Jerry Jones myths exposed

Jerry Jones is the worst kind of owner; the kind that no NFL coach would want to work for. He’s a high-profile owner who loves the spotlight and often undercuts his coaches authority by making public statements about the X’s and O’s. In addition to being the owner, he’s the GM, so he can mess up the roster as much as he likes without getting fired because he only answers to himself. On top of all that, he prowls the sidelines during games, further eroding the coach’s authority and putting undue pressure on the staff and players. My guess is you’ve heard all that before. It’s the conventional wisdom around the NFL. Well, the conventional wisdom is sometimes not so wise as this survey of current NFL coaches proves by exploding those myths.

In a survey of NFL head coaches to determine which owner has the best reputation around the league, both [Jerry] Jones and [Pat] Bowlen scored very high. Coaches, granted anonymity for their candor, were instructed not to vote for their team owners.

Bowlen received 4.5 votes and Jones received four votes, trailing only the five votes received by the Dan Rooney family, which founded the Steelers.

I’m still not convinced that Jerry is one of the better GM’s in the league at evaluating talent, although his skill along with son Stephen’s at getting players signed and managing the salary cap is on par with the best. But there is no owner in the league who works more at trying to help his team win than Jerry Jones. He’ll spend the all the money it takes to bring players to Dallas and his tireless promotion of the Dallas Cowboys brand keeps it at the top of the league and a consistent money-maker.

Fans from other teams can take all the shots at Jerry Jones that they want but I wouldn’t trade the guy for another owner. Under his tenure the Cowboys won three Super Bowls in the ‘90s, not many owners can boast of such an accomplishment. Yes, the freshness date on those victories has long gone stale and the pressure is on for Jerry to win it all again. But I can say this with confidence, no owner cares more about winning it all than Jerry Jones, and no owner will out-work Jerry to get there.

ESPN also polled the NFL coaches on who is the smartest player in the league on defense. Guess what? The winner was a Cowboy, albeit a new one.

The smartest defensive player in the NFL is Dallas Cowboys linebacker Zach Thomas, according to ESPN.com's survey of head coaches.

[snip]

With votes from six head coaches, Thomas beat out Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis for the top spot. Lewis was the second-leading vote-getter with four nominations.

One final poll from ESPN of the coaches brings a somewhat dubious award to a Cowboy. Behind Rodney Harrison, who was overwhelmingly declared the dirtiest player in the league, our own horse-collar aficionado Roy Williams came in second.

Dallas Cowboys safety Roy Williams, notorious for horse-collar tackling, finished second in the coaches' poll with two votes.