Ahead of next week's release of the highly anticipated Netflix docuseries revolving around Jerry Jones and the dynastic Dallas Cowboys of the 1990s, entitled America's Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys, several franchise legends, including Jones himself, were on hand for the premiere on Monday night in Los Angeles.
Naturally, given the subject matter, one of those legends was legendary running back and the NFL's all-time leading rusher, Emmitt Smith, who was obviously one of the key pieces of those Cowboys teams that won three Super Bowls in the four-season stretch that spanned the 1992-1995 campaigns.
The 1995 season, of course, not only represents the last time Dallas hoisted a Lombardi Trophy but also the last time the franchise made an appearance in the NFC Championship Game. And with the Detroit Lions and Washington Commanders each ending futility streaks of their own over the last two years, the Cowboys are now the only NFC franchise without an appearance in the conference title game over the last three decades.
As such, Smith was asked his thoughts on Jones' role in the Cowboys' title drought, and the first-ballot Hall of Famer offered up an interesting take.
"Well, Jerry never caught a pass. He never ran the ball, and he damn sure didn't throw it," Smith said. "At some point, players have got to take on ownership of what they've been trained and what they've been taught to do. We had to do it. We won back-to-back Super Bowls, and then we lost our leader [coach Jimmy Johnson, who resigned in 1994], and we were in disarray for a year.
"But as a player and as the leadership of that ball club, we took it upon ourselves to say, 'This is what we're gonna do. We don't care who's at the helm.' My systems are still the same, my processes are still the same. We know how to work, we've been trained how to work. We were built from the ground up. That foundation never left, so therefore, we were able to go back and win our third."
Cowboys legend Emmitt Smith is both right and wrong in his take on Jerry Jones
As one would imagine, Smith's response has been a big topic of conversation on social media, with people taking both sides. And I can honestly see both sides of the argument as well. Yes, everyone knows that Jones is always going to take more blame than the players, but let's look at both sides anyway.
On the one hand, Smith is absolutely correct. Players on any NFL team are the ones responsible for making the plays—or not making the plays—that lead to wins and losses.
Jerry Jones wasn't on the field when the top-seeded Cowboys couldn't win their playoff opener following the 2007 season. Jerry Jones wasn't on the field when they lost a Divisional Round game by 31 points two years later. Jerry Jones wasn't on the field when Dallas won three division titles in five years from 2014 to 2018 and went 2-3 in the postseason. And Jerry Jones wasn't on the field when the Cowboys went 12-5 for three straight seasons from 2021 to 2023 and earned just one playoff victory.
On the other hand, however, Jones undoubtedly deserves his fair share of criticism for how he's run the franchise over the last 30 years. Truth be told, one could go back even a couple of years further to the Jimmy Johnson resignation that Smith brought up, which occurred after the Cowboys' Super Bowl win following the 1993 season. I mean, who lets a coach who just won back-to-back titles walk like that?
Since then, outside of an exception or two, Jones has mainly hired head coaches who basically refused to challenge him on much of anything. The same can be said of those in the front office.
To his credit, Jones has typically done a fantastic job drafting players. But as Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, and now Micah Parsons know all too well, he also often has trouble coming to terms on new contracts with some of those draft picks who turn into high-profile players.
He's gone with some questionable negotiating tactics over the years, and those tactics have unquestionably played a part in why plenty of big-name free agents have chosen not to sign with the Cowboys over the years. I mean, that doesn't stop Dallas from being linked to every single person who hits the open market, but you get the point.
Look, at the end of the day, Jones probably deserves more of the blame as it pertains to this particular argument. So, maybe we should just assume that Emmitt Smith didn't want to throw his former boss under the bus on such a big night, at least in part. Because again, he is right in saying that both former and current Cowboys need to be held responsible for this title drought.
Those looking to revisit Smith's successes and the glory days of Dallas football can tune in when
America's Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys hits Netflix on August 19.
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