Jerry Jones reveals if 2023 Cowboys are 'Super Bowl-or-bust'

Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones is confident in his team but stopped short of saying this is a "Super Bowl-or-bust" season for the franchise. 

"I feel strongly that we should aspire and, frankly, do anything at any time that can make us better right now to compete at that level," Jones said during a conversation that will air on the ESPN "Sunday NFL Countdown" program this weekend, per Todd Archer of ESPN. "I think I'm saying a lot when I say that. This isn't about years in the future. The good news is you can make the decisions that can help you right now first and foremost but can also be additive for the future. Those are the ones I'm looking for and trying to compromise on every day."

The Cowboys haven't played in a Super Bowl since they last won one in January 1996, and they share the NFC East with the reigning conference champion Philadelphia Eagles. Nevertheless, OddsChecker listed "America's Team" third among the betting favorites at +650 odds to represent the NFC in Super Bowl LVIII as of Friday afternoon. 

"Some years going in, I've known that we were in better shape than others," Jones explained. "There are parts of this team that we're in as good shape as we've ever been in since I've been a Dallas Cowboy (for over three decades.)"

Cowboys starting quarterback Dak Prescott signed a four-year contract in March 2021 but apparently won't put pen to paper on an extension before Sunday's regular-season opener at the division-rival New York Giants. It's also thought that Jones could move on from at least head coach Mike McCarthy this coming winter if the McCarthy-Prescott duo fails to guide the franchise to the NFC Championship Game, if not further.

Jones acquired quarterback Trey Lance from the San Francisco 49ers in late August. The 2021 first-round draft pick theoretically could take a redshirt season before he's given an opportunity to possibly compete for the starting job with Prescott next summer. 

"How we are as a team as we evolve through this season, all of that we'll weigh," Jones remarked about potentially making wholesale changes if the Cowboys end another campaign without a Super Bowl appearance. "We could very easily have a team that doesn't hold the trophy up but be dramatically better than one that if you cleaned house. So we'll let that set of facts, [let] that play during this '23 year be the influencing things when we get to '24. You ask me, 'Is winning the Super Bowl imperative without blowing this team up?' And I say, no, it is not."

As of early Friday afternoon, the Cowboys were the favorites (-165, -3) to earn a win at MetLife Stadium on Sunday evening. One wonders how Jones would feel about McCarthy and company if Dallas began Monday morning at 0-1 on the season.