Dallas Cowboys

Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Rob Ryan believes he has the talent to be an NFL head coach, and that his brother’s success with the New York Jets makes him want it more.

“Those opportunities come when you work hard and take care of the job you have,” he said last week in his weekly media session at Valley Ranch. “Watching my twin brother have all the success he’s had and two championships in two years, that’s exciting. That’s probably piqued my interest more. Do I think I have the talent enough to do that job? Absolutely.”

Jerry Jones isn’t going to add any logs to the fire of Jason Garrett criticism after the Cowboys’ clock-management crisis in Sunday’s loss.

“That’s just second-guessing,” Jones said during his Tuesday appearance on KRLD-FM. “I’m just not going to do that, because I want Jason to draw on his reservoir and make those kinds of decisions.”

Jones refrained from offering his opinion about the coach’s use of timeouts immediately after the overtime loss to the Arizona Cardinals. Instead he expressed support for Garrett, who opted to settle for a 49-yard field goal at the end of regulation instead of calling a timeout with 26 seconds remaining and then essentially iced his own kicker with a timeout.

Media reports suggest that Dez Bryant will return the role of full-time punt returner against the Cardinals on Sunday after the Cowboys released receiver Akwasi Owusu-Ansah in order to sign fullback Shaun Chapas from the practice squad.

Owusu-Ansah has been the team’s primary punt returner because the Cowboys didn’t want to risk Bryant to anymore injuries after Bryant was injured returning a punt in the season opener. As a result, the Cowboys most dynamic punt returner has only returned four punts in nine games since the season opener.

Wide receiver Miles Austin remains sidelined with a hamstring injury, but the Dallas Cowboys did get some good news with the return of cornerback Mike Jenkins to practice Monday. Jenkins (hamstring), who missed the last four games, was a participant at the walk-through practice at Valley Ranch as the Cowboys began preparation for Sunday’s game at the Arizona Cardinals. After practice, Jenkins said he plans on returning in full capacity on Wednesday.

Austin, however, didn’t work with the team during the walk-through and was doing rehab work as he still recovers from his injury. He’s missed the last three games because of the injury.

According to Todd Archer of ESPN, the Dallas Cowboys were one of three teams to place a waiver claim on former Denver Bronco’s quarterback Kyle Orton on Wednesday. That claim was awarded to the Kansas City Chiefs later that day because of their lower win/loss record. But what does this attempted claim say about the current status of the Cowboy’s back-up quarterback situation?

My conclusion is that the injury to back-up quarterback Jon Kitna is more serious than previously thought, and the team does not believe that former Aggie Stephen Mcgee is the future for that position.

One again the Cowboys played down to the level of their opponents and the result was a Dallas performance that almost ruined Thanksgiving for many Cowboys fans. Nevertheless, the Cowboys beat Miami 20-19 when Dan Bailey connected on a 28-yard field goal as time expired.

Once again the Cowboys rode the legs of running back DeMarco Murray on that final drive as he carried the ball five straight times for 27 yards in the final 2:41, setting up Bailey’s field goal.

Jerry Jones did not sugarcoat his feelings today when on KRLD_FM about the Cowboys overtime win over the Redskins Sunday

“We did not play well against the Redskins,” Jones said. “(Tony) Romo did. Early, if we hit on a couple of things, then it might have been a different story. We just missed on a couple of throws, but still, we did not play well across the board. We’ve got to do better than that at a future here in terms of this year.”

Felix Jones returned to the field Sunday after missing the last four games with a left high ankle sprain. Jones came in on the fifth play of the Dallas Cowboys’ first possession and gained six yards out of a two-tight end set.

When his day was over, Jones had five carries for 18 yards and one catch for four yards.

“This is what I love to do,” Jones said. “It felt good to get back out there.”

Jones is in a completely different role now since returning from injury. With Demarco Murray touching the ball 31 times on Sunday, Jones suddenly finds himself in an unfamiliar back-up role.

It was a lot closer than any of us thought it would be, but in a game that went back-and-forth game, Cowboys kicker Dan Bailey clinched the 27-24 victory with a 39-yard field goal at 9:21 of overtime.

The Cowboys got off to a great start when the quickly opened up a 10 point lead when the offense converted a fumble recovery into Romo’s 22-yard TD pass to Bryant while Bailey added a 37-yard field goal. At that point I was expecting the Cowboys to roll all over the Redskins but this team is still lacking that killer instinct that the really good teams have.