Julius Jones: 'Tuna Had Me Running Like a Robot'

Posted May 3rd 2007 1:18PM by Ryan Wilson
Filed under: Cowboys, NFC East

For those of you planning to watch Ballers this Friday on BET, you might want to look away. For the rest of you -- specifically Cowboys fans -- here's running back Julius Jones talking about his relationship with former coach Bill Parcells (Jones and linebacker Akin Ayodele will appear on the show tomorrow afternoon):

" ... Coach Parcells my first year, he (Parcells) kind of let me do what I wanted to do, second year and last year he kind of coached me too much, ... . You know, you can't really mess with a running back out there. You can tell them where to go and where the hole is gonna be ... ... He had me running like a robot. No disrespect to coach Parcells but, you can't really tell a running back where to run or he's gonna be out there looking like a robot. That's what I was doing last year."

Thanks to Blogging the Boys for the link, and as they point out, "[Jones] now joins Marcus Spears as the 2nd Cowboy to explicitly blame Parcells for some of their issues on the field." This isn't the first time players have taken shots at Parcells, and I wouldn't be surprised if we hear more from other guys on the roster.

There were rumors in the weeks leading up to the draft that Jones might be on the trade block, but nothing came of it. That Dallas didn't take a running back last weekend also bodes well for his chances. And now that Jones is free of his own personal Dr. Zachary Smith, he should bounce back from an uneven 2006. There's no reason to think he won't -- and having Marion Barber share the load won't hurt either.