FRISCO, Texas _ Cowboys Vice President Stephen Jones walked back his comments on Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman Friday afternoon.
Jones, who used the term "armchair quarterback" earlier this week on KRLD/105.3 The Fan when asked about comments made by the Fox commentator and former Cowboys star during the Week 1 loss at Carolina.
"No one has more respect for Troy than I do. Actually, there is a painting behind my desk in my office that's a picture of Troy in a quarterback position," Jones said Friday afternoon. "And he won us three Super Bowls, a Hall of Famer. No one respects him more than I do."
Jones said he misused words when defending the offense and specifically the play-calling. "My whole point is anytime you lose a game like that you're going have people who voice their opinions and are going to be critical. That's to be expected. That's the job that we're in. As an organization, we're going to be critiqued." Jones added that the offense has to be better if "we are going to get where we want to get."
"Offensively we're going to have to execute better. I think everybody, at the end of the day, understands that, whether it's the play-caller or whether it's the coaching staff or whether it's the general manager, the ownership, everybody played a role in that loss," he said. "We have to do things better, and when that happens, we'll win football games. The critics will be better when you win football games."
Jones said on Monday that "everybody can play armchair quarterback and point fingers after the fact," when asked about Aikman's commentary. But he also admitted the offense needs to improve against the New York Giants at 7:25 p.m. Sunday at AT&T Stadium.
"I do think we need to figure out how to get in a rhythm when you use six receivers and make sure everyone's in there for what they do best," he said. "That's a little bit of a work in progress. But I think it's unfair right now to point fingers at play-calling, whether it's Dak, whether it's our receivers, I just think we've got to do a better job overall of executing and I think this thing will come together."
