Jerry Jones speaks candidly about Cowboys' playoff chances after loss to Lions

During a Friday appearance on Dallas sports radio station 105.3 The Fan, Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones suggested he had no issue with the effort put forth by wide receiver George Pickens during the club's 44-30 loss at the Detroit Lions that dropped Dallas to 6-6-1 on Thursday night. 

Jones also sounded surprised by how his team played at Detroit's Ford Field. 

Jerry Jones expected better from Cowboys vs. Lions

"It was disappointing," Jones said about Dallas' performance, per Jon Machota of The Athletic. "Very frustrating. … We should have been able to be more productive." 

The Cowboys were plenty productive on one side of the ball, but simply couldn't come up with a clutch stop on multiple occasions. Late in the fourth quarter, Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown picked up 37 yards on a key reception that was followed by running back Jahmyr Gibbs scoring his third rushing touchdown of the contest. 

Dallas also lost the turnover battle 3-0. 

"I’ll tell you this right now," Jones added. "I didn’t think I’d be sitting here when we kicked off last night, explaining why we didn’t play better than we played. I understand the frustration of our fans. But stay tuned." 

Jerry Jones addresses if the Cowboys can run the table

Jones previously said that he felt the "best shot" for Dallas to make the playoffs was "to win the division." As of Friday afternoon, the ESPN Football Power Index gave the 8-4 Philadelphia Eagles a 95.2% chance to finish Week 18 atop the NFC East standings. The Eagles next play at the 8-4 Los Angeles Chargers this coming Monday night. 

Also on Friday, ESPN gave Dallas a 7.6% chance to qualify for the playoffs. Jones understands his team may need to finish the campaign with four straight wins to be part of the upcoming postseason tournament. 

"We have a better team than we played last night. We do," Jones said. "… Can we literally win out? Of course, we can win out. Is it going to be hard? Double, of course it is. A lot of crazy things happen."

The Cowboys will look to start such a run when they host the Minnesota Vikings (4-8) on Dec. 14.