ARLINGTON, Texas — New year, same playoff result.
After the Dallas Cowboys lost in the playoffs Sunday -- this time, it was an opening round 48-32 loss to the Green Bay Packers and almost one of the biggest point differentials in team history -- team owner Jerry Jones addressed the media and shared his disappointment in his team once again falling short of its Super Bowl aspirations.
"I thought we were in a position to advance this thing in the playoffs... and get as far as our dreams might take us," Jones said. "We didn't do it. I don't have any thoughts about the reasons why or anything to do with the coaching or anything to do about the players. I want to give Green Bay a lot of compliments and credit. This is one of my [biggest] surprises since I've been involved in sports, period -- to that degree. I know how disappointed everyone is."
Jones said he didn't have answers for why the team looked so flat on Sunday.
"On a personal basis, I'm floored," he said. "Not that there's any world's smallest violin for me being floored. I get that. I understand that. I know where the responsibility starts and ends. I'm real clear on that. But that's not the point. The point is I'm disappointed for everybody."
Jones said Sunday's loss was among the worst he's experienced since buying the Cowboys in 1989.
"This seems like the most painful because we all had such great expectation and we had hope for this team," he said. "I thought we were aligned in great shape, and it didn't happen for us. It's as fresh on me as it is on anyone."
Jones refused, however, to place it in a larger context of whether it was the worst.
"I don't want to rank it," he said. "But I'll tell you that I'm floored. It's beyond my comprehension.
Jones also refused to address personnel moves that might come after this loss, be it with the coaching staff or the roster or "what's around the corner." Specifically about whether the loss meant the end of the line for coach Mike McCarthy, Jones said he hasn't "thought one second about it."
"I haven't thought about it at all," he said. "Every step of the way of the day today, I was looking for the end of the game with being able to go forward with us have another game here next week -- [that was] everything I looked at today. The plays themselves were almost a blur to me. I was just thinking how do we get to where we an have another game here next week. So I haven't given it that type of analysis or look-see or what have you. This one is burned into our soul here tonight. Green Bay got a great win."
Asked to express what the loss meant for the team, Jones was rather pedantic.
"This loss prevents us [from] advancing, which is potentially to a Super Bowl," he said. "You have to advance to get to a Super Bowl. And the experience I have taught me that.
Was he upset about the way the team was playing as he watched on from his owners' suite at AT&T Stadium?
"I don't know that I had emotion," he said. "Frankly, I didn't think we would leave this place without advancing today -- as late as even into the fourth quarter... If you'd told me we'd score 32, I would've thought we'd have won it... We just are amazed that we are sitting here without another game this coming weekend."
He also addressed whether he still believed -- as he often says he does -- that the Cowboys are close to capturing their first Super Bowl title since 1996.
"I sure thought it was close coming in [to this game]," he said.
Soon enough, he'll start making decisions on how this loss will affect next year's personnel, Jones said. Same as he does every year.
"Whether you lose or win, you have fluctuations in your staff and in your roster," he said, matter-of-factly. "We certainly have a background in what you do after you lose a playoff game. We've got too much experience with that."