Dallas Cowboys brass is disappointed with their team's 1-3 start, but coach Wade Phillips' job is "absolutely" safe, executive vice president Stephen Jones told NFL Network's Albert Breer at the NFL Fall League Meeting in Chicago.
"I think in our organization everybody is taking responsibility, not just Wade," Stephen Jones said Tuesday. "He does. He takes responsibility. The coaching staff takes responsibility. The players take it. We all take it.
"We're a team, we're an organization, and when we fall short, we accept it as a team."
Jones' father, Cowboys owner/general manager Jerry Jones, echoed his comments, saying that "with Wade ... I'm very comfortable that we can do better."
Jerry Jones repeatedly has made clear this season that he supports Phillips, who has been under fire since the Cowboys' failure to reach the playoffs in 2008, the coach's second season in charge. Phillips was given a two-year contract extension in January after guiding the team to its second NFC East title in three seasons and first postseason win in a dozen years.
The Cowboys lost their first two games this season, at Washington and at home against Chicago, before winning in Houston. They followed their bye week with a 34-27 loss last weekend to visiting Tennessee and play Sunday at Minnesota.
"Even if we were winning, we've got a lot of things that can make us a better team that are encouraging," Jerry Jones told Breer at the meeting. "Since we haven't been [winning], we've really got a lot of things we can address. There's not just one thing, but we are obviously making mistakes. But those are things that are correctable."
The owner said he was "certainly disappointed for everyone concerned, surprised, and I feel like we're losing time here. We're running out of time, even though it's early in the season. If we're gonna go, we've got to go now, and go hard. ...
"When you start off and you don't win but one ballgame out of four, you feel like you need to win all the games."
