Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones has admitted that his side's 5-5 record so far this season is "not acceptable".
The Cowboys are currently tied with the Philadelphia Eagles at the top of the NFC East but their recent form has been criticised after they broke the franchise record for yards allowed in two of their last three matches.
The latest of those came on Sunday night as the New Orleans Saints made 625 yards and reached an NFL record of 40 first downs on their way to an emphatic 49-17 victory.
However, despite being unhappy with his side's .500 record this season, Jones did acknowledge that they had been in contention in every match they had lost bar the Saints defeat.
"Certainly, 5-5 is not acceptable. We can say that we were close on all but one of those games. We were competitive and very easily could have won any of those four [other] games that we lost," Jones said on KRLD-FM.
"I would have to say it would be a stretch to say that we should have won or we should have been in there close in New Orleans. You can get pretty critical of everything if you use New Orleans as a basis to criticize on, but in general, yes, I'll take our chances with Kansas City the way we played them up there the second game of the year.
"We had a chance to win that ballgame and played well enough to win. Denver, we had a chance to win. So you look back on those and I don't think you look at what happened to us in New Orleans the other night and become panicky."
The Cowboys have finished 8-8 in each of their last two seasons and are looking to end a three-year absence from the playoffs.
Barney Corkhill
