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http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/8678708/Jerry-Jones-exposed-as-gutless-by-Goodell's-ruling
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Jerry Jones exposed as gutless by Goodell's ruling
by Ian O'Connor
All these years later, Jerry Jones finally got what was coming to him. Roger Goodell emasculated Jones the way the Dallas Cowboys' owner once emasculated Tom Landry.
Goodell exposed Jones as a gutless wonder, as a leader afraid to lead. By suspending Pacman Jones for at least four games, the NFL commissioner was only doing what the Dallas owner was terrified of doing.
The right thing.
Of course Jerry Jones never should've hired Pacman Jones in the first place. It didn't matter whether a blindfolded Pacman could've shut down Jerry Rice and Lynn Swann in their primes (and nobody suggested that he could); the guy was a serial troublemaker bound to deliver more pain than gain.
Pacman had been suspended for all of 2007, but Jerry Jones couldn't resist. He thought the New York Giants stole a Super Bowl season last year that was rightfully his, and he was willing to do anything to get it back.
Including covering for a cover man who wasn't worth covering for.
No felony, no foul, was the owner's pathetic ruling on Pacman's fight with a member of the Cowboys' security detail assigned to track his every off-field step. Jones dismissed the incident at a Dallas hotel as "a personal thing" that was "resolved in a personal manner."
In other words, like the book title says, Boys will be Boys.
Jones figured if he closed his eyes hard enough, he'd make the police who were called to the scene go poof in the night. Only Goodell wasn't about to be played for a fool, not the way Pacman played the Cowboys' owner for a fool.
The commissioner had reinstated the cornerback only six weeks ago, with a list of conditions tethered to him like a towel to a receiver's belt. Goodell dispatched his investigators to Dallas to hunt down the truth.
Tuesday, Goodell declared that Jones, the corner, had been involved "in an alcohol-related physical altercation." In his letter to Jones, Goodell cited "a disturbing pattern of behavior and clearly inconsistent with the conditions I set for your continued participation in the NFL."
By the time Jones is allowed back, if he's ever allowed back, the Cowboys could be coming off consecutive road losses to the Giants and Redskins that would leave them as the least of the NFC East.
Jerry Jones deserves nothing less. He deserves every act of the Greek tragedy that's become his 2008 season, a season he's so desperate to save that he beat the trade deadline by sending first-, third- and sixth-round picks in next year's draft to Detroit for Roy Williams and a seventh.
If Jones was merely trying to change the conversation surrounding his team, he failed. His Cowboys are coming off an overtime loss to the Cardinals that inflicted severe physical and psychological wounds.
First, Tony Romo broke his pinkie finger and might be out for as long as Pacman is out. Second, Felix Jones went down with a hamstring injury. Third, punter Mat McBriar was lost for the season when the Cardinals blocked his attempted punt, fractured his foot, and reduced the Cowboys to a much-weaker-than-it-sounds 4-2.
Fittingly, Pacman was burned by the Cardinals in the defeat. Owners and coaches need to realize justice has a way of showing up on the scoreboard. Tom Coughlin suspended Plaxico Burress for blowing off a meeting and other garden variety acts of insubordination, and the Giants responded by beating Seattle 44-6 without him.
Jerry Jones will never know if his team would've been energized by a firm and just decision to suspend Pacman, because Jones didn't have the nerve to make that decision. Even though the owner had admitted that the cornerback "had created with his actions no benefit of the doubt," Jones gave Pacman the benefit of the doubt, anyway, because he thought it would get him to 5-1.
It didn't. It only left Dallas in its most fragile state since the loss to the Giants last January, when Terrell Owens cried over his quarterback after they were defeated by a tougher, more disciplined team.
Lord knows where T.O.'s going to take this one. Not only is Brad Johnson a lead-footed quarterback with an affinity for dump-off passes, but now Williams arrives from Detroit to take away some touches from a receiver, Owens, who already believes he doesn't get enough of them.
And if Jerry Jones can't count on Wade Phillips to get T.O. and everyone else in line, the owner can blame himself for that. By paying Jason Garrett a $3 million wage to stick around as Phillips' obvious successor, Jones chop-blocked his head coach in the locker room and all but guaranteed a not-so-happy ending to 2008.
Phillips is famous for losing big games, and appears destined to go down as another nice guy who didn't finish first. After Arizona's Sean Morey was allowed a free path to McBriar, former Cowboys All-Pro Nate Newton told Fox Sports Radio, "If that was Jimmy Johnson somebody would've been cut today. Somebody would've been released. And they tell me, 'Oh, it's gonna be OK.' We've lost one of the best punters in the game and it's OK? And nobody's cut, nobody's released. I don't understand it."
It's not that hard to understand: The organizational tone is always set at the top, and Jerry Jones is as weak as the protection his Cowboys offered on McBriar's punt.
He was weak when he humiliated Landry, weak when he ran off Johnson, and weak when he hired the overmatched renegade, Barry Switzer, who ultimately sealed his own fate by carrying a loaded gun to the airport.
Jones was weak when he brought in another outlaw, Pacman, and weaker when he refused to punish him.
Now the league wants the cornerback to enter whatever treatment program he needs to enter. "He does need treatment," Jerry Jones allowed. "I do agree with the commissioner in that he needs to address some things and show that he's aware of that and address those things."
He agrees that Pacman needs treatment now, but last week he thought the player was in perfectly fine standing and worthy of suiting up for the balance of the season?
"I regret that this issue has brought negative attention to the Cowboys and the NFL," Jerry Jones said in a statement.
Surely he has one additional regret — that the commissioner exposed him as a gutless wonder.
Click link for entire article
Jerry Jones exposed as gutless by Goodell's ruling
by Ian O'Connor
All these years later, Jerry Jones finally got what was coming to him. Roger Goodell emasculated Jones the way the Dallas Cowboys' owner once emasculated Tom Landry.
Goodell exposed Jones as a gutless wonder, as a leader afraid to lead. By suspending Pacman Jones for at least four games, the NFL commissioner was only doing what the Dallas owner was terrified of doing.
The right thing.
Of course Jerry Jones never should've hired Pacman Jones in the first place. It didn't matter whether a blindfolded Pacman could've shut down Jerry Rice and Lynn Swann in their primes (and nobody suggested that he could); the guy was a serial troublemaker bound to deliver more pain than gain.
Pacman had been suspended for all of 2007, but Jerry Jones couldn't resist. He thought the New York Giants stole a Super Bowl season last year that was rightfully his, and he was willing to do anything to get it back.
Including covering for a cover man who wasn't worth covering for.
No felony, no foul, was the owner's pathetic ruling on Pacman's fight with a member of the Cowboys' security detail assigned to track his every off-field step. Jones dismissed the incident at a Dallas hotel as "a personal thing" that was "resolved in a personal manner."
In other words, like the book title says, Boys will be Boys.
Jones figured if he closed his eyes hard enough, he'd make the police who were called to the scene go poof in the night. Only Goodell wasn't about to be played for a fool, not the way Pacman played the Cowboys' owner for a fool.
The commissioner had reinstated the cornerback only six weeks ago, with a list of conditions tethered to him like a towel to a receiver's belt. Goodell dispatched his investigators to Dallas to hunt down the truth.
Tuesday, Goodell declared that Jones, the corner, had been involved "in an alcohol-related physical altercation." In his letter to Jones, Goodell cited "a disturbing pattern of behavior and clearly inconsistent with the conditions I set for your continued participation in the NFL."
By the time Jones is allowed back, if he's ever allowed back, the Cowboys could be coming off consecutive road losses to the Giants and Redskins that would leave them as the least of the NFC East.
Jerry Jones deserves nothing less. He deserves every act of the Greek tragedy that's become his 2008 season, a season he's so desperate to save that he beat the trade deadline by sending first-, third- and sixth-round picks in next year's draft to Detroit for Roy Williams and a seventh.
If Jones was merely trying to change the conversation surrounding his team, he failed. His Cowboys are coming off an overtime loss to the Cardinals that inflicted severe physical and psychological wounds.
First, Tony Romo broke his pinkie finger and might be out for as long as Pacman is out. Second, Felix Jones went down with a hamstring injury. Third, punter Mat McBriar was lost for the season when the Cardinals blocked his attempted punt, fractured his foot, and reduced the Cowboys to a much-weaker-than-it-sounds 4-2.
Fittingly, Pacman was burned by the Cardinals in the defeat. Owners and coaches need to realize justice has a way of showing up on the scoreboard. Tom Coughlin suspended Plaxico Burress for blowing off a meeting and other garden variety acts of insubordination, and the Giants responded by beating Seattle 44-6 without him.
Jerry Jones will never know if his team would've been energized by a firm and just decision to suspend Pacman, because Jones didn't have the nerve to make that decision. Even though the owner had admitted that the cornerback "had created with his actions no benefit of the doubt," Jones gave Pacman the benefit of the doubt, anyway, because he thought it would get him to 5-1.
It didn't. It only left Dallas in its most fragile state since the loss to the Giants last January, when Terrell Owens cried over his quarterback after they were defeated by a tougher, more disciplined team.
Lord knows where T.O.'s going to take this one. Not only is Brad Johnson a lead-footed quarterback with an affinity for dump-off passes, but now Williams arrives from Detroit to take away some touches from a receiver, Owens, who already believes he doesn't get enough of them.
And if Jerry Jones can't count on Wade Phillips to get T.O. and everyone else in line, the owner can blame himself for that. By paying Jason Garrett a $3 million wage to stick around as Phillips' obvious successor, Jones chop-blocked his head coach in the locker room and all but guaranteed a not-so-happy ending to 2008.
Phillips is famous for losing big games, and appears destined to go down as another nice guy who didn't finish first. After Arizona's Sean Morey was allowed a free path to McBriar, former Cowboys All-Pro Nate Newton told Fox Sports Radio, "If that was Jimmy Johnson somebody would've been cut today. Somebody would've been released. And they tell me, 'Oh, it's gonna be OK.' We've lost one of the best punters in the game and it's OK? And nobody's cut, nobody's released. I don't understand it."
It's not that hard to understand: The organizational tone is always set at the top, and Jerry Jones is as weak as the protection his Cowboys offered on McBriar's punt.
He was weak when he humiliated Landry, weak when he ran off Johnson, and weak when he hired the overmatched renegade, Barry Switzer, who ultimately sealed his own fate by carrying a loaded gun to the airport.
Jones was weak when he brought in another outlaw, Pacman, and weaker when he refused to punish him.
Now the league wants the cornerback to enter whatever treatment program he needs to enter. "He does need treatment," Jerry Jones allowed. "I do agree with the commissioner in that he needs to address some things and show that he's aware of that and address those things."
He agrees that Pacman needs treatment now, but last week he thought the player was in perfectly fine standing and worthy of suiting up for the balance of the season?
"I regret that this issue has brought negative attention to the Cowboys and the NFL," Jerry Jones said in a statement.
Surely he has one additional regret — that the commissioner exposed him as a gutless wonder.
