NFL GridIron Gab Daily Digest

Jerry Jones has been a big fan of Jason Garrett since his playing days with the Cowboys. He actively pursued Garrett and wrestled him away from Miami in 2007 after Bill Parcells, ironically, stepped down from head coach of the Cowboys and later take a position in Miami Dolphins management. Jones even signed Garrett as his offensive co-ordinator before he hired a head coach, who would later be Wade Phillips.

Now with Phillips gone, Jones is being quite politically correct in the media about the future of Jason Garrett as the team's full-time head coach next season. While there are rules in place to make sure teams have a fair hiring process (i.e. Rooney Rule), Jones has been rather coy. While he has supported Garrett through his 3-1 start, he is quick to make sure that we are all aware that Garrett has not been anointed the future coach, at least not by him.

"Rather than sound like I'm not promoting Jason, what I'm really trying to say is we are very disappointed as to why we're even having the conversation to begin with," Jones said Friday. "It's called our record. I don't want anybody to confuse the positive from me with not understanding how much we need to be responsible for what we've done so far this year."

Garrett, as offensive co-ordinator, was one of the major pieces that contributed to the Cowboys poor start and the eventual firing of Wade Phillips. While he is off to a 3-1 start as the interim head coach, Jones remembers the beginning of the season.

Still, Jones is very supportive of Garrett and the job that he has done stepping in and taking over, he just doesn't want to overdue the praise. After all the media does like to take and run with what the big man says.

"On the other hand, Jason's doing very well," Jones said. "I want to be real careful about, from my standpoint, overdoing any things (to imply that Garrett has) all the answers. I don't want to do that either. He's already been put in a tough situation, to have his coaching debut coming under these circumstances. I don't want to add to that."

While Jones is protective of Garrett and the perception that he has already done enough to win the job, we all know that nothing will speak louder than Garrett's record at the end of the year. For now, it is focus on the Eagles who come to Cowboys Stadium Sunday night for a prime time matchup with the Cowboys.