ARLINGTON, Texas – Eight and Eight.

Eight and Eight.

Eight and Eight.

Three full seasons of Jason Garrett as coach of the Dallas Cowboys has produced three 8-8 seasons, zero playoff appearances and countless gut-punch endings – the latest a 24-22 loss here Sunday to the Philadelphia Eagles with the NFC East title on the line.

Virtually anywhere in the NFL, there'd be an overhaul. New coach. New general manager. New something. In Dallas, the league's most popular and arguably passionately followed team?

"No, I'm not addressing that at all," owner Jerry Jones said. "I have spoken at a little bit of a more appropriate time here three or four weeks ago, which I said, at the time, that I was with Jason, and I thought that his future and what he was going to be doing with us was good.

"But this isn't the time, despite how it feels or looks, to speak to anything about our coaches."

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Jones didn't have to say much. It's overwhelmingly likely Garrett will be back. There was nothing in Jones' message, nothing ever in his message that Garrett won't be back. Jones believes Garrett is the coach to lead the Cowboys to a Super Bowl title.

Based on scant evidence that this is some coaching genius in hiding (Garrett's 29-27 overall in 3½ seasons), Jones is either clairvoyant or crazy. Not that it matters. He owns the team. The apoplectic radio callers don't.

As for firing the general manager who delivers Garrett the players to coach, well, he isn't getting fired, either. Jones does that job himself, even though he admitted last year, that based on performance, he deserved to be fired. Except, he's the boss, so deal with it.

"It's unbelievable, unthinkable really for me to be sitting here three years in a row and this game putting us at .500 and this game eliminating us from the playoffs," Jones said, accurately reflecting the mood of Cowboy fans everywhere.

"I had thought some of the changes we made this year would put us in better overall shape, our defense."

Last year Jones kept Garrett, but ran off Rob Ryan, the team's defensive coordinator. Ryan wound up in New Orleans, which is going to the playoffs. This year, Garrett is likely safe, but the Cowboys may fire defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, who replaced Ryan.

Rinse. Repeat.

"It's extremely disappointing," Jones said.

Among other things, Jerry Jones needs to hire a real GM and give him real power. That much is obvious. Jones' theory is that he knows the franchise better than anyone, and whatever decision a GM made would still have to get his approval, so why not just cut out the middle man?

The problem is the middle man might consider a path that Jones hasn't. One of the reasons Garrett is believed to be safe is that Jones says he's invested a great deal into him. As such, there is little suggestion that he's looked around for a better option.

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