When it comes to the Dallas Cowboys of our current climate there is an often-said criticism.
“They care more about attention off the field than they do winning on it.”
You have likely heard, maybe even said, this yourself. The Cowboys are the most valuable professional sports franchise in the world and hold the title despite not appearing in even their sport’s penultimate stage in what will officially be 30 years in January should they fail to do so. Just a few weeks ago the team was the subject of a Netflix documentary that (in an objectively incredible fashion) told the story of one of the greatest dynasties professional sports has ever seen.
The final episode of the documentary featured a fast forward to the current day Cowboys who are struggling to stand tall in the shadows cast by those who preceded them. Troy Aikman is chief among those players, he was also featured plenty in the documentary, and on Tuesday was a guest on The Rich Eisen Show that can now be seen on Disney+.
Obviously he was asked about the recent Micah Parsons trade and said the things you would expect. What was notable though was that Eisen asked Aikman for his thoughts on the thought we began this discussion with. What would Troy Aikman say to fans who feel that way about Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys leadership?
“I’m not sure I can really say much, Rich, to be honest with you because I saw Jerry talk about the fact that… having the Cowboys as a discussion point is meaningful to him. And if people aren’t talking about the Cowboys then he’ll do things to stir it up.”
“So he kind of walked into that and has given the impression that that supersedes winning.”
“And I think in some ways… I’m sure that Jerry and the Jones family and everyone is tired of talking about the fact that they haven’t been to a Championship Game, let alone a Super Bowl, in 30 years…”
“So then when you deflect that then essentially the valuation of your franchise or the attention, and the exposure, or the drama… or as Jerry said the fact that the Cowboys are a soap opera 365 days a year…”
“…that then becomes the scoreboard. Instead of winning and losing on the field.”
“Do I think that winning is not important to Jerry Jones? Not at all. I think Jerry wants to win more than anything else and I think that he’s very exhausted of the fact that this team, although they’ve won a lot of regular season games as you know, it is remarkable how much they’ve won in the regular season over the last 20-25 years, but yet, they’ve only won four playoff games. And that’s hard to stomach.”
Aikman ultimately defended Jerry and the way he did is fair. It is certainly believable that Jerry Jones wants to win. Nobody denies this. People add the caveat that winning a certain way may be what truly is the highest-level priority.
Aikman referenced Jerry’s own words about purposefully stirring things up around the Cowboys when they aren’t center stage, a line that Jones in true fashion delivered at the premier of the Netflix documentary. To Aikman’s point… Jerry sort of made the argument against himself in this regard.
The line that Aikman said that stuck the most with me is about how all of the off-the-field stuff “becomes the scoreboard.” It is everyone’s greatest fear (perhaps you acknowledge it as truth and not as a hypothetical) that this is the scoreboard that the Cowboys want to put the most points on.
We can all rationalize things in our own ways, but when Troy Aikman speaks on Jerry Jones it is noteworthy. He obviously speaks from experience and does so with conviction.
Do you agree with Aikman? Do you think he’s off base?
The Cowboys are going to do their best to disagree in terms of the scoreboard that matters most as they will be held against the one in Philadelphia in a couple of days.
Maybe that doesn’t matter, though.
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