THE Dallas Cowboys are desperate to build a playoff-contending team, and Jerry Jones needs to get his coaching staff right this time around.
After five years with the team, Mike McCarthy was fired in favor of Brian Schottenheimer.
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While Schottenheimer is taking over the team, many fans believe that Jones is really calling the shots.
He also draws criticism for being more concerned about his public image than the team.
Not many people really know what’s going on behind the scenes with Jones, but Troy Aikman did his best to try to reveal how Jones works with players and coaches.
“I think he is a very positive influence, quite honestly in the building and in the locker room,” he told WFAA TV.
“I think it’s out there publicly where at times Jerry wants to be the face of the organization, and sometimes that contradicts with what the head coach is trying to accomplish.
“Everyone knows that at the end of the day, the owner of all 32 of these teams is the ultimate decision-maker.
“But if you hire a head coach to do a job and you entrust him to run your football team, then I think you have to let him do his job.”
Aikman isn’t a huge fan of how Jones runs the Cowboys, and seems to agree with the way fans talk about him.
He even called back to the Cowboys teams that played under head coach Jimmy Johnson and detailed how the coach had control in those days.
Aikman played under Johnson and won the Super Bowl with him.
“I know that when we had success under Jimmy Johnson, he was the voice of our organization,” Aikman said.
“He was the one that all players had to answer to.”
Johnson was eventually forced out of Dallas by Jones, and the team has only won a single Super Bowl since then.
Aikman isn’t the only Cowboys legend that is questioning Jones’ leadership within the team.
Emmitt Smith is also unsure about the team’s direction, especially with the hiring of Schottenheimer.
“I have no reaction,” Smith said.
“I just don’t know what to say. I know we have to give the man a chance, and I’m willing to give him a chance, an opportunity to turn things around.
“However, if we don’t align our vision and commitment to that vision, I think we’re going to get a lot of things that we’ve seen in the past, and that doesn’t feel good.
“We need a lot more than Ashton Jeanty. All that talk about having a running back and a running game – there’s nothing wrong with our running game when there’s a commitment to the running game.
“I think we’ve gotten so far away from what we all know as the Cowboys’ great teams. You don’t see that balance anymore.
“You see one way, and that’s disappointing.”
