Jerry Jones fires jab at Giants

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NFL32OT: Challenges Continue For Cowboys

Episode 177: Suzy Kolber and Chris Mortensen discuss Felix Jones' failure to pass the conditioning test. Herm Edwards breaks down the biggest coaching challenge in the NFC. The NFL32 crew discuss how fights are viewed in training camp.Tags: Dallas Cowboys, New Orleans Saints, Felix Jones, NFL32, NFL32OT

NFL32OT: Challenges Continue For Cowboys

OXNARD, Calif. -- Dallas Cowboys owner/general manager Jerry Jones is apparently taking over defensive coordinator Rob Ryan's role as the team's NFC East instigator.

On the day Ryan vowed to watch his often outspoken mouth, Jones fired a jab at the New York Giants, who crushed the Cowboys' playoff hopes in the 2011 regular-season finale en route to their second Super Bowl title in five years.

"Y'all should come to that (Cowboys) stadium and watch us beat the Giants' ass," Jones told fans during a ceremony to signal the opening of Cowboys' training camp Monday, a festival-like event that featured a few skydivers and a performance from the franchise's famous cheerleaders.

Cowboys coach Jason Garrett, when asked about Jones' comment, said Tuesday it's not his place to tell his boss what to say.

"Jerry Jones owns this football team," Garrett said. "He has owned it for 23 years, so he can do anything he wants."

The Cowboys' players didn't seem to mind hearing that kind of bravado from their boss, however.

"That's what he said? I like it," cornerback Brandon Carr said Tuesday. "I feel the same way. I mean, you've got to go into each game feeling like you're going to dominate the other team."

Just don't expect to ever hear anything like Jones' headline-making comment from the mouth of the Cowboys' head coach.

"We don't make any guarantees around here," Garrett said. "We're going to work hard every day to put a great football team together. We're in the process of doing that."

The defending Super Bowl champions don't come to Cowboys Stadium, where Eli Manning's Giants are 3-0, until Oct. 28. The Cowboys and Giants kick off the NFL season on Sept. 5 at MetLife Stadium, where the Cowboys' 2011 season ended with a 31-14 loss in the de facto NFC East title game on New Year's Day.

Manning threw for 746 yards and five touchdowns in the two wins over the Cowboys last season, one of the primary reasons the Cowboys made upgrading their cornerback corps the top offseason priority, signing Carr to a five-year, $50.1 million deal and trading up in the draft to select LSU's Morris Claiborne with the sixth overall pick.

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The Cowboys also wanted to match up better with the explosive Philadelphia Eagles' receivers. Ryan vowed early in last year's training camp that the Cowboys would "beat the ass of the all-hype team," but the otherwise underachieving Eagles won both meetings against Dallas.

Ryan, who was especially humiliated in the Cowboys' 34-7 loss in Philadelphia on Oct. 30, plans to keep the bulletin-board material he provides with his mouth to a minimum.

"Day 1, I'm not calling anybody out," Ryan said Monday. "I've learned. This is a bigger media than some of the other spots that I've been, so I'm going to keep my mouth shut and work."

That was before the skydivers made an appearance and Jones got on stage with a microphone.

"I'd rather it be him than me," Ryan said, busting out a big laugh. "Hey, he's the man."

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Tim MacMahon

ESPNDallas.com

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• Joined ESPNDallas.com in September 2009
• Covers the Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Mavericks
• Appears regularly on ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM