Dallas Cowboys fans are already in the dumps after a Week 1 loss, which included a thumb injury to Dak Prescott that will force the quarterback to the sideline for at least the next several weeks.
Adding to Dallas's depression was that the Cowboys didn't look good before Prescott got hurt, with the offense unable to generate anything against the Buccaneers.
Owner Jerry Jones isn't so quick to declare the season a failure. He was asked Tuesday on the Shan and RJ show on 105.3 The Fan about his message to fans who say the season is already over.
"One of the things that has stood me about football, and I'm comparing to the things that we all do every day away from the football is that it can be looking very dark, dark for you and then it can reverse on you in an instant," Jones said, via the Dallas Morning News. "It can go positive in an instant after you've got -- we've got a lot of football. We've got a lot of really top football players. And we got an outstanding group that's coaching them up in my view. ... You can think negatively and everybody does and that's normal. But, boy, we got a lot of positive things we can do. I have seen it just hopeless and walk out there and David slay the giant. I've seen it done."
The Cowboys playing the role of David in this Goliath comparison is a new one for the club dubbed "America's Team."
Jones, who noted the team wouldn't put Prescott on injured reserve, giving him a chance to come back inside of four weeks despite undergoing surgery, believes that if the Cowboys can hold down the fort until the starting QB returns, the season can be salvaged.
"At the same time, we buy us a little time here, catch it up a little bit and get Dak back out there," Jones said. "He's very capable of coming past this injury and having a great season, a great season -- I emphasize that. And that's not selling. That's just if he didn't have it, if we didn't have it, it would be different. But we do, and, so, let's hold what we've got, get this plane kind of landed. Right now, let's patch up the holes and let's come back at it."
The issue for the Cowboys is that there were a lot of holes to patch before Prescott went down -- from the receiving corps to the offensive line. Now they're playing with a backup at the most important position in sports, with a matchup against the reigning AFC champions on tap Sunday.
Jones' early season optimism in the face of potential disaster puts added pressure on Mike McCarthy to stack W's sans his starting quarterback; otherwise, the blame will fall directly on the head coach.
