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Dallas set with personnel?

By MIKE BALDWIN

The Daily Oklahoman

IRVING, Texas - The only change Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones envisions is an improved win-loss record.

In addition to announcing he will not make any coaching changes this season, Jones said the Cowboys will not make a deal before the NFL trading deadline ends Tuesday night.

"Is there any one small thing that we can do?" Jones asked. "We've been going through that with a fine-toothed comb, and we feel we're in good shape with our personnel right now."

As he's done several times in recent weeks, Jones said: "I'm not considering any coaching change, at all, after the season and going into the next year."

But when asked if that guarantees Barry Switzer and his staff will return in 1998, Jones was non-committal.

"Because they're so final when you do them or don't do them, then I don't have to stand in the mirror and guarantee myself that I'm going to do anything or not do anything," Jones said.

"Consequently, I don't have to guarantee anything. ... Nobody's giving a vote of confidence here, nobody's not giving a vote of confidence."

The question arose Monday, hours after the Cowboys were upset 20-17 by the New York Giants. It's not a good omen that the Cowboys are 3-2 against teams that are a combined 9-18, and have a four-game stretch coming up against Washington, Jacksonville, Philadelphia and San Francisco, teams that are 13-7.

"I don't like that we're 3-2," Jones said. "When you have the yards we had Sunday (428), and hold another team to what we held them to (166), we should be 4-1. We all understand that. That's not the way this deal is, that's not the way life is.

"Yesterday is as far back as Napoleon to me. It's history. What we've got to do is what we're doing; that's address how we can beat the Redskins. ... I hoped we'd be healthy when we hit this stretch, and I'm confident the position we're in gives us the best chance to have success in this four-game stretch."

Dallas is 1-2 within the division, a critical tie-breaker that makes next Monday's game at Washington all the more significant.

"When we look at a loss that arguably shouldn't be one, the thing that flashes up there is, 'Well, that's a strike against home-field advantage through the playoffs,' " Jones said. "... By the same token, I'm realistic enough to know that just because you have to take a step back, or you get deterred a little bit, doesn't mean that you're not going to get there."

After the game Sunday, Jones said if anyone thinks the wheels are falling off, he needs to think again. He delivered a similar message Monday, and backed his coaching staff.

"It's pretty easy for me to roll back the clock several years and recognize what real hard times are in Dallas, Texas, with the Dallas Cowboys," Jones said. "These are times of concern, but times you just sharpen your focus and get better."

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.)