Jerry Jones Comments on Cowboys' Failures, Tony Romo's Future

Jerry Jones didn't expect this at all.

Forget the injuries to Tony Romo and Dez Bryant that hindered any chance for the Dallas Cowboys to have a successful 2015 season. Sitting at 3-8 and dead last in the NFC East, the Cowboys' owner said he's never had a team fall so short of expectations.

“I don’t know when I’ve ever had diametrically opposite to the extent we have from where I thought we would be to where we are,” Jones said, per Clarence E. Hill Jr. of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “This was stunning this year for us to experience the injuries we have. I’m numb from it, really."

This year has had Jones and the Cowboys thinking back to what could have been if only the referees had called Bryant's fourth-down no-catch in the NFC Divisional Round last year against the Green Bay Packers an actual catch. Dallas could have been playing for a Super Bowl against the New England Patriots, with the only test standing in its way a rematch in Seattle against the Seahawks.

Heading into the 2015 season, the team held a realistic goal of going further in the playoffs. But this season went downhill soon after Romo suffered a broken collarbone in Week 2 against the Philadelphia Eagles. He didn't return until Week 11.

Romo reinjured his collarbone in the Thanksgiving loss to the Carolina Panthers in Week 12 and is set to miss the rest of the year, but the Cowboys have not placed him on injured reserve because of the very slim chance Dallas can make a playoff run with five games left and with Matt Cassel back under center.

Now at 35 years old, Romo is entering the twilight of his career and doesn't have much time left to get the Cowboys to a Super Bowl.

Jones said he doesn't know how much longer Romo has left in the league, but he could return and play at the level that John Elway and Tom Brady have late in their respective careers, per Hill:

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I will emphasize I don’t pretend to know how many years [Romo has] left. I would say that the read I have, the success that older quarterbacks have had with his kind of skill, it has been a measure of success. How old is Brady? 

So it’s about about two and a half (more years for Romo to catch Brady), so there’s three right there. You can’t deem unreasonable to think he might have three when you’re sitting there with one of the top performing quarterbacks in the league this year in Brady.

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Jones also mentioned that stem cell treatment could be a possibility for Romo to prolong his career. Bryant underwent the same treatment when he was recovering from his fractured right foot he suffered back in Week 1.

The good news for Jones and the Cowboys is that if the losing continues, they'll have a top draft pick they could use to select a cornerstone player or trade for a talented veteran and/or more draft assets. The latter sounds more like Jones' forte. 

Even though this season is a wash, the Cowboys will have plenty of talent next season to make a playoff run. It all depends on health.