FRISCO, Texas _ Dallas Cowboys vice president Stephen Jones is disappointed in the team's shocking 1-3 start.
But he said it's not time to panic and there will be no changes to coach Mike McCarthy's staff despite a defense that is allowing a league-worst 36.5 points per game and is on pace to set a new team record for points allowed in a season following Sunday's 49-38 loss to the Cleveland Browns at AT&T Stadium.
"We just have to be better. We have to go to work. Now's not the time to think about things like that," Jones said on his radio show on 105.3 The Fan. "I'm very convicted about this staff. I'm very convicted about this team. But right now we're not playing winning football."
McCarthy certainly remains firmly behind defensive coordinator Mike Nolan.
"Very high confidence in Mike Nolan. We are going to stay the course," McCarthy said. "A lot of conversation as you would expect. We are on top of where we are. We don't like the way it turned out. We are focusing on the details of the things that we need to do better. My confidence is very high in Mike Nolan."
Jones said the Cowboys have been undone by a bad cocktail of slow starts, excessive turnovers and inability to get stops on defense through the first four games.
They also allowed a team-record 307 yards rushing against the Browns.
"There's a pattern to it," Jones said. "We're losing the turnover battle. I think we're negative seven for the year. We're starting slow. I think we've only had the lead for like 15 minutes out of 240 minutes. We're not stopping the run. That's just a bad recipe. We're losing the time of possession. We just have a lot of work to do here. I think we do have a talented team, but that doesn't mean anything. It doesn't mean you're a good team."
Jones, however, is preaching patience. He said the season is still young and he likes the fight the Cowboys have shown in rallying to get back into games after slow starts and large deficits.
The Cowboys beat the Atlanta Falcons 40-39 after trailing by 19 points halftime. They rallied from 15 down in the third quarter to take a fourth-quarter lead against the Seattle Seahawks before losing late. And they got as close as 41-38 against the Browns after being down 41-14 before giving up a touchdown that put the game out of reach.
"I just think that we're not as far away as it seems, but we do have a lot of work to do," Jones said. "And we're very confident in this football team in spite of what we've seen in the first four games. The one redeeming quality is that it does show week-in and week-out, in spite of the holes we seem to be digging ourselves, we put ourselves (in position) with a chance to win the game at the end of these games when you wouldn't think we had a chance. These guys will fight.
"We really believe we've got a great head coach, a great staff, and a great group of players that will get the job done."
