During his weekly interview with on 96.7 FM/1310 AM The Ticket [KTCK-AM], Fox analyst and former Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman spoke about the anticipated eventual split between the Cowboys and head coach Jason Garrett.

How do you think Jason Garrett is handling and internalizing this right now?

Troy Aikman: Well I have not spoken to him so I don’t have any insight on what exactly is going on or what took place yesterday or what might happen — I’m a lot like everyone else. But I believe he is handling it very well. As I’ve said many many times, I’ve known Jason since 1992 when he came into Dallas. He was the third string quarterback at the time and he backed me up for a number of years and we were very close friends. I’ve seen him in some very difficult situations and I’ve seen him in some very good situations. He handles all of them extremely well.

I thought it was refreshing — maybe not refreshing so much — but it was nice to see, as someone who thinks so much of him, just this morning … I saw Sean Lee, Travis Frederick and a few others talk about the influence he has had on them all these years and talked about how he made them better men. And I understand that. I think he has a great way about him and keeps things in proper perspective. And I also know, many have said it on the local radio stations, that what the players see in front of them is far different than the Jason Garrett that he projects to the public or to the media at the press conferences.

I think he will be missed.

Through it all it is rare that you have a coach that has been with a squad as long as he has that you don’t hear some grumblings within the locker room from players feeling like it is time for a change. I never once sensed that. Not even this week going into that ball game. I think the players genuinely respected him and still do. And would very much like to see him continue to be their head coach.

How can Cowboys fans think Jerry Jones is the problem … but so is Jason Garrett?

Aikman: I have more of a working understanding of how things are done so I approach it far differently than the media does or “Joe Fan” does as far as viewing the Cowboys and what might help them have more success.

I think it is a lot like during the week — let’s say you lose your star running back or you lose your left tackle, you lose your quarterback and people talk about, ‘Wow, I don’t know how they are going to win this game today. They don’t have their best players and this will be a great win if they are able to pull it off.’ And once the game starts nobody cares about any injuries. No fan cares. No media person cares. And quite honestly, the locker room and the coaching staff don’t care either. All that is expected is to win. And if you don’t win everyone is upset and they fail to remember that you were without these key players.

I think there is a lot in that. I think people can talk about whatever challenges the job presents, but at the end of the day you are still expected to win. And that is the bottom line and every coach in the league knows that. Jason Garrett knows that as well.

There are things you can point to and say, ‘Wow, he did some really good things.’ And as I’ve said, he’s a special friend to me and yet I can be unbiased and make a case for why he maybe should keep his job.

The facts are that there have been three playoffs win in the last 20 whatever years. Whether Jason Garrett has been the head coach, or Bill Parcels, or Dave Campo, or Wade Phillips … I mean you go through the list and it is not good enough.

That’s why I have always said, you can’t simply say after all these years of just replacing the coach, that that is necessarily going to change things. It’s ludicrous. There has to be — for instance, if they say well Jerry is the GM … well he’s not the GM because Will McClay is, he is really the guy that does [the GM’s job]. Well then name him general manager. Jerry could name himself the QB, doesn’t mean he is the QB. Let’s name Will McClay GM. Let’s address it and do the things that put football first. And go about trying to win football games and make that a priority.

I was talking to Martellus Bennett before the game and I said, ‘Of all the places you’ve played, where did you enjoy playing the most?’ He said, ‘I loved playing at New England.’ I said, ‘Because you won?’

He said: ’Winning was great but I love that everything we did was just about football. Amazing, right? That’s the business we are in, but sometimes I don’t know that football takes priority with the Cowboys and I think as a result sometimes the product suffers.'