Jerry Jones throws a jab at Mika Parsons during an ongoing contract talk
Jones Jones says that even if Mika Parsons signs the extension, it doesn’t mean he’ll play.
Seriously sports
- The new Netflix docusary, “American Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys,” explores the continued popularity of the Dallas Cowboys despite the recent lack of championships.
- Cowboys owner Jerry Jones attributes the team’s value and popularity to his hard work and marketing efforts.
- Jones defended Dallas’ performance, citing an overall victory record for the past 30 years and near misses in playoff runs.
Again, for the 29th time of many years, I had to ask Jerry Jones to explain that the Dallas Cowboys, the most valuable sports franchise on the planet, had maintained such a huge popularity despite constantly falling into the winning championship.
Then again, why do you ask? Look around. Or watch.
There is a new answer to the persuasive eight-part docusary “American Team: Gambler and His Cowboy,” which dropped on Netflix this week.
It reminds us that there are no teams who do absolutely drama like Cowboys.
And it reinforces the fact that there are no teams selling themselves like “American teams.”
“I’ll explain it with hard work. I’ll squash my ass,” Jones recently had lunch at USA Today Sports at his training camp office in Oxnard, California, referring to the value and popularity of the franchise. “This exact same hard work that’s going on in football. I’m off my butt. It’s not slowing down. This is the busiest thing in training camp.”
But all of that busy work hasn’t brought about a contract extension for All-Pro linebacker Micah Parsons. His new contract “hold-in” attempt squeezed the summer episode of the NFL’s longest-running soap opera. Jones admits to not caring about drama freely.
After all, the rift with Parsons continues to be ticked by the Cowboys on their associated meter.
Docuseries, on the other hand, adds more layers to the buzz. Certainly, Jerry’s Cowboys’ excitement and fall, which hasn’t made it to the NFC title game in 29 years since winning the third Super Bowl Crown in the 1990s, deserves a documentary treatment. There are electric letters. A rich storyline. Attractive details. A mountain of controversy.
But despite revealing shared perspectives by Michael Irvin, Troy Aikman, Charles Haley and others, Docusary feels too smooth and like a production of PR. So they really needed those cheap Western themed backgrounds and effects?
Also, some players fled to liquor, drugs and gender for all the candid revelation from Irvin, who provided a backstory from the 1996 drug possession trial and spilled tea in the “White House” near the team’s headquarters.
I wasn’t surprised. Someone had to sign off to all the access and cooperation that gave the project the juice. Rather than delving into the team’s position on the national anthem protest by NFL players a few years ago, touching on subsequent legal issues related to a woman who claims to be Jones’ non-Gi-sama daughter, the director duo of the pastor brothers and McClainway portrayed the way Jones would undoubtedly approve.
Certainly, Jones sparked controversy from the start of ownership in 1989 when he appropriately replaced the legendary Tom Landry with Jimmy Johnson. And in the mid-’90s he sued his NFL partners for breaking down to secure his own large marketing deal. See how that controversy turned out. In its latest edit, Forbes values the franchise at $12.8 billion. And Jones, who bought the team for about $150 million, is in the Hall of Fame that forever transformed the NFL business situation as the league’s most powerful owner.
However, it will be difficult for longtime Cowboys fans to waltz down memory lanes without linking nostalgia to the current situation. The final episode of Docuseries, entitled “The Drought,” covers Super Bowl 30-29 years.
“What is the general denominator? Jones. I got it,” Jones said.
Jerry, who is eighth head coach since Johnson, then actually becomes Tetie when asked about handing over the reins as GM, but digs.
“How long has it been since Buffalo won the Super Bowl?” he said, knowing that five AFC East Champion bills have never won the Super Bowl. “The buffalo are not carved into the liver. They’re solid. They’re probably in the top third of the NFL.”
Meanwhile, the Cowboys have scored three consecutive 12-5 records since winning two NFC East titles, with two NFC East titles before sinking into an injured 7-10 finish in 2024.
“We can’t get convicted of our way, our approach to winning the Super Bowl, our approach that needs to change,” Jones said. “I think that’s why I’m so defensive.”
He knows. The vision that comes with the NFL’s biggest draw is that it increases the heat as you flop each year as you chase another Super Bowl.
Put another way, Jones says, “The ass kick that comes with this doesn’t discourage me at all.”
Of course, 82-year-old Jones can still sell it. When he claims over the past 30 years that the Cowboys are one of the NFL’s top six teams for victory, it shows that hope is such a tangible resource.
“It shows you’re not obsolete,” he said. “Fair? We know we’re in scope to succeed.”
But even so. A drought in 29 years?
“If it wasn’t a two or three nanosecond nanofactor, we would have been in the Super Bowl,” he said. “So I’m wearing my hat at the time.
“And I’m wearing a hat to the fact that there’s no one in 20. Maybe they’re four, or three, or Charles (Haley), and it sounds like you should be in half like 30 years. I haven’t seen it. There’s always a promise that you can get it this season.”
Now it’s some serious spin. Dallas’s final playoff game scene – a blow-off scene against the Packers in the 2023 NFC Wildcard round matchup at Jerry World, the worst postseason setback in franchise history, provided a compelling image for the final episode of Docusary. Jones was in the locker room, comforting players, including Parsons. The man is currently involved in a contract dispute.
He hugged Parsons and whispered that the blow-off wasn’t the star player’s fault. Parsons tweeted, “I just want to win.”
It contrasts with the atmosphere from the early episodes, detailing how Johnson established the tone. The coach once refused to allow meal services on team charter flights after an unsettling loss. And in his first year classic tilade, Johnson yelled, “A field of asthma is over there!” After explaining why a player collapsed while running a wind sprint.
Certainly times have changed. Some of the drills Johnson ordered during his training camp for his request are not tolerated today under a collective bargaining agreement. Still, someone has to win a big win. And that’s no longer the way the Cowboys do it.
At least they’ll win on the field. Otherwise, businesses are booming due to franchises that still order big presence on the NFL-related map.
Contact Jarrett Bell at jbell@usatoday.com or follow us on social media: X:@jarrettbell
Bluesky: jarrettbell.bsky.social
