Jimmy Johnson talks Jerry Jones’ stubbornness on ‘The Herd’

Dallas Cowboys legendary coach Jimmy Johnson knows a thing or two about owner Jerry Jones. Jones was his boss for several years. While with the Cowboys, the now FOX NFL analyst led the team to two Super Bowl championships. Jones hired Johnson in 1989 to revive the struggling team. He took Dallas from 1-15 in his first year, to 7-9 in his second, and then 11-5 in 1991.

As a member of both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame, the former coach knows a thing or two about football. Johnson was a guest on Colin Cowherd’s The Herd and the two talked about the latest NFL topics. They chatted about Matthew Stafford and Joe Burrow, his new book, how the 49ers should handle Jimmy Garoppolo, and much more. Johnson also admitted that he felt Tony Pollard was a better running back than Ezekiel Elliott many times this season.

But they also talked about Jones. Cowherd started the conversation with a well-known fact: “Jerry is an interesting personality.” You can say that again. The overly vocal and often criticized GM is always in the news for what he’s saying about his players and all of his comments on his coaching staff. In response, Johnson laughed and said, “He is very complex.”

When Cowherd asked Johnson’s opinion on Jones keeping his exact same coaching staff despite several examples of lack of discipline and poor clock management from head coach Mike McCarthy, the former coach had quite the answer: “Jerry doesn’t like to admit when he’s wrong.” In other words, he’s going to hang on to his decided coaches and try and make it work just to prove that he made the right choice?!

On the topic of Dallas keeping the exact same coaching staff, former Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson says Jerry Jones just doesn’t like to admit when he’s wrong

Is the idea that Jones thinks McCarthy can improve a valid enough reason for an owner to keep a head coach around? Likely not. It seems like Jones’ ego is once again getting in the way of making the right decisions for his team.

Johnson went on to tell a story proving how “involved” Jones is. When Johnson was coach, Jones never attended practices until the final 15 minutes to talk to the media. After Johnson left and Barry Switzer was brought in, Troy Aikman says that Jones would be out on the field in a baseball cap and coaching gear for every practice.

Involved seems like an understatement. The owner even called an impromptu interview with 105.3 The Fan at the end of January to essentially brag about his role in the coaching staff situation. Even though just a week prior Jones refused to confirm McCarthy’s future with the team, he went on the radio to try and walk back on his recorded quotes. Sometimes the man just needs to talk less and do more.

Cowboys fans continue to wonder when Jones will start to make better decisions for this squad. If the only reason the GM kept McCarthy was to prove a point and not be wrong, that seems like a wildly selfish move from a guy whose team hasn’t won a championship in 26 years.