"I do feed that" - When Jerry Jones admitted to stirring Cowboys QB controversy with Dak Prescott and Tony Romo

Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones loves the limelight. The 82-year-old enjoys talking to the media and ensures that he and his team command and captivate attention, regardless of their performances on the court. His desire for publicity is so high that he'd even say things about his players that'd disrupt locker room harmony.

Jones admitted so in an interview with the Wall Street Journal in 2016 when asked if he was brewing a quarterback controversy in Dallas between Tony Romo and Dak Prescott.

Prescott had led the Cowboys to an 11-2 record in his rookie year in Romo's absence due to a back injury, but the general manager refused to commit to Prescott as the starting quarterback.

He told WSJ that he was doing it on purpose to ensure that the media stays on its toes, waiting for an update from him.

"(Creating controversies) is one of the things that makes sports interesting. I do feed that. I think there is some of me that wants to, that probably is intentional." - Jerry Jones to WSJ in 2016

Despite Jones' insistence that Romo could reclaim the role once he returned from injury, Prescott remained the starting quarterback. The Cowboys finished the year 13-3 before losing in the divisional round of the playoffs to Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers.

Romo retired at the end of the season to embark on an incredibly successful career as an analyst, and Prescott has since been the team's starting quarterback. However, Jones' desire to create a controversy for no good reason hasn't diminished.

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Cowboys QB conundrum: Jerry Jones' questionable comments about Dak Prescott

After Dak Prescott suffered a season-ending hamstring injury in the Cowboys' loss to the Atlanta Falcons in Week 9, the team fielded Cooper Rush as the starter in the Week 10 clash with the Philadelphia Eagles, and the quarterback had a horrendous outing.

He completed 13-of-25 pass attempts for 65 yards before being benched for the entire quarter as Dallas lost 34-6. In his post-game scrum, Jerry Jones was asked whether the team would've had a chance to beat the Eagles had Prescott played. He responded:

"I don’t want to be sarcastic, but we’ve got the same arithmetic that I’ve got. We won three games with Dak. We weren’t playing well with Dak at all.”

After undermining the quarterback that he handed a four-year, $240 million contract extension before the start of the season, he defended Rush and even made excuses for his underwhelming performance.

“That was really an out-of-character game for him based on what we’ve seen and [what] we know about Cooper. He had quite a neck strain on that very first play, that first fumble where he went down and he didn’t get the recovery, but he had quite a neck strain." - Jerry Jones via Lonestar Live

Jones being kind to his backup quarterback and undermining Prescott stirred up a controversy, which, as he admitted in 2016, he enjoys doing.