"We all know how tough Marion Barber is, but when he had his injury I felt, look, you'd have to shoot him to keep him off the Football field," Jones said. "So I was surprised that we didn't have him. That's not meant to be critical of his toughness. It did come out that way, but fundamentally it was because he is so tough that you would have thought that he could play."

Barber, the team's leading rusher with 870 yards, got hurt when somebody stepped on his right foot during the Cowboys' win over Seattle on Thanksgiving Day. He didn't practice last week, but coach Wade Phillips said Friday that Barber would be a game-time decision for Pittsburgh.

But the team's athletic and medical staffs determined Saturday that Barber could not play and needed to stay in Dallas for treatment. Barber also has a sore right calf that stemmed from running he did while rehabbing the toe injury.

After the 20-13 loss to the Steelers, Jones said it was Barber's decision to sit out.

"I thought all week long he'd be playing," Jones told reporters at Heinz Field. "He can play with that injured toe. He can play with the soreness."

Barber's status for Sunday night's game against the New York Giants hasn't been determined.

On another "toughness" note, NBC analyst John Madden, who will work Sunday's game, isn't feeling sorry for the Cowboys, whose grueling December schedule has them playing the Ravens and Eagles after the Giants.

"I laugh when I hear this, ?Well, the Cowboys have a tough schedule. It's going to be tough,'?" Madden said Tuesday. "Well, if they can't beat these teams, they don't belong in the playoffs.

"That's the great thing about our game. There are no votes. There's no back doors. You have to win."