It’s media week at the Super Bowl, with journalists and media personalities from across the globe descending upon the last two NFL teams standing. Players get questions ranging from politics to food during this headline-seeking media circus. And every once in a while, a good question gets asked and answered along the way.

Former Dallas Cowboys tight end, Peyton Hendershot, recently fielded one of these questions. With his ties to Dallas, he was asked about the differences between playing for the Kansas City Chiefs and playing for the Cowboys. His answer was neither surprising nor unfair.

“This is throwing no strays…but I just feel like when I came to Kansas City…my first experience in the NFL was the Cowboys, that’s all I knew,” Hendershot sincerely stated. “I just feel like here it is strictly football and winning. Nothing else but just football and winning.”

Hendershot’s comments echoed, albeit in a less malicious manner, what another former Cowboys TE said about the split focus in Dallas as well. Last season it was Dalton Schultz discussing the distracting tours at The Star, with fans tapping on the glass, and eventually calling Dallas a “zoo.”

Few will deny the bright lights of Dallas are the most blinding in the NFL. Many have stated one way or another, the different sideshows, media coverage and constant off-field distractions are more prevalent with the Cowboys than with most franchises. It’s not just football in Dallas; it’s America’s Team and everything that comes with it. To act like that’s breaking news or even some form of shade is ignoring the obvious.

To play for the Cowboys is to do something bigger than just football. The Cowboys are sport’s biggest brand. They are a media powerhouse situated in a major metropolitan area and surrounded by all the expected trappings. It can be, but it doesn’t have to be a bad thing.

It’s like comparing a small, remote college to NYU. The college doesn’t have many distractions, outside attention, or outside trappings. A student there is focused solely on the task at hand – education. NYU is a university located in the heart of New York City. Every distraction conceivable is an arm length away. An experience there is comprised of more than just the education received. It may not be for everyone, but for those that can handle it, NYU is an unrivaled experience.

In the same way, playing for the Cowboys may not be for everyone. Some people can’t handle the bright lights, the media attention and all the other glamorous distractions that come with playing for America’s Team. But to those who can hack it, the experience is unrivaled.

The Cowboys teams of the 1990s embraced all aspects of the experience. For better or for worse, they burned the candles at both ends, leaving no meat on the bone while taking advantage of every experience on and off the field. And they won.

The idea Dallas is too hard to play at and the Cowboys are too focused on other things to win, is an invalid excuse. Arguing ownership is more committed to making money than winning? That may be more valid but that’s a different conversation entirely. When it comes to the distractions that come with playing for America’s Team and if that’s something that really prevents winning. Of course it doesn’t.

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