Jerry Jones drops a single line that turns the Cowboys’ post-win joy into stunned silence, leaving Dallas fans speechless.QQ

Sunday’s game was as close to a must-win for the Dallas Cowboys as you can have in mid-October. While the season wouldn’t have been over with a loss, falling to 2-4-1 heading into the hardest stretch on the schedule would’ve been asking a lot of this team.

Well, the Cowboys answered the bell with a dominant 44-22 victory over the rival Washington Commanders. While the Commanders were without some key pieces, Dallas dominated this one from start to finish, with Dak Prescott and company setting the tone early with a touchdown drive on the first possession and proceeding to put up 37 points of offense.

It was the best win of the season, and Jerry Jones somehow managed to kill the momentum immediately after the game. According to Jones, the result will not impact how he and the rest of the front office approach the November 4 trade deadline.

Jerry Jones managed to kill all the momentum from the Cowboys’ big Week 7 win

“Not at all,” Jones on if he feels more pressure to make trades after the win. “I feel just as inclined … I haven’t noodled up something that I’m interested in. You have to go within the boundaries of what’s possible. You hear from other clubs as we get on into the trading deadline … But I’m not going to holler in my pillow if we don’t get a trade because I feel good about the makeup of the personnel we got on the team right now.”

Well, if that’s not the last thing Cowboys fans wanted to hear.

If anything, the win should have Jones feeling more pressure to make moves. This Cowboys offense is simply too good to waste. According to ESPN, this is the first time since 1973 that Dallas has three 40-point games through the first seven games of a season.

Dak Prescott is playing like an MVP frontrunner, and no defense has proved capable of stopping the duo of CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens, who combined caught nine passes for 192 yards and a touchdown against a decent Commanders secondary. Javonte Williams added 116 yards on the ground, and the Cowboys put up over 35 points of offense before the end of the third quarter.

This offense is capable of competing with any team in January. The defense is a much different story, even with all of the improvement it showed on Sunday.

Matt Eberflus finally caved and called more man and dialed up more blitzes. That’s a promising sign, but it shouldn’t trick Jones into thinking the defense is fixed. The secondary might be fine as is, but the defense could use another linebacker and a Pro Bowl-caliber pass rusher. The latter might be asking a lot, but it won’t be hard for Jones to find an upgrade at linebacker.

Jones’ quote doesn’t mean the Cowboys won’t make a trade, but it doesn’t sound like he has any more urgency than when he woke up on Sunday. That is sad state of affairs, because it was a performance that would have most general managers eager to wheel and deal.

If Dallas is going to make a trade between now and November 4, it feels like a team will have to reach out to Jones, and not the other way around.