Cowboys owner Jerry Jones addressed the media for the first time in 109 days, here’s what we learned - The Dallas Morning News

Jerry Jones is the rare individual who can find himself and his team dropped in the eye of a social justice storm during a pandemic and make it sound somewhat appealing.

The reason: more challenges to overcome only serve to make the task that lies ahead more exciting. The sense of accomplishment is greater.

Even inspirational.

This is the approach Jones took with his annual state of the Cowboys address Wednesday. The owner fielded questions from the media in a public setting for the first time in 109 days and did his best to make up for lost time.

Jones was confident in the team’s ability to play an entire season and host fans at AT&T Stadium in a safe environment.

He called Dak Prescott “the quarterback of the future’' even though the two sides were unable to agree on a long-term deal heading into training camp. He was effusive in his praise of new head coach Mike McCarthy and listened as his son, the Cowboys chief operating officer, provided his assessment of the talent level on this roster.

“I feel as good about this team as any that we’ve had over the last five or 10 years,’' Stephen Jones said.

And there was the anthem. Will Jerry Jones, the man who has consistently stated, “Our policy is you stand during the anthem, toes on the line’' continue his mandate or have the events of recent months altered his outlook?

The patriarch used the word “grace’' 17 times in five minutes to convey that these conversations are ongoing. Stay tuned.

A world and league at war with the coronavirus. A country rocked by the aftershocks of systemic oppression. These aren’t the Cowboys of your founding fathers.

“We celebrate, as we open this training camp, the 60th anniversary of the Dallas Cowboys,’' Jerry Jones said in a lengthy preamble. “I assure you that Tex [Schramm] and Gil [Brandt], who is still with us, I assure you Tex and Tom Landry didn’t have these circumstances in mind when they were thinking about where and how they were going to put training camp together. But here is where we are.

“These are challenging times.‘'

The coronavirus puts this season in doubt. Prescott talked about “the crisis we’re in with COVID.‘'

McCarthy said he has “a continuous conversation about COVID-19′' with his coaching staff and players.

The elder Jones acknowledges that a significant percentage of people in this country wonder if trying to play football is worth the risk. He believes it’s justified.

“The NFL can be an exciting, when I say exciting, it can be an inspirational part of how we address COVID, not only the remainder of this year but as we go into ’21,’' Jerry Jones said. “So it’s a big enough deal for me to look at cost in every way and…

“It’s worth it to make the effort for us to have a complete season and I want to do it in front of our fans.‘'

Jerry Jones casually, yet strategically, dropped into his opening statement how the configuration of the Cowboys 3 million square-foot stadium is ideal for optimum air flow depending on the doors and how the roof is opened.

On a day when the Washington football team announced it would have no fans in the stands for this season, the Cowboys owner made it clear that providing a safe environment for fans was a priority.

“We have a real unique situation,’' he said. “And I think that we’re going to be able to really have a great experience. I think that our safety precautions that we’re doing won’t be unfamiliar to a lot of people when we look at the general protocol of the country or we look at how you get together numbers of people.

“Our fans will be in the stadium because they have chosen to be there. I’m confident that we’ve got a very educated situation and that our fans can come and have a safe experience at our stadium along with of course our players having the safety they’re required to have on the football field.‘'

Gov. Greg Abbott, in his most recent guidelines on July 3, said that an outdoor venue could be filled to no more than 50% capacity. Teams intending to do that must submit a plan to the Texas Department of State Health Services.

Jerry Jones didn’t specify the number of fans he’d like to see in the stadium. He called it a moving target. But he’s told his staff to plan for any eventuality. He talked about how fans that enter the southwest side of the stadium never get close to those who enter from the northwest and mentioned the idea of fans being places in pods of five, 10 or 15 people.

“Our stadium is well-suited to put together numbers of people that have elected to come and want to watch the Dallas Cowboys play,’' Jerry Jones said.

These challenges don’t discourage Jones. They remind him of how privileged he is to own the Cowboys and be part of the NFL.

He understands these are difficult times economically and personally for many people in this country and he doesn’t make light of those struggles.

In his mind, the Cowboys are here to play a small, arguably disproportionate part in making people feel better.

“This is a unique time,’' Jones said. “It can be an exciting time. It’s one that I really do want to be able to say, ‘Man, I was a part of something very different and very special. That 2020, what a time to remember and boy, did we do some good.’

“That’s what I’d hope to say in the future.‘'

Catch David Moore on The Ticket (KTCK-AM 1310 and 96.7 FM) periodically throughout the offseason.

Find more Cowboys stories from The Dallas Morning News here.

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Cowboys owner Jerry Jones addressed the media for the first time in 109 days, here’s what we learned - The Dallas Morning News
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