As he has done for the last 15 years, Jerry Jones joined 105.3 The Fan’s Shan & RJ for his weekly interview on Tuesday.
But rather than starting with a question about the Dallas Cowboys, this week’s interview opened with a question about the relationship between the show and Jones, who had threatened host Shan Shariff’s job following a line of questioning regarding the team’s lackluster offseason last week.
“I don’t have anything to say about last week,” Jones said when given the opportunity to do so on Tuesday. “I’ll tell you, I’m surprised that last week got the attention it got.”
The longtime Cowboys owner proceeded to wax poetic about his weekly appearances, stating his belief regarding the role the show’s hosts should play during them.
“When I think about what we try to do on this show… those [weekly appearances] are really a privilege. It’s kind of like Peloton. You get some inside stuff,” Jones said. “As you know, I don’t go before the normal press conferences during the week usually. And so this is the kind of thing that I would expect and how I would answer it relative to many of your questions.
“You’re going to ask me today because [Derrick] Henry had a big night… you’re going to ask me again, ‘how come when Henry was available right here in Dallas that we didn’t get him?’ And I will tell you, the same kind of question is one that my wife might ask me of 60-something years: ‘Why did you do that?’ And I said, ‘I really don’t know why I did that. The devil made me do it.’ And so my point is, those kinds of questions are [pointed] toward putting you on a spot to make a certain kind of answer.”
Well then.
Ultimately, it appears that Jones doesn’t want to be put in a position to defend the indefensible, which is certainly understandable from his standpoint. But it also lacks a certain level of accountability, which any responsible interviewer should attempt to hold him to, especially when speaking on behalf of the team’s fans.
Shariff did just that last week and had his job threatened by one of the NFL’s most powerful owners for his efforts. Ultimately, this week’s interview proceeded without any additional incidents or causes for concern — unless you’re a Cowboys fan worried about what else the devil might be telling Jones.
