Jerry Jones looked to the Cowboys’ past when making a decision about the team’s future.
That’s according to star linebacker Micah Parsons, who elaborated on the 82-year-old owner’s rationale of being buyers rather than sellers at Tuesday’s trade ᴅᴇᴀᴅline, when the 3-5 Cowboys acquired Panthers wide receiver Jonathan Mingo for a 2025 fourth-round round pick.
“He was just like, ‘I’ve been here before.’ [Former Cowboys quarterback Roger] Staubach called me and was like, ‘We were 3-5 and we still made a run [in 1971 after going 4-3].’ So that gives Jerry his old-school beliefs,” Parsons said Wednesday, per CBS Sports.
“When your owner believes in it, and he truly believes these are the right guys, that gives confidence into the guys in the locker room because your owner believes in you. Even though you haven’t had the most success and things aren’t going your way, he still believes you can do great things.”
Although Staubach and the 1971 Cowboys rode into the Super Bowl sunset that season, hope in Dallas has continued to deflate as losses and injuries pile up.
Parsons, a three-time Pro Bowler, has been sidelined since a Week 4 win over the Giants due to a high-ankle sprain. He practiced Wednesday ahead of Sunday’s tilt against the Eagles.
The Cowboys will be without starting quarterback Dak Prescott in Week 10 — and likely some time after — as NFL Network reported Wednesday his hamstring tendon partially tore off the bone.
The recovery time can potentially be more than four weeks.
Jones had hinted earlier in the week that Prescott could be placed on IR, which would mean at least a four-week absence, though no official move has been made yet.
With the Cowboys looking to shake off a three-game skid, Parsons insisted the team’s confidence hasn’t wavered amid recent adversity.
“This has proven to be a winning team, a 12-5 team the last three years. We’ve obviously got more losses at this point than we ever have. But the high hopes in the players are still here. We’ve just got to stop beating ourselves, and that’s the penalties and things like that,” the former first-round pick said, per CBS.
Jones, who has been criticized throughout the year over personnel moves — or lack thereof — had NFL execs and talent evaluators scratching their heads over the Cowboys’ decision to give Carolina draft capital for Mingo, a second-year wideout who has 12 receptions for 121 yards this season.
“We’re going to do everything we can, at all times, to improve this team, and in our judgment, if what you have to give up helps improve it, we’ll do it,” Jones said prior to the ᴅᴇᴀᴅline. “I know everybody understands. I don’t think I have to say it, but we’ll go for it.”
