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Jerry Jones on loss to Broncos: 'This was a moral victory' http://t.co/rISkQ26Vzp
— NFL: AroundTheLeague (@NFL_ATL) October 7, 2013
While Jerry Jones may feel that a last second loss to the Denver Broncos was a "Moral Victory" for the Dallas Cowboys, many of us don't feel the same way. The last time anyone looked, there are wins, losses, and ties that make up a team's season; nowhere to be found is a column headed moral victories. Fortunately for the Dallas Cowboys, the rest of the Valley Ranch brain-trust does not share the elder Jones assessment of Sunday's contest.
While there were some clear positives that came out of the game, such as the offense getting on track and rookie Terrance Williams rebounding from the previous week, there are still plenty of challenges ahead. Executive Vice-President Stephen Jones realizes that the team still has work to be accomplished.
"It was obviously a very difficult one to digest. I know we'll bounce back as a team, and we'll get to work. There's some positive things to build on, in terms of this team, but certainly no moral victories there." - Stephen Jones
Speaking with KRLK-FM, the younger Jones emphatically stated that the Cowboys do not beleive in moral victories, "At the end of the day, you are what you are."
Head coach Jason Garrett expressed similar sentiments following the loss.
"We don't believe in moral victories and different people will say that different ways, but our job is to win football games and we didn't get the job done [Sunday]. They did. They're an outstanding football team, arguably the best team in the NFL coming into this game, and we put ourselves in a great situation, a great position to win that game and we didn't do it." - Jason Garrett
It is all well and good that the decision makers, outside of Jerry Jones, are facing the reality of the defeat, but what really matters is the side that the players come down on. Will they be satisfied accepting the hollow praise of the owner, or are they willing to use the defeat to spur themselves forward? Early indications are that , like the staff, they are unwilling to accept Jerry's proclamation of a "moral victory" on Sunday.
Speaking after the game, veteran tight end Jason Witten was clear in his belief that there were some improvements and some guys whom he was really proud of, but that he felt that Jerry Jones was wrong in his assessment of the game.
"There are no moral victories here." - Jason Witten
Even more outspoken was teammate Sean Lee. Speaking for a defense that has been lackluster, Lee referred to a effort that resulted in 414 yards passing to Peyton Manning and allowed Knowshon Moreno to rush for nearly 100 more as being "terrible" and "unacceptable."
"Absolutely not. Defensively, it was a terrible performance. We have to find a way to get better. There is no way around it. The last two weeks, we have been terrible.
"The way we’re playing, we’re not helping our team at all. That’s the standard right now in the NFL. If we want to be a championship team, we’ve got to be able to stop a team like that.
"We’re not even close right now." - Sean Lee
While there was some good to come out of the week five match up with Denver, outside of Jerry Jones, the leadership of the Dallas Cowboys realizes that there is still a lot of improvement that needs to be made for the team to experience success. Opportunities for improvement abound at Valley Ranch and there is a willingness to strive for progress. More importantly, they know what needs to happen to make it a reality.
"No, we know what we need to do," linebacker Sean Lee said. "We know a performance like that is unacceptable if we want to be a winning football team."