The 2020 season for the Dallas Cowboys has been nothing short of a nightmare. Entering Week 12, the Cowboys are 3-8, the defense has given up at least 20 points in every game, their starting quarterback, Dak Prescott, is out for the season, $90-million running back Ezekiel Elliot has been awful, and the team has been ravaged by injuries since training camp.

The organization could easily throw in the towel on 2020 and make a late “run” at the no. 1 overall pick — meaning a chance to draft Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence. The winless New York Jets are currently in the driver's seat to land the prized quarterback.

Yet, that's not how Jerry Jones operates. Speaking on 105.3 The Fan after his team's 41-16 loss to the Washington Football Team on Thanksgiving, the Cowboys owner and CEO shot down any idea that his last-place squad would entertain tanking.

“I think coming off the playoff appearance unquestionably,” Jones said. “This is now. This is this year, and you wait that now. There’s really not a decision here on our team with tanking. Let me be real clear here, and I’m not offended by the conversation at all, and I understand what you’re talking about. That’s just not going to be the case. We’ve got players that we’re having to play, not because necessarily we have a choice. We have these players — they’re our best players to win the ballgame. It turns out they’re the players that ought to be playing. They’re young players that potentially have for the most part good futures. So, the only definition I know about tanking is to play people that can play people that can help you in the future more than someone that can help you now. We don’t have that situation.”

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Miraculously, the Cowboys are just one game (plus tiebreaker) back of first-place in the historically abysmal NFC East, which Washington leads at 4-7. Evidently, Jones is more interested in making the playoffs for the first time since 2018 than landing a top draft pick.

After the season, Jones can re-sign Prescott to the lucrative long-term contract the two sides were unable to agree upon prior to the season.