Between the decision to trade Micah Parsons and their 3-4-1 start to the 2025 regular season, it’s hard to talk about the Dallas Cowboys without bringing up Jerry Jones. Hence, why the flagship personality of ESPN, and perhaps the biggest Jones critic, Stephen A. Smith, took the time to sit down with Jones and one of the best players in Cowboys history, Michael Irvin, for a live podcast discussion prior to their Week 9 outing on Monday Night Football.
Advertisement
Thanks to the amount of history between the three of them, a lot was said, and perhaps even more was left unsaid, but in the end, Jones was determined to see Smith finally admit his affection for both him and the team.
“I know this one right here loves me and loves the Dallas Cowboys,” Jones cracked as he affectionately patted his former wide receiver on the back. The 83-year-old general manager then gestured towards Smith and joked that “What you need to know is this one over here [Stephen A. Smith] loves me too. He’s a fraud.”
“I do. I do,” Smith laughingly admitted. “I love my guy, Jerry Jones.”
Nevertheless, he still felt the need to ask Jones about his projections for the rest of the season. Dallas has one of the most porous defenses in the entire league, but they’ve also managed to score the second-most points of any team in football throughout the first two months of the season.
Suffice to say, it’s a tale of two cities in Dallas, Texas. And the veteran media guru needed to know how Jones was planning on navigating that. “I’m not a fan of your defense,” Smith began, “They’ve got a lot of work to do, but the offense is prolific. It’s explosive and has the potential to beat anybody. Where are you in terms of how you feel about the potential of this team moving forward?”
In suggesting that he learned a great deal from having Mike Zimmer as his defensive coordinator last season, Jones answered that he is simply hoping to see some growth and development on defense.
“If I look at the template of seeing our guys get better when they get more reps, more practice. I know that the guys we have here right now can get better. We’re going to be doing some different things out there tonight,” Jones answered while alluding to Dallas’ prime time match-up against the Arizona Cardinals. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear as if that was the case throughout the first half.
Arizona was able to escort Marvin Harrison Jr. into the end zone within moments of the second quarter starting, and given the fact that the Cardinals are running their offense through a backup quarterback in Jacoby Brissett, that’s anything but encouraging for Dallas’ defense. Suffice to say, you may not think he was right to trade away his best defender in Parsons, but Jones is certainly correct when he claims that they are still a work in progress.
