NFL: Aikman: Cowboys need ‘complete overhaul’

Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman said the Dallas Cowboys need “a complete overhaul” after Monday’s 28-14 loss to the Tennessee Titans.

The loss dropped the Cowboys to 3-5 and came after a bye and following a major trade and an assistant coaching change.

“I can’t think of a loss that was this bad at this point of a year,” Aikman said Tuesday on a Dallas radio show.

Aikman, who led the Cowboys to three Super Bowl titles in the 1990s, says the issues go far deeper than coach Jason Garrett, whom he believes is safe because owner Jerry Jones is comfortable with him.

Aikman says major changes are needed if the Cowboys hope to turn things around and become legitimate Super Bowl contenders again for the first time since their last title in 1995.

Aikman pointed out the list of coaches who came and went before Garrett, noting that Jones running the team as the general manager has been the lone constant in the repeated failure.

“Go through the list and this team, over a long period of time, has been what it’s been,” Aikman said. “It hasn’t always mattered who the head coach has been. So to me, if you’re asking me, I’d say there has to be a complete overhaul of the entire organization.

“I’ve heard Jerry say, ‘OK, look, we’re going to do it differently. I’m going to do it differently.’ But it’s the same. Nothing changes,” Aikman continued. “And that to me is the bigger issue. Yes, coaching is important, personnel, all those things are important, but how are you going about evaluating how you’re going about running the organization?

“Whatever that looks like, and everyone has an opinion on what it does look like, but I’m not in the building. I have no idea. I talk to people. I talk to people who have been inside the building and have a pretty good understanding how things are run, and in a lot of ways there’s a lot of dysfunction, and that has to change if this team is going to be able to compete on a consistent basis like the teams that you look to around the league that seemingly are in the hunt each and every year.”

Etc.

San Francisco is sticking with Nick Mullens at quarterback after his spectacular debut performance. He completed 16 of 22 passes for 262 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions for a 151.9 passer rating in a 34-3 victory over Oakland. That’s the highest since the merger for a player in his debut with at least 20 attempts. ... Detroit switched out running backs, waiving Ameer Abdullah and bringing back Zach Zenner, who was waived in September.