IN THE WORLD OF JERRY JONES AND JEFFREY LURIE, PATIENCE IS “HOLISTIC”
The owners of the Cowboys and Eagles aren’t interested in a credentialed crew of coaching candidates, with Jones defying streaming-TV sense in retaining McCarthy while Lurie seems to employ Sirianni
Did we know Netflix was streaming documentaries about ancient civilizations? That would be the video service’s only interest in a 10-episode series about Jerry Jones. There is little interest in this man, soon to be 82, regarding any attempt to stamp the Dallas Cowboys into some football version of “The Last Dance.”
Remember, the Chicago Bulls won six championships before MIchael Jordan left and Thelma Krause cried. Jones hasn’t been near a Super Bowl since Jan. 28, 1996 … and keeps trying! Yet the programmer outbid ESPN by almost $50 million for rights to the owner, whose team is worth $9.2 billion, the most valuable sports franchise in the world.
Between Mike McCarthy returning to the Cowboys and Nick Sirianni apparently receiving a chance to realign the Philadelphia Eagles, a showrunner might want to consider this editorial take: In an extraordinary year of coaching candidates, why would Jones and Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie risk more team misery while ignoring Bill Belichick, Jim Harbaugh and Mike Vrabel? Belichick has been interviewed twice by the Atlanta Falcons, once on owner Arthur Blank’s yacht near the U.S. Virgin Islands, and hasn’t said yes. Harbaugh will be brought back for a second interview by Blank, pitting Spygate vs. Connor Stalions.
Neither was a factor in Dallas and Philadelphia. Lurie fired Doug Pederson three years after he won a Super Bowl and, apparently, doesn’t need the crude hangover of firing Sirianni months after losing his first Super Bowl. But Jones is making no sense and dragging Netflix through further puzzlement.
“The lens we use to view and evaluate Coach McCarthy is holistic,” he said.
Holistic? In March, a jury will decide whether Jones is guilty of sexual assault. The dirty-old-man act must be gone.
Why do the big show? We know he grew up in a $400 house three blocks from the airport in Los Angeles. We know he made his money inside the oil industry. We know how he bought the Cowboys, dismissed Tom Landry, hired Jimmy Johnson, traded Herschel Walker in a deal involving 18 players and draft picks, won two Super Bowls, fired Johnson, hired Barry Switzer, won his last Super Bowl … and disappeared from postseason prominence for the next TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS.
Are people into three-decade-old stories with no happy endings since? The bewilderment continued this week when Jones failed to do what he once merrily did to Johnson and Landry — fire McCarthy as the dazed coach of a team blown out by the underdog Green Bay Packers. Jones will be remembered as the all-time sports businessman, of course. But as an NFL front-office menace, he left his shears in the last century and was long lost in the dynasty of the New England Patriots, who finally bumped Belichick and might have left him available for Jones.
Nah. He doesn’t want Belichick. He doesn’t want Harbaugh. He doesn’t want Vrabel. Jones wants McCarthy to continue a path of three consecutive 12-victory seasons and, somehow, avoid yet another playoff disaster in the final season of his contract. “We have established a championship program — just not a world championship program yet,” McCarthy said.
Oh, are there different degrees to the championship belt? In Philadelphia, a town with zero patience, Lurie would have become the third owner to fire a coach the year after he reached a Super Bowl, joining the Broncos in firing John Fox and the Raiders in firing Bill Callahan. Why the goodwill?
Time was, Jones cared about more than building absurd wealth and generating $1.4 billion in 2023 revenue, after purchasing the Cowboys for $150 million. Now, he might have been more interested in his stadium being chosen by FIFA as host of soccer’s 2026 World Cup final, beating out MetLife Stadium and Miami. Now, he’s carrying on with a perplexing quarterback, Dak Prescott, who can’t win the big one like Tony Romo and actually suggested the team discard him as he supported the coach’s return next season.
“I sucked. That was it,” said Prescott, who will count $59.4 million against the salary cap. “He has been amazing. In that case, it should be about me as well, honestly. That guy, I’ve had the season I’ve had because of him. This team has had the success they’ve had because of him. I understand it’s about winning the Super Bowl, and that’s the standard of the league and damn sure should be the standard of this place. I get it, but add me to the list in that case.”
His words had impact on Jones, who quickly announced McCarthy would get another shot. “This team is very close and capable of achieving our ultimate goals and the best step forward for us will be with Mike McCarthy,” he said. “There is great benefit to continuing the team's progress. There are many layers of success that have occurred this season as a result of Mike's approach, both with individual players and with our team collectively. Mike has the highest regular-season winning percentage of any head coach in Cowboys history and we will dedicate ourselves, in partnership with him, to translating that into reaching our postseason goals. Certainly, Mike's career has demonstrated postseason success at a high level, and we have confidence that can continue.”
To be frank, McCarthy won his only Super Bowl 13 years ago and was fired by the Packers. Belichick won six Super Bowls. Harbaugh is coming off a national college title at Michigan. Vrabel has had playoff success. Pete Carroll has won a Super Bowl and two college national championships. All of that happened in the 21st century. Shouldn’t Jones have tried, at least?
“I like where we are moving forward. I’m very confident where I am,” McCarthy said Thursday. “We know how to win. We know how to train to win. We have the right people. But we have not crossed the threshold of winning playoff games, and it's extremely disappointing to be sitting here talking about it. We will get over that threshold. I have total confidence in that, and that's why I'm standing here today. To say it's not emotional — of course, it is. That's being Captain Obvious. … The personal part of it is a challenge.
“I believe that the direction, the leadership, everything is in place. And I'm not very comfortable talking about myself, but I came here to win a championship. I didn't come here to get another contract or anything other than that. I came to Dallas to win a world championship, and that's why I'm standing here. Buy into us.”
Is he daring a gambler to lose big again?
The Eagles, meanwhile, went on a locker-room rampage to help Sirianni. The players were eyeing Lurie and general manager Howie Roseman, who left the roster short of championship expectations. But dumping the coach after a 10-1 start, after falling just shy of a Super Bowl title, is harsh in their world.
“There ain’t even no (bleeping) discussion about that,” defensive tackle Fletcher Cox said. “Come on, man. What is there to talk about? Man, he’s a winner. He’s a winning coach. Did we have some bumps this year? Yeah, but every team, every organization, everybody goes through it. But we don’t we look at firing a man who has won 10-plus games two years in a row, who has taken this organization to three playoff appearances in a row. That’s the respect? Coach is a good leader for this team, he does a really good job. I don’t discuss about firing a man. This man got a family. I don’t discuss anything about that.”
Said quarterback Jalen Hurts, whose injuries helped destroy the season: “I didn't know he was going anywhere. I have a ton of confidence in everyone in this building. … Owners own, coaches coach and players play. I just want to play at a high level. I have a ton of confidence in Coach, I have a ton of confidence in Howie, I have a ton of confidence in Mr. Lurie. I have to do my job. I have to do my job and control the things that I can.”
“He's taken us to the playoffs three consecutive years. He’s taken us to the Super Bowl last year,” left tackle Jordan Mailata said. “That's got to account for something. He's a hell of a coach. Hell of a coach. I feel stupid saying that, how did we get there?”
The reason we’re here is that several coaches have claimed championships, including Harbaugh this month, and are stuck dawdling in Atlanta. Jerry Jones said he was “floored” by the Green Bay loss. Suddenly, he’s not floored? Let the Falcons hire Belichick … without granting him a serious meeting?
This is how someone’s football team is worth $9.2 billion. Just look at the bottom line and July awaits. There’s your story line, Netflix, and I am bored.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.