When Dallas finished 8-8 one January ago, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones promised an "uncomfortable" offseason ahead before firing defensive coordinator Rob Ryan and ultimately stripping coach Jason Garrett of his play-calling duties.
This time around, Jones is doing the opposite, opting to stick with offensive coordinator Bill Callahan and a defensive play-caller in Monte Kiffin who dialed up the worst unit in all the NFL.
"I had a guy tell me one time how to be successful, that no human can be right over 50 percent of the time on any decision, but it's the ones that cut the bad ones off quick and let the good ones run long," Jones said, per The Dallas Morning News. "That's hard to do. That's hard to accept. We all know that adage of the gold miner who walked away and the other one who took one more swing, hit the pick and found the gold streak, and so you don't want to quit."
Were Kiffin getting the axe, it would have happened weeks ago. Still, after totally whiffing on the Ryan dismissal last January, Jones laughed off the notion that he had to convince Garrett that Kiffin deserved a second shot after his defense bled an outrageous 27 points and 415.3 yards per game.
"I don't have to sell anything at all," said Jones.
That George Lucas-level autonomy remains a core dilemma for a team that hasn't voyaged to the Super Bowl since the winter of 1996.
While Kiffin's defense shares schematic similarities with Pete Carroll's Seahawks, the prairie-sized talent gap between these two teams has no quick fix. Without the money to lure in premier talent -- "I don't ever see a time when we won't be under some serious challenges on the salary cap," said Jones -- don't hold your breath for a Seattle-like revival on this side of the ball.
The "Around The League Podcast" recapped all the Conference Championship week action.
