Jerry Jones is still disgusted by his Dallas Cowboys’ Thursday Night Football loss to the injury-ravaged Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who somehow managed to gain 419 yards on offense despite playing with their backup quarterback in Arlington.
Speaking with Dallas’ 105.3 The Fan on Friday, Jones took aim at the team’s defensive struggles less than a year after hiring coordinator Christian Parker to fix a unit that surrendered the most points in the NFL last season.
‘Surprising isn’t even a big enough word,’ Jones said, as quoted by The Athletic’s Jon Machota. ‘It’s mind boggling looking at the stats of our last five games.’
So far in 2026, the 2-3 Cowboys have surrendered more yards than all but one other NFL team, which is more or less a continuation of the club’s struggles from 2025, when Dallas’ elite offense was hamstrung by an ineffective defense.
Despite the Cowboys’ defensive struggles, Jones insisted he is not ready to fire any members of head coach Brian Schottenheimer’s staff.
‘[That] is just not in the best interest of our team,’ Jones said. ‘We played five games. We have 12 more regular season games and hopefully playoff games to go.’
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones slammed the table in anger after losing to Tampa Bay
Before the game even ended, Jones left his suite after losing to the winless Buccaneers
Christian Parker was hired in January to fix a unit that surrendered the most points in 2025
Asked about the defensive play calling, Jones indicated that Parker would retain those duties for now.
‘That’s a question that I think we all, if you’re a Cowboy fan, realize that patience really may not be the proper term here,’ Jones said Thursday. ‘I like a lot about what we’ve got. We missed a chance here to improve, and we didn’t improve.’
The Cowboys were without newly acquired cornerback Joey Porter Jr, which Jones admitted was a factor for Parker’s unit.
‘I think it made a difference,’ Jones told 105.3 The Fan of Porter’s absence due, which was caused by illness.
The Bucs came into the game without injured starting quarterback Baker Mayfield but still got 189 passing yards and one touchdown out of Kansas rookie Jalon Daniels.
The victory was sealed on Dallas’ final drive when quarterback Dak Prescott threw a perfect pass that bounced off the hands of tight end Jake Ferguson and straight into the air before falling into the arms of Tampa Bay’s Alex Anzalone.
Enraged, Jones was seen slamming his hands on the table in front of him after the game was effectively ended.
When Jones was later seen walking past the media, he did so without addressing anyone as he scratched his brow before entering the locker room.
Jones later told reporters he was ‘extraordinarily disappointed’ before adding: ‘We really do need to get it done… it was a tough loss for us.’
