Jerry Jones is trying to put the toothpaste back in the glory hole.

On Tuesday, Jones made a nonsensical case for the notion that there’s “zero correlation” between coaching pay and wins. On Friday, Jones argued that he’s willing to pay for coaches — notwithstanding his unmistakable claim that there’s no connection between paying big money to coaches and getting big results.

“No one will ever know if I’ve ever been interested in somebody that at the time was known to have, let’s say, a substantive financial marketplace,” Jones said in his latest appearance on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas. “No one will ever know. Well, the facts are I have been out there, and I have been trying to lure very successful coaches away from the teams they were on. And knew full well that I was going to pay them for all their success. . . . It is absolutely ridiculous, and I actually grin when somebody says, ‘Jerry’s not willing to pay the money to get the right kind of coach out there. . . .’ I have five wells that cost more than any coach I know of, each one of them, in the NFL.”

He can grin all he wants. But he said what he said. And now he’s saying something different because the reaction was universal.

There’s absolutely a connection between paying for a good coach and reaping the rewards of having one.

Pointing to his oil wells is gaslighting. Jones personally doesn’t see the benefit in paying a lot of money for an accomplished coach. So he’d rather treat the pursuit of a good coach like prospecting, searching for a low-rent coach who generate penthouse results.

The other factor is the power that flows from signing a coach to a market-level deal. Enough power to ignore Jones and to coach the team as he sees fit, confident that Jerry won’t fire him and risk owing the full buyout.

So why did Jerry react the way he did? He needs the fans to think he’s “all in” when it comes to chasing a championship (or, at a minimum, the franchise’s first berth in the NFC Championship in 31 years and counting). The moment fans realize that it’s all bluster and carnival barking and penny pinching is the moment they’ll stop going to Cowboys games and start looking for another team to support.

Tuesday’s comments were far too revealing. And, for loyal fans who give their time, money, and emotion to the Cowboys, far too damning regarding the manner in which the General Manager who can’t be fired is mismanaging the team.