It’s a tumultuous time for the Dallas Cowboys. They’re not winning enough football games, they don’t appear to be big movers before the trade deadline, and Jerry Jones publicly announced that he cares more about his oil business than he does about fixing the defense of his football team. Yay! Good times.
The hits just keep coming, and it can put fans in a dark place. With a season that appears to be going nowhere and an owner who, whether by a slip or in jest, announced to everyone where his priorities are, how are fans expected to generate any sense of hope for this football team? It’s easy to want to just check out and invest our energy elsewhere, as this ongoing rollercoaster that is the Cowboys just doesn’t seem worth it anymore.
The Cowboys are an adventure. For as long as I have been alive, that’s never not been true. Everything about them garners attention, and it’s been exponentially exacerbated since Jerry Jones bought the team in 1989. And while it’s easy to fall into this belief that the Cowboys have an incompetent front office that will never amount to anything because they are led by an inept, power-hungry, wealthy old man, we should stop and think about this a little bit before drawing conclusions.
Jerry’s recent comments where he indicates he is more concerned about the potential gains of $100 billion worth of new oil than he is about fixing the Cowboys’ defense are pretty incriminating. And it’s a slap in the face to Cowboys’ fans who have to sit and watch their red carpet defense struggle week after week. Understandably, people are upset about this, but there are other elements here that should be taken into account before getting too out of sorts about this.
The oil business is a big deal
Jerry is a businessman. We all know this. It’s his success in the oil business that allowed him to buy the Cowboys in the first place. It’s fine that he has other business affairs. Comstock Resources Inc. is a big deal worth over $5 billion. And if they are close to hitting the motherload in Texas, that will unleash an abundance of gas supplies, of course, this oil man is going to be pretty jacked about it. $100 billion is more than seven times the value of the Cowboys, who are the most valuable franchise in the NFL. If Jerry wants to be excited about this, more power to him.
Jerry says silly things all the time
While Jones’ commitment to Comstock is understandable, was it really necessary to make that comment about fixing the defense? No, it wasn’t, but that’s the Jerry Jones way. There is such a long history of Jones saying silly things that you could fill a book with it. He’s notorious for inserting his foot in his mouth or conjuring up some inappropriate analogies. Jones is just Jones, and that’s never going to change. Now, does that mean we all have to just let it slide? No. Be angry with him if you want. He can be very outlandish, and he arguably deserves all the negative attention his snide comments produce. But while the comments aren’t tactful and lack any remnants of professionalism, they also don’t mean a whole lot. Which brings us to our final point.
The Cowboys are unaffected
Jerry can make all the comments he wants, but it doesn’t have any bearing on the Cowboys. To an outside observer, if you listened to Jones speak and were told this guy is running the ship of the Cowboys, one might conclude that they are a hot mess. Maybe the worst team in the league? Maybe at least in the bottom five of the last decade or two? Or at the very least, bottom-ten? But that’s not the case. In fact, despite their lack of postseason success, the Cowboys continue to be one of the top 10 teams in the league (based on winning percentage) over the last five, 10, and 20 years.
We know the Cowboys have things to figure out if they are ever going to hoist the Lombardi trophy again. And we also know that Jerry Jones is some type of variable that hinders the organization in some fashion. But what we must remember is that the front office as a whole still does a lot of things well, which puts this team in a position to win a high percentage of the time. We all have opinions about Stephen Jones, Will McClay, the coaching staff, etc., but they’re doing something right to field a competitive team more consistently than many of the other teams in the league.
Jerry is ultimately a part of the organization, and that’s not going to change in the foreseeable future. But instead of letting it bring us down and sway us into believing this is a crumbling franchise surrounded by ineptness, we should try to appreciate the good things this team has. I couldn’t tell you who the GM is of the Browns, Jaguars, or Jets, but I can tell you that I’ll take the Cowboys over them any day of the week, even if it comes with that Jerry Jones x-factor. All we can hope is that this team can get there despite the presence of Jerry, but we should at least feel good knowing more chances are inevitably coming soon.
