FRISCO – Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is, in the wake his his team’s Week 2 blowout loss to the New Orleans Saints at AT&T Stadium, talking openly about a “trade.”
So, “America’s Team” is looking at adding a stud running back? More weapons for Dak Prescott? A superstar defender to line up alongside Micah Parsons?
Not exactly.
Following Sunday’s unusual defeat – the Cowboys had won 16 straight regular-season games here at home – Jones termed the loss “extraordinarily disappointing.”
Did that mean that the boss is willing to make a major roster change? What’s this “trade” he referenced in a Tuesday interview with 105.3 The Fan?
“We’ve been a good-to-very-good team during the season over the last four or five years with (coach Mike McCarthy),” he said, “and we haven’t done well in the playoffs. So, let’s trade some challenges during the season for doing well in the playoffs.”
Oh. A hypothetical, philosophical, psychological “trade.”
That’s now how any of this works, of course. Dallas being worse in the regular season than the 12-5, 12-5, 12-5 that’s been the norm in the last three seasons … and then magically exchanging that for winning in the postseason is a clever-but-fanciful thought.
The fact is, if Dallas is too much “worse in the regular season” there won’t be postseason success available in “trade.”
Since 2021, the Cowboys have been right there with the Kansas City Chiefs when it comes to regular-season wins. But in those last three years, the Chiefs have won two Super Bowls … and Dallas has a 1-3 postseason record.
Simply put, regarding regular-season wins vs. playoff wins, the 1-1 Cowboys don’t get to “trade” one for the other. They’ll only get a shot at the second thing if they fix the first thing. And some Cowboys Nation critics might argue that the only way this club will do that is by Jerry boosting his roster by engineering an actual trade.