It's not that Jerry Jones is loyal to Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett to a fault; it's just that Jones really has no repercussions if he's wrong and an opportunity to show how smart he is if he's right.
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NFL.com reported Wednesday that Jones, the Cowboys owner, refused to put the heat on his fourth-year coach who has guided the team to back-to-back-to-back 8-8 seasons in his first three tries.
"I know firsthand we've got a relationship," Jones said, according to NFL.com. "There's nobody that has a better feel for me than Jason in terms of relationship. We both know where our expectations are and when it's looking good and when it's looking dire. I don't expect it to be the latter."
With Garrett, the Cowboys' situation has looked neither good nor dire. The team has had opportunities to make the playoffs with a win during the last game of the season the past two seasons but has failed.
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Garrett could argue that if Tony Romo wasn't hurt for the final game of the 2013 season, forcing now-departed Kyle Orton to start with a playoff berth on the line against the Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas would've advanced last season.
ESPN's "Mike and Mike" Radio Show reported that the Cowboys are just one of 10 teams that haven't made the playoffs in 2009; yet Jones has not suffered at the gate or in the many revenue streams because of the mediocrity under Garrett.
Jones has had share of big-name coaches with big egos to match in Jimmy Johnson and Bill Parcells, and both those relationships were short-term ones. Jones appears to want a coach that doesn't question his questionable general manager skills while still managing to win enough games to keep the Cowboys relevant.
That's Garrett.
"We've put a lot of effort in training as a franchise into Jason Garrett, and I want to take advantage of that," Jones said in December when he announced Garrett was coming back, NFL.com reported. "If we don't have him, we don't get payback for all the miscues and losses and criticism of sideline management. We don't get a chance to benefit from the one way you learn, and that is the mistakes you make."
And for every miscue Garrett has made, Cowboys fans probably can come up with personnel issues caused by Jones. It wasn't Garrett that gave the aging Romo a six-year, $108 million contract that hamstrung the team from getting other pieces under the salary cap.
He didn't sign now-departed wide receiver Miles Austin to a six-year, $54 million contract in 2010 based on one good year. Injuries and ineffectiveness resulted in Austin signing a one-year, $2 million contract with the Cleveland Browns in the offseason.
Moves such as those indirectly led to the departure of pass rusher DeMarcus Ware.
Garrett didn't draft talented but enigmatic wide receiver Dez Bryant, who seems ready to go off at any time. In fact, Jones might even value Garrett more for the way he and the team rally around Bryant during his sideline or postgame tirades.
Now, Garrett already has a head start on the sympathy card with the season-ending injury to linebacker Sean Lee. He has built-in excuses.
It's a fairly common belief that the Cowboys need a change in the front office before they can expect to start contending for championships. Jones isn't about to step aside, so why punish a coach that he obviously holds in high regard for his loyalty to the franchise?
The Cowboys annually are one of the highest-profit and most relevant teams in the NFL as soon as the Super Bowl is over to New Year's Eve.
So until Jones has an epiphany that the Cowboys' entire front office needs to be overhauled, he has no reason to fire a coach who allows Jerry and his toy to keep making headlines.
Do you think Jerry Jones will fire Jason Garrett if the Dallas Cowboys fail to make the playoffs in 2014? Comment below or tell us @SportsWN.
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