in front of us."
The expectation was they’d go get it. That hasn’t changed.
And anything less is still a failure.
