The Cowboys will not discipline bad boy cornerback Adam (Pacman) Jones for his latest police incident.
The NFL is completing its separate investigation of what occurred at an exclusive party at a swanky Dallas hotel Tuesday night, but owner Jerry Jones seemed satisfied that the player's status would not be affected despite the zero-tolerance policy being applied as a condition of his reinstatement.
That doesn't make it any less bizarre because this time, Jones got into trouble with one of the very people assigned by the team to keep him out of trouble.
According to the Cowboys' owner, Pacman Jones and his bodyguard, off-duty policeman Tommy Jones, needled each other too much, provoking an argument in a rest room that got slightly out of hand, resulting in a damaged glass ornament on the vanity. The disagreement occurred near 11 p.m. at a birthday party for rap star Ludacris, which Pacman Jones had cleared with the team. He was there with his girlfriend and his uncle as well as the ever-present security. Hotel employees summoned the police when they overheard the scuffle.
"It was an exclusive limited invitation event," Jerry Jones said Thursday at a press conference at Valley Ranch in Texas. "He went there with his significant other. He was accompanied by his security. They got to enjoying the night. These guys were joking, kidding, having fun. It went over the boundary. They resolved it. ... On review of all the facts, there is not anything here to discipline him as a player from the standpoint of the Dallas Cowboys."
That doesn't mean Jones wasn't "very disappointed" or that commissioner Roger Goodell wasn't annoyed. "We're trying to determine all the facts," Goodell said Thursday in an interview with ESPN Radio. "It's clear there was some type of incident. We want to understand all the facts, and once we do understand all the facts we can make a judgment at that point."
"I've been very clear with him about the fact that it cannot reflect poorly on himself, the team or the NFL and that there were certain things that I expected of him. And I think he clearly understands that. I guess I would tell you that I'm disappointed that we're even discussing this at this point in time."
Pacman Jones was not named in the police report, which described the event as a "minor incident," noting that "two unknown black males caused a verbal argument disturbance." The reporting officer, Rodney Allen, observed two men arguing for an "unknown reason" and that both agreed to leave the location in his presence. There had been reports that Pacman Jones punched the bodyguard.
Coincidentally, Jerry Jones had recently advised his player to stay under the radar. He said the cornerback has a "three-page list" of places that are off-limits. The owner said witnesses told him that although alcohol was being served, Jones was not "over-drinking."
"He has no room to wiggle," Jerry Jones said. "He is literally on a high wire without a net. Candidly, it never occurred to any of us he might have an incident with an individual who was sitting there to keep that from happening, but that's what happened. Let me be real succinct. He has done everything I have asked him to do. I do want our fans to know he has been willing to accept structure beyond anything anyone could imagine."
Pacman Jones, 25, has already been arrested six times and involved in 12 incidents. That includes his connection to a shooting at a Las Vegas strip club. Minxx manager Tommy Urbanski, a former professional wrestler from Commack, L.I., was the victim of the shooting and is now paralyzed from the waist down.
Pacman Jones was suspended by Goodell for the entire 2007 season for violating the NFL's conduct policy. The Cowboys acquired him in a trade with the Titans and he was reinstated in August.
Jones practiced with the team Thursday but did not talk to reporters. According to coach Wade Phillips, Jones has apologized to his teammates for creating a distraction.
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