How much is Jerry Jones committed to Mike McCarthy, Dallas Cowboys winning Super Bowl

When Jerry Jones gets on a roll, sometimes you just have to sit back and let him go.

And Tuesday was no different when the loquacious owner opened the 2022 edition of Dallas Cowboys training camp with equal parts incredulity, sentimentality and his own version resolve that has typified the frustrating 27-year gap since the franchise won its last Super Bowl title.

Jones’ primary goal on Tuesday was to end the narrative that coach Mike McCarthy was on the hot seat, a perspective that was partly fueled by the owner in the wake of the shockingly disappointing ending to 2021 season with a home loss in the wild card playoffs that was the precursor to one of the most tumultuous off seasons in franchise history.

“I wanted to put that to bed,” Jones said following a 63-minute press conference and a six-minute walk off. “He has years left on his contract. It is not good for our team to have that speculated on.”

Jones began interestingly enough trying to put the past few months in perspective, including the off-field controversies, free agent losses and numerous deaths within the organization.

The death of long-time trusted assistant Marilyn Love brought him to tears as this was his first ever camp with her.

But in remembering former college and pro scouting director Larry Lacewell, Jones went off rails when he used a derogatory term for little people.

“Lace held court out here,” a smiling Jones said of Lacewell, who passed away at 85 years old in May. “I’m going to get me somebody, a m*****, to stand up there with me and dress him up like Lace and think Lace is still out here helping us. Look at the practice with us.”

“But, you know, we all need our props. A little memory that goes with him.”

It’s also a reminder that Jones will say just about anything.

And on Tuesday he said a lot as he admittedly had some things to get off his chest.

The question is how much of it should we believe.

“It has been an off season full of varied types of issues,” Jones said. “But one of the ones I wanted to address directly because it’s the one that I have the most sensitivity about, and that is Mike. I want to be real clear. He wouldn’t be sitting here today if I didn’t think he was the man to lead this team to a Super Bowl. He would not be. And I have choices. That’s a fact. You guys write about a lot of those choices and they were there for my use had I wanted. And no. The guy to my right is the guy I’m convicted about, have been. So I want to be real clear about that.”

What is also clear is that McCarthy being on the hot seat following a 12-5 season in 2021 was rooted in how Jones’ does his business.

Certainly, the rumors surrounding former New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton was founded on Jones’ close relationship with the former Cowboys assistant.

But Jones admitted that in hopes of keeping teams away from defensive coordinator Dan Qunn, he purposely led the NFL world to believe he was considering him as an option as Cowboys head coach to keep him as the team’s coordinator.

“I wanted the NFL to wonder if Dan Quinn was going to be our head coach,” Jones said. “I was playing poker.”

Didn’t that help fuel the speculation regarding McCarthy’s tenuous status?

“That is your thought,” Jones said. “I will go with my instincts.”

Jones’ instincts also include the phrase, “just because I said it, doesn’t make it so.”

That is something for McCarthy to keep in mind.

The Cowboys coach is admittedly sensitive to questions about his job security and is still adjusting to the spotlight that comes with everything associated with America’s Team heading into his third season.

But he says Jones’ words of commitment are in line with the conversations they have had throughout the off season.

“That’s really where my focus has always been, is on this partnership and at the end of the day we’re here to win a championship,” McCarthy said. “I think the challenges that are from the media and all the other things — and it’s a huge challenge to be a head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. It’s a huge challenge to be a Dallas Cowboy — and I think now being more in-tune with that my daily focus is what affects winning and that’s really where I put my energy and time into it. We understand that narratives that’s part of the job and that’s about as far as it goes with me.”

The bottom line remains that McCarthy must win.

Jones, who is approaching 80 years old, joked that his urgency is rooted in “he doesn’t have time to have a bad time. It ain’t on my schedule.”

So what qualifies as a successful season?

“I need to win it,” Jones said. “But to be fair, we need to be in the playoffs. We need to be viable in the playoffs.”

So the Cowboys are heading into the 2022 season with a renewed resolve to win. That was the basis of a number of personnel decisions in the offseason, namely the trading away of No. 1 receiver Amari Cooper to the Cleveland Browns.

They want players who are committed to win on and off the field.

And while the Cowboys aren’t seemingly as talented on paper as they were at this time a year ago, Jones believes they are in better shape to win and go further in the playoffs than they were last year.

He said McCarthy is a big reason why.

Even though the Cowboys weren’t big players in free agency, Jones wants the fans to know that the team has given “everything we got to win it all.”

And he has seen enough to believe again, noting that four playoff wins and no trips to the NFC title games since their last Super Bowl title doesn’t tell the complete story of how close the Cowboys have come to adding to their trophy case.

“I can live with the fact that we’ve been closer than the zeros we have in line here over the last years that you’re talking about,” Jones said. “That sustains me. That’s food for me. That keeps me going. That’s not a loser you’re talking to, though it sounds like it. What you have is somebody that wants to go again and feels like we’ve got the tools to win it. I understand where our fans are: They should understand where I am. That’s not enough, but it’s enough to go again.”

And here we go.