Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has received significant criticism recently for comments he made. Jamie Schwaberow / Getty Images

Jerry Jones understands that his words can frustrate Dallas Cowboys fans. It certainly happened this week because of a quote that surfaced in a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal.

“There’s $100 billion present value with (natural) gas out there,” the Cowboys owner and general manager said. “That’s why I’m talking to you on the telephone rather than trying to fix our defense with the Dallas Cowboys.”

When asked about it Friday morning during one of his weekly radio interviews, Jones said anything he’s doing to make money benefits the Cowboys (3-4-1).

“Me sitting here talking on this phone with you, the visits I’m having with my fans through (this radio interview), that’ll help score touchdowns,” Jones said on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas. “In the real world, Santa Claus does not put the tricycle under the Christmas tree. We all know that. You have to have juice to make it go.

“Every day, every time I can, I’m looking for ways to give advantages to the Dallas Cowboys. Anybody that says I don’t focus on the Cowboys is just living in the moment of frustration, and I get that. And I’m frustrated too.”

However, that didn’t stop Jones from making a joke about the criticism at the end of Friday’s radio interview.

“You know where I ought to be,” he said, “what did we spend 15 minutes away from trying to help that defense?”

Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott saw the WSJ quote. He said he could sympathize with fans who are frustrated about it.

“That can definitely be frustrating,” he said. “But in that sense, I would just say, the guy has never really lied about who he is or what he’s trying to do. Hopefully, he was talking about in that one particular moment. Maybe in those five minutes is what he was alluding to, and having a chance at a $100 billion opportunity, I think you might take five minutes as well to answer a call. Hopefully, that’s what he means, right? But I could see how it could be frustrating.

“For us as players, we control what we can control. That doesn’t pertain to us right now. Our job is to make sure that we’re getting ready for Monday night and that we’re gonna be the best team we can be when we go play the Cardinals.”

Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said he doesn’t think too much about how Jones’ comments could impact the locker room. Schottenheimer said they meet every Monday for 90 minutes to two hours and every Friday for 45 minutes to an hour. Those meetings include Stephen Jones, Jerry Jones Jr. and the coordinators.

“We’ve had some of the best communication over the last couple of weeks,” he said. “At the end of the day, no one wants to win more than Jerry. The communication is constant. It never ends. We’re always on the phone, Stephen, Jerry, Will McClay.

“At the end of the day, Jerry is the owner, and he can say what he needs to say. He is a busy man. Like all of us.”

Oct 31, 2025

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Jon Machota is a staff writer covering the Dallas Cowboys for The Athletic. He previously covered the Cowboys for The Dallas Morning News. He’s a Detroit native and graduate of Wayne State University. Follow Jon on Twitter @jonmachota