Jerry Jones says Dallas Cowboys 'need to be viable' in playoffs for it to be successful season

OXNARD, Calif. — Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones turns 80 in October. Jones' team has gone 26 seasons without a Super Bowl, and he expresses an urgency when he meets with coaches.

«I told them I've got a birthday coming up here real quick and I don't have time to have a bad time,» Jones said at the team's opening news conference of training camp Tuesday. «It ain't on my schedule.»

While that might seem like a Super Bowl-or-bust message, Jones would not go that far in determining a successful 2022.

«Well, I need to win it. I need to win it, but I'll be candid with you, there's degrees. I want to be fair to everybody concerned,» Jones said. «We need to be in the playoffs. We need to be viable in the playoffs for it to be a successful season.»

Jones said he feels better about the Cowboys, who have not made playoff appearances in consecutive years since 1998-99, at the opening of training camp in 2022 than he did last July.

The Cowboys finished 12-5 last season and won the NFC East but lost in the wild-card round of the playoffs to the San Francisco 49ers.

In the offseason, they traded Amari Cooper to the Cleveland Browns, released right tackle La'el Collins and lost pass-rusher Randy Gregory to the Denver Broncos in free agency while not making any big-name or high-cost additions.

«I knew we were going to have adjustments with this team coming into this year. You always do,» Jones said. «But I knew we had a couple of our best shots out there financially last year. And so before we even started the season last year, I knew we were going to be making some adjustments with our players this year. We had it teed up pretty good and in my mind made a helluva run at it. We got disappointed, but we made a run at