Giants safety Jones fights for another chance after car crash

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Jones' derring-do in building stadium offers NFL inspiration

DALLAS -- Jerry Jones knows a thing or two about big expectations. In a part of the country where thinking big is a way of life, the Cowboys' owner has experienced firsthand how visions of grandeur at once can be something to live up to and a humbling equalizer.

Jones began the season with two visions. First, that his palace in Arlington, Texas, affectionately known by some as "Jerry's World," would set the standard for football stadiums around the globe. And, second, that it would host his team in the Super Bowl, thus making the franchise the first to play the NFL's signature event in its own building, in front of its own fans.

And although Jones' football cathedral -- complete with its 160-foot high-definition video screen, retractable roof and 100,000-plus capacity -- has lived up to every expectation, his second vision never came close to reality as the 6-10 Cowboys fell woefully short of the playoffs, let alone the Super Bowl. And as Jones watched his team sputter to a 1-7 start, he learned a thing or two about resetting some rather Texas-sized expectations.

"I think I crossed that bridge after about six or seven games with the Cowboys this year," Jones said Tuesday. "So I had my expectations set early.

"We had a league meeting with all the owners, and I told them early in the fall ... the way we're stinking it up on the football field there in Dallas, I know the idea of being the first team to have ever played in its own Super Bowl has passed me by now."

Jones' dream of having the perfect team in the perfect home never materialized -- this season. But Cowboys Stadium seemingly exceeded every expectation set for it as host for one of the world's most popular sporting events. Even in the face of a rare ice storm the week of the game.

"When I was thinking about building this stadium -- the fact that we're sitting here today with some sleet on the streets, yet we know the kind of football game we're going to have for the world to see and for the 100-and-some-thousand-something fans to see -- the fact we know what's going to happen ... says what this is all about," Jones said. "And that stadium needed to be enclosed. It needed to come as close to being enclosed but feeling like it's outside as you can do, which was a goal. And all of that as a vision had the Super Bowl in mind."

Jones was, as always, able to hold his head high as he discussed not only what he thinks Cowboys Stadium means for Super Bowl XLV, but also what it bodes for the NFL's future.

Jones emphasized that his $1.2 billion stadium was constructed in the face of a recession. But instead of limiting the scope of what he could build, Jones chose to go bigger in much the same way the NFL is pushing forward with the idea of expanding to an 18-game regular season with a potential work stoppage on the horizon.

"Rather than scale back, I pushed the gas pedal and basically increased the scope of the stadium and increased the cost of the stadium," Jones said. "I did that -- you can say crazy -- but I did that because I really do feel like there is a huge future, not only economically in the country, but there is a huge future in the NFL. So that stadium represented that."

Jones hopes his success in a time of economic uncertainty can serve as a metaphor for the current labor strife between players and owners -- that out of adversity can come a model for success.

"I built this stadium not based upon the system that had been in place," Jones said. "I based it on just common thought and a gut feeling that we will re-do the business model that we have. And when we re-do it, doing things like building this stadium make a lot of sense. It wouldn't make a lot of sense doing it in the system we're in."

Ever the forward thinker, Jones believes the NFL can think bigger, as he did six or so years ago, when plans for Cowboys Stadium's construction began.

"It is incumbent on us to recognize that what we have in place is not a good model," Jones said of the current collective bargaining agreement. "And rather than waiting until we're in the shape the country's in or the world is in, when things have gone to hell in a handbasket economically, that we make some of those changes we'd love to have made 10 or 15 years ago in this country. You do it before you're off the cliff rather than as you drive off."

Jones' lessons from this season -- those of both great success and failure -- certainly can be applied to NFL ownership's attempts to reach a compromise with a players association that's content with the league's economic structure as it stands.

"I've done my worst work when I thought I had a pretty good hand," Jones said. "I started the season off saying, 'What's not to like where we are?' And to me, that has always been not the kiss of death, but certainly an idea that you're not quite in the position you think you are."

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Saints sign ex-Seahawks RB Jones, cut kicker Carney

The New Orleans Saints decided they needed a new running back more than two field-goal kickers.

Hoping to boost a running game that ranks 31st in the NFL through five games, the Saints on Tuesday signed former Seattle Seahawks running back Julius Jones and released 46-year-old kicker John Carney.

The Seahawks released Jones on Oct. 5 to clear a roster spot for Marshawn Lynch, whom they acquired from the Buffalo Bills in a trade. Jones, 29, restructured his contract and took a hefty pay cut right before the start of the season, then carried the ball just 12 times for 30 yards in two games for Seattle this season.

Jones was the Seahawks' leading rusher the previous two seasons, gaining 663 yards last season and 698 yards in 2008. Now he joins a Saints backfield that has been hurt by injuries and bad bounces.

The Saints, who are averaging just 75.6 rushing yards per game, have lost two of three games since running back Reggie Bush fractured a bone in his lower right leg. Pierre Thomas, the team's leading rusher last season, has missed the past two games with a left ankle injury. Backup Ladell Betts lost a fumble that was returned for a score and tipped a pass that was intercepted Sunday during the Saints' 30-20 loss to the Arizona Cardinals.

Betts and undrafted rookie Chris Ivory have received all the work at running back the last two games, and Saints coach Sean Payton said as recently as Monday that he didn't plan to look for another option at the position.

"These are guys that we have a lot of confidence in," Payton said Monday of Betts and Ivory. "I felt a week ago that Ladell played very well. ... I thought Chris ran hard (Sunday). We'll keep coaching them. These are our guys. There's no one walking in here to save the day on the street right now."

The coach's stance apparently shifted Tuesday, when the Saints also announced that they signed safety Matt Giordano, a free agent, and waived reserve running back DeShawn Wynn.

Carney signed with the Saints in late September to fill in for struggling Garrett Hartley, who was inactive the past two weeks but is poised to reclaim the job now. Carney made five of six field-goal attempts in two games, missing the final one -- from 29 yards out -- late in the third quarter of the Saints' loss at Arizona.

Giordano is a six-year veteran who spent four seasons with the Indianapolis Colts and was with the Green Bay Packers in 2009. The Saints must play at least one more week without free safety Darren Sharper, who began the season on the physically unable to perform list. New Orleans also lost reserve safety Chris Reis to a season-ending shoulder injury two weeks ago.

Wynn has played in four games for the Saints this season and made two tackles on special teams.

Running back Clifton Smith, a former Pro Bowl kick returner who was waived by the Miami Dolphins last month, and defensive back Quincy Butler, who was with the St. Louis Rams last year after being on the Saints' practice squad for part of the 2008 season, also worked out with the Saints on Tuesday, NFL Network insider Jason La Canfora reported, citing league sources.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Bengals CB Jones questioned after loss, traffic incident

Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Adam Jones was questioned and handcuffed by police after a traffic incident following a 24-21 loss to Tampa Bay on Sunday, but was released a short time later without a ticket or charges.

Cincinnati police Officer K. Hall said Jones drove his silver Jaguar over the curb near Great American Ball Park "trying to avoid hitting someone or something" in a downtown street. The streets were crowded with fans leaving the Bengals game -- which ended about 90 minutes earlier -- and others going to the Reds' evening playoff game against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Hall said Jones was questioned and released.

The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that Jones was handcuffed, because according to police there was an outstanding warrant on the license plates.

A witness said Jones’ car swerved to avoid the car in front of his and jumped the curb onto the sidewalk, the Enquirer reported.

Jones was out of football last year, the culmination of a long streak of off-field problems. The Bengals gave him a two-year deal in May that represents a last chance to salvage his career, which started with promise when he was Tennessee's first-round draft pick in 2005.

Jones had six arrests and a dozen incidents involving police intervention, leaving his career at a crossroads. The Bengals gave him a tryout in the offseason and decided to give him a chance. He played well in the preseason and won the third cornerback job.

He was upbeat as he left the locker room on Sunday. He glanced at receivers Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco -- both downcast after giving up a late lead -- and said, "You're looking like hounds in a dog show."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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