"I really like to choose my spots on taking those kinds of risks" - Jerry Jones disagrees with Cowboys special teams coach
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has always been vocal about his team. Whether it's before, after, or sometimes even during games, Jones always gets his point across. This past Sunday, after the Cowboys' 20-17 win over the Los Angeles Chargers, Jones did not disappoint by disagreeing with comments made by Cowboys special teams coach John Fassel.
Late in the first half of the game, the Chargers had the ball on the Dallas 46-yard line and were facing a fourth-and-20. The Cowboys were up by a score of 14-11 and were looking to build on their lead.
But instead of getting the ball back, the Cowboys were called for roughing the punter, which gave the Chargers a first down.
@dmn_cowboys @JJT_Journalist This is incredibly stupid. Calculated aggression is far from reckless. But McCarthy getting canned is fine, his blunders have cost far more than anything fassel has done. Plus, do whatever is needed to keep Moore on the staff/make him HC.
On Monday, John Fassel had this to say about that play: "I think Cowboys fans aren't the play-it-safe type. So I was going to give them what they wanted, come after their a** on the punt rush. So I hope they're happy with it. We came after him."
Jerry Jones gives his take on the comments
Jerry Jones on @1053thefan on the Cowboys coming after the punt late in the first half Sunday: “I’m a little more conservative. I do believe the bad plays in the kicking game are the equivalent to turnovers. I really like to choose my spots on taking those kind of risks.”
Needless to say, Jerry Jones had a different take on what he thought about the penalty. "I'm a little more conservative," Jones said. "I do believe the bad plays in the kicking game are the equivalent to turnovers. I really like to choose my spots on taking those kind of risks."
To his credit, Jerry Jones was not outright crude with his comments. He provided his honest opinion as to what he thought should have happened without appearing to completely diminish John Fassel's opinion. However, it's quite obvious that Jones does not agree with Fassel's take on going after the punter for the Dallas Cowboys fans.
Who is John Fassel
John Fassel is known across the league as a risky but respectable special teams coach. He is the son of former longtime NFL head coach Jim Fassel. John got his start in the NFL with the Baltimore Ravens in 2005 as the assistant special teams coach.
He has worked consistently in the league since he arrived, so it's safe to say that Fassel has a lot of expertise with special teams. He arrived with Jerry Jones and the Cowboys in 2020 and helped them improve from their special teams ranking of 31st the year prior to the 11th in 2020.
But in that same NFL season, the Cowboys were 0-4 on fake punts.
The silver lining for the Dallas Cowboys is that the penalty did not cost them the game. Had the results ended differently, Jerry Jones' take on this might have been much different.