SAN ANTONIO – When asked about his comfort level with the Cowboys’ kicking situation, the owner/general manager seemed to launch into classic Jerryspeak.

Jerry Jones rambled something about “burning the boats,” which a quick Google search reveals is a reference to Spanish captain Hernando Cortes’ orders after arriving in Mexico in the 16th century. The captain apparently wanted to eliminate the possibility of retreat in the minds of his men.

That’s quite a long-winded way of saying that Jerry has no backup plan in mind if unproven but strong-legged David Buehler fails as a field goal kicker.

However, Jerry admitted after his press conference that the Cowboys do have a life raft of sorts if Buehler doesn’t look reliable in the preseason.

“Buehler is capable,” Jerry said before taking a jab at ex-Cowboys kicking bust Mike Vanderjagt. “Unlike the $2 million kicker I paid that came in and didn't hit anything but squib kicks for field goals, but we still went with him, we're going to go with how it looks and how he's feeling. We're going to have these preseason games to work on it and we don't want to clutter the water. We want to go in that direction and if we have a concern toward the end of the things, then you'd look at it differently.”

So just to be clear, the boats aren’t burned and the Cowboys won’t clutter the water. They’re confident in Buehler, but guys like John Carney and Matt Stover are just a phone call away in early September if the kicking situation is a concern at that point.