The Dallas Cowboys are at it again. In the same summer as the release of their big Netflix documentary, ‘America’s Team’ showed why they’re the sporting soap opera the just keeps on giving.
As on the eve of the new season, when the Cowboys made a hugely shocking moveby trading away star defender Micah Parsonsto the Green Bay Packers after a typical summer contract saga in Dallas.
In ‘America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys’ the documentary showcases the team’s controversial and charismatic owner Jerry Jones and how he masterminded Dallas’ huge success in the 1990s.
But he’s also taken a lot of the blame for the following three decades of misery as the five-time Super Bowl champions are entering their 30th season since they last lifted the Lombardi Trophy, having not really had a sniff of success in the previous 29.
And the Parsons episode is just the latest to see 82-year-old Jones have a starring role in stirring up attention on the Cowboys, by again showing everyone that he’s the boss.
It’s been that way ever since Jones bought the team in 1989 as he’s built the most valuable sporting franchise in the world but also made them the biggest sporting underachievers.
And that is part of the fascination with this American institution – that feeling of style over substance, that all publicity is good publicity and actually winning is optional.
To understand the size of the fall you have to understand how big Dallas became under Jones during their Super Bowl years in the 1990s.
They were already big – with the ‘America’s Team’ moniker coined in 1978 because of their popularity across the country, regular appearances in national TV games and playing in five Super Bowls, winning two.
Jones bought the team in February 1989, and one day later sacked legendary Tom Landry, who had been the franchise’s only head coach since inception in 1960.
That was a statement of intent.
Jones hired college football coach Jimmy Johnson and with the legendary trio of quarterback Troy Aikman, running back Emmitt Smith and receiver Michael Irvin – known as The Triplets – they became almost unbeatable.
Dallas won three Super Bowls in four years between 1992 and 1995, with Jones even parting ways with Johnson and bringing in a new head coach in Barry Switzer for their third Lombardi Trophy of that spell.
The Jones-Johnson falling-out came from the coach feeling the owner was getting too involved in football matters – and that is something Jones continues to be known for to this day.
Having one of the best offensive trios of all time, the Johnson sacking and several off-field controversies involving players made the Cowboys as notorious as they were successful.
And it seems Jones acquired a taste for controversy – a love of seeing his team in the headlines, for good or bad reasons.
Jones lifted the lid on his priorities at the premiere of his Netflix show on a blue-carpet event in Los Angeles, even saying that he plays his part in seeking out the headlines.
“The Cowboys are a soap opera 365 days a year – when it gets slow, I’ll stir it up,” Jones told reporters.
“I do believe if we’re not being looked at, then I’ll do my part to get us looked at.
“Oh it’s wonderful to have the great athletes, the great players, but there’s something more there, there’s sizzle, there’s emotion and if you will there’s controversy. That controversy is good stuff in terms of keeping and having people’s attention.”
So while there has been a distinct lack of success, off the field the Cowboys have toppedForbes’ most valuable franchise list,externalfor nine years running since 2016.
Every year they are the big story, despite winning just five play-off games since their last Super Bowl three decades ago.
The Cowboys have only made the play-offs in 13 of the past 29 seasons, going 5-13 when they do, and not even making it to one NFC Championship – the game before the Super Bowl.
So in football terms they are an afterthought, an also-ran, but off the field they are a behemoth of marketing, revenue, glitz, glamour and headlines – even their cheerleaders have their own long-running reality TV show.
The stadium is packed out year after year, the money keeps rolling in and the Cowboys remain the centre of attention – but on the field futility reigns.
How long can it possibly continue?
Any hopes thatnew head coachBrian Schottenheimer could turn things around seemed to be extinguished before the campaign even began.
As Parsons, a fearsome and dominant defensive star in the league, was traded to Green Bay for the relatively low price of two first-round draft picks and Packers defensive tackle Kenny Clark.
In asocial media post,externalParsons pointed the finger at Jones and the team’s hierarchy for their handling of talks over a new contract, and refusing to include his agent David Mulugheta in the negotiations.
After previously dragging out talks with star quarterback Dak Prescott and wide receiver CeeDee Lamb before eventually handing them new contracts, this time Jones made an even bigger statement.
That statement was that the owner was still very much still also the general manager and the man making the final football personnel decisions – but the consensus is that this one could be a major blunder.
The question again from Cowboys fans is whether Jones’ ego has fuelled his decision making, with their biggest defensive star and one of the best in the NFL sacrificed to show that Dallas’ owner will not be pushed around by players and their agents.
Even for a gambler like Jones, this looks like a big one.
The team finished 7-10 last year, now has a first-time head coach at the helm and plays in a tough division containing Super Bowl champions the Philadelphia Eagles and the vastly improved Washington Commanders.
And now they’re missing their defensive lynchpin. Using the expected points added (EPA) advanced metric, Dallas’ defence ranks as the best in the NFL on EPA per play when Parsons has been on the field since he joined the team in 2021 – and dead last when he’s not.
So the odds look stacked against them celebrating the 30th anniversary of their last Super Bowl with a serious challenge for another, but again they’ll be the talk of the league.
And as long as America’s Team are in the news, that seems to do Jones just nicely.
