Jerry Jones is a glass half-full kind of guy.
Where others including players on his own team see a literally glaring problem with a simple fix, he sees upside.
Two days after extolling the virtues of the giant westward-facing window at AT&T Stadium, the Dallas Cowboys team owner doubled down on Tuesday while continuing to insist that the blinding sunlight that it provides is some sort of home-field advantage. Jones made his case on his weekly radio appearance with 105.3 The Fan.
“Every venue has certain things that at certain ways and times in the contest can create and advantage,” Jones said. That really goes on the category of home-field advantage. … I don’t want to adjust it for one reason because it is an advantage for us.”
Jones made his case in the aftermath of a 34-6 loss at home to the Philadelphia Eagles that sent an already-spiraling season further into the muck. The sun was a topic of conversation because it almost certainly cost the Cowboys points in the loss.
Cowboys receiver CeeDee Lamb broke open for what should have been an easy touchdown. But he lost the ball looking back at the sun and never got his hands on it.
A touchdown there wouldn’t have made much of a difference in the 28-point loss. But the missed opportunity certainly didn’t help the Cowboys’ cause.
After the game, Lamb was asked if the stadium would be better off with curtains to mitigate the impacts of the late-day sun.
“Yes, 1000%,” Lamb said.
The scenario prompted this response from Jones in his postgame media scrum:
“We know where the sun’s going to be when we decide to flip the coin or not,” Jones said. “So we do know where the damn sun’s going to be in our own stadium.”
Jones said this as if opposing teams don’t win coin flips and also have awareness of the setting sun.
Jones then went into a bizarre unprompted rant about tearing the stadium down in a clear sign of simmering frustration over the failing Cowboys season.
Jones stands his ground
Then came Tuesday’s discussion following two nights to sleep on Sunday’s loss and plenty of time to cool off. There was no lashing out this time about tearing down his beloved stadium.
But Jones carried forward otherwise, unwilling to concede that opposing teams are also aware of when and where the sun sets when they face coin-toss decisions. He likened the glaring sun to dead spots on basketball courts that give home teams an advantage over visitors who aren’t as familiar with their floor.
“But more importantly than anything — in basketball, we know where the dead spots are on the floor,” Jones continued. “That’s our advantage. That should be our advantage. We get to play there more, and we get to have it as an advantage. It has been an advantage for us to know where the sun is. I don’t want to change that.”
This, for obvious reasons, is not an apt comparison. And it continues to beg the question: Why is Jones so insistent that the setting sun is a home-field advantage instead of what it truly is? At its core, it’s an element of chaos that randomly makes for worse football for all teams involved, the Cowboys included.
One possible answer that stands out is hubris. Jones built his state-of-the art sports palace as a beacon of his own and his franchise’s success. It continues to serve as a source of pride. Fifteen years after it opened, AT&T Stadium remains a marvel and a blueprint for modern arenas and stadiums.
Jones had certain things in mind when the stadium was designed, sunlight being one of them.
“All I can say is that stadium was built to feel like it’s outdoors when you’re indoors,” Jones said Tuesday. “It was built to have sunlight coming in in every way that you can put it out there as if it were open air, yet still being inside. It’s the largest air-conditioned space in the world.”
Jones isn’t interested at this point in re-litigating the virtues of the sun’s impact on games. And he certainly doesn’t want to hear excuses from Cowboys players about why they aren’t able to make a play.
In a season that appears lost at its midway point, the sun at AT&T Stadium is near the bottom of myriad Cowboys concerns. But Jones’ obstinance on the subject speaks volumes about how he manages the team.
