There once was a prime-time soap opera called “Dallas.” There is no J.R. Ewing in this production, but Jerry Jones and the Cowboys are writing a colorful script just the same after a loss to the Buffalo Bills.
Clarence Hill has covered the Dallas Cowboys since 1997 for the Fort-Worth Star-Telegram. He has therefore covered all but one of the 24 seasons since the Cowboys won their last Super Bowl in January of 1996. That long drought is weighing on Jerry Jones and his players.
Emotions burst out in the locker room after a 26-15 loss to the Bills on Thanksgiving Day:
Jerry Jones had tears in his eyes. Said he was in locker room with emotional players https://t.co/EBCYkDo4ae
— Clarence Hill Jr (@clarencehilljr) November 29, 2019
Everyone in Dallas knows that coach Jason Garrett occupies a very hot seat. The players knew that when they took the field against the Bills, just four days after a tough loss to the defending champion New England Patriots, they had to deliver a win if they wanted to improve their coach's situation.
Not only did the Cowboys lose, they were beaten decisively in a game they trailed by 19 points early in the fourth quarter. The Cowboys scored early in the first quarter and then got shut out for three-plus quarters. Their only other score didn't arrive until the Bills had put the game away and the Cowboys were slogging through garbage time.
Jerry Jones has stuck with Jason Garrett much longer than many other owners would. It is true that three seasons ago, Garrett led the Cowboys to the No. 1 seed in the NFC, but like one of his predecessors in Dallas, Wade Phillips, that No. 1 seed wasn't followed by more similarly dominant seasons. The inability to consistently produce 12- or 13-win seasons has been a regular feature of Garrett's tenure.
The Cowboys simply haven't given themselves a good chance to make the Super Bowl this century. Not only have they failed to win the Super Bowl since January of 1996; they haven't even gotten there. Not only have they failed to get to the Super Bowl, they haven't even made an NFC Championship Game in that period of time.
The tears and the anger in the locker room on Thanksgiving Night relate most centrally to this season. Yet, they also represent a reaction to a failed coaching tenure and an owner whose ambitions for a Dallas Cowboys revival have been frustrated for almost a quarter of a century.
It's getting old.
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