Jerry Jones wants everyone to know he "shouldn't be as frustrated" as he is currently, given the "makeup" of the Dallas Cowboys in 2019, which he believes is in direct contradiction with how they now sit at 6-5 on the heels of losing another game that could've been a marquee victory. Their 13-9 loss to the New England Patriots again highlighted some of the more glaring issues in Dallas, and coaching has rapidly become one of the pronounced ailments.
Don't count on any changes coming for Week 13, however, because it doesn't appear the Cowboys are going to ship anyone out on a short week ahead of their coming Thanksgiving battle with the Buffalo Bills -- who are 8-2 on the season. Multiple sources confirm there is no plan to fire head coach Jason Garrett in Week 12, which isn't surprising when considering my continued reporting that Garrett is -- at minimum -- safe until 2020.
More surprising is in how it also appears Keith O'Quinn, the team's maligned special teams coach, will remain in place as well, at least for now. I am told that could change quickly for O'Quinn depending upon the outcome of Thursday's game and the showing of special teams throughout the contest, though, as he sits on the hottest seat of the entire coaching staff at the moment. Another poor special teams showing this week will give the Cowboys added time to consider their next move, which could very well involve O'Quinn (and more?) being handed his walking papers.
With the Cowboys still in sole possession of the top seat in the NFC East, a frustrated Jones can be lulled back into a sense of calm with a win on Thanksgiving; or his fury could be provoked if the team drops two straight to land at .500 with only four games left to play in the regular season.
The Hall of Fame owner pulled no punches after the loss to New England, railing against the continued and now mushroomed ineptitude of the special teams unit, noting how it's "100 percent" on coaching to get that phase of the game on track. It's not yet happened, though, as evidenced by the blocked punt by Matthew Slater that led to the only Patriots touchdown on the day, as well as a missed field goal by Brett Maher and two muffed punts -- though they were lucky enough to recover both of the latter.
The special teams unit has been the weakest phase of the Cowboys game in 2019, and is as culpable in aiding in each of the five losses as are execution issues on offense and poor tackling on defense. In the end, while O'Quinn is where the heat is justifiably aimed with 11 games in the books, the bottom line is it's still Garrett's staff, and he'll either begin making changes soon -- or find himself out of Dallas in a few months.
He called an urgent meeting with players ahead of their Week 10 win over the Detroit Lions, and it's clearly time to do the same with his assistants, for both his sake and that of a team trying desperately to remain in the playoff picture.