Biggest PR Blunders in Jerry Jones Era?

[VaqueroTD]

Trip down memory lane. I'm sure everyone has their own memories, but these are blunders that stick out in my memory of the Jones Era.

• ALL IN COMMENT. Whether Jerry meant it or not, the fans took it to mean that Jerry and Stephen were going to roll up their sleeves, finally spend again in Free Agency, and do all that it took to get this roster that has been highly successful in the regular season over the Playoff hump. With the coaches staying mostly the same, pressure was on even more for the Jones to make great roster additions.
• TOM LANDRY FIRING. In fairness, I don't think there is any way to successfully fire a legend like Tom Landry, but even Jerry admits it could have been done better. From firing him on the golf course, to getting caught by the media eating lunch with Jimmy Johnson before the announcement at Tom Landry's favorite restaurant, too many things went wrong. Fans got their pitchforks ready.
• JIMMY JOHNSON FIRING. Just when fans forgave him for the Tom Landry firing, along comes the sudden departure of Jimmy. 2 Super Bowl Rings, and a chance to be the first threepeat in NFL history, and just like that -- gone. When word slipped about Jerry's "1 in 500 coaches could do the same thing," it was over. Barry Switzer's fumbling personality didn't help.
• 1993 EMMITT SMITH HOLDOUT. No way for Jerry to win this holdout. Looked like a cheap owner who was completely out of touch with what made that offense tick. Team lost every game without him, and even the players started barking in the media. #22 was signed quickly and fans wondered what was the point.
• NOT INDUCTING JIMMY IN ROH BEFORE HOF. Whatever Jerry's reasoning for it, when the NFL came calling to recognize Jimmy's greatness before his own team and owner did, fans looked at it as petty politics and more ego clashing. Jerry eventually realized it had turned into something he never intended and admitted as much when he inducted Jimmy last year to the delight of all fans.
• NOT DRAFTING RANDY MOSS. Jerry still has faithful to this day who claim he made the right decision, but most fans were fed up with the stagnant offense post-90's Dynasty and wanted Aikman and Company to rise again. Cowboys were handed a gift when Moss dropped. Sign of the times, the Vikings, the team the Boys had famously fleeced, were the ones to realize Moss's greatness and went all the way to the NFC Championship game with it along with several humiliating Cowboys defeats. The iron is Jerry did it to try and make up for letting the team get out of control after the Jimmy era, which leads me to...
• "WHITE HOUSE," MICHAEL IRVIN, BIG E CAR CRASH, ETC... At one point, every Cowboy fan said "enough is enough" and wondered who was really leading the team. With no Head Coach since Jimmy to get the 90's players in line, fans viewed it as Jerry's fault, even though the players were the ones who did it.
• HIS BOY, JASON GARRETT. Admit it, most of us were in line with Garrett as the savior at first, and bought it hook line and sinker on Garrett bringing back the glory days... but through the years, fans began to realize Jerry was too faithful to his boy, Jason Garrett, allowing him to run through 2 lameduck years, quit the Cowboys when his contract expired and lead to claims of nepotism that reached into the roster itself with Romo.

And just so I'm fair and not a total Jerry basher, here are some of his PR highlights. Admittedly, after a lot of early mistakes, Jerry has mostly managed to stay out of the headlines until this "All In" fiasco.

• FIGHTING THE NFL ON THE ZEKE SUSPENSION. Didn't do Jerry any favors in the NFL hierarchy, but most fans backed him up thinking that the Commish was being unreasonable on this and history is on everyone's side as Goodell realized his errors and pulled back from some of these "teach a lesson to NFL" punishments.
• SECOND DAK EXTENSION. This is a current and growing one along with his "All In" mess. First extension has proven to be a mistake in how long it took, and fans were still mixed, but at this point, seems like most fans are cautious about Dak taking the Cowboys anywhere beyond the second round, no matter how MVP his regular season. Fans are tired of choking, tired of the crazy high contracts in the NFL now, and the average joe just doesn't understand giving $60+ million a year to a QB who chokes annually in the Tourney.
• BILL PARCELLS. All was forgiven as Jerry brought in probably the ONLY person in the NFL who could change the losing culture of the Cowboys. The only thing that would have stoked fans more was Jimmy Johnson coming back to football to lead the Cowboys. Dallas was back in the picture and fans were excited, enough to gladly give Jerry his new stadium.

What would be yours?

 

[daveferr33]

Not letting Romo compete for his job in 2016.

 

[VaqueroTD]

Not letting Romo compete for his job in 2016.

I debated about that. I think history is more on the Romo supporter side for obvious reasons, but I think at the time it was more 50/50 from the fans, and probably more in Dak's favor. People forget that fans were just as fed up with the Playoff choking under Romo. I also view this as more of a Garrett move. In Jerry's defense, he does let his coaches make decisions and we've read enough articles after the fact to know that Garrett thought the momentum was on the side of Dak, and just like Belichick did with Brady/Bledsoe, made a decision and lived with it - for better or worse.

 

[Aven8]

The JG era is the most awful thing these clowns have done.

 

[Cowboysheelsreds053]

The JG era is the most awful thing these clowns have done.

10 d— years just like that.

 

[DallasEast]

Anyone should beg for a two-time defending Super Bowl winning head coach to stay onboard--instead of proactively throwing him overboard over essentially hurt feelings. Guess the silver lining was nonsense did not happen literally on the deck of a super yacht.

 

[PA Cowboy Fan]

And after he failed on drafting Moss he doubled down with the Joey Galloway trade.

 

[Cowboysheelsreds053]

Anyone should beg for a two-time defending Super Bowl winning head coach to stay onboard--instead of proactively throwing him overboard over essentially hurt feelings. Guess the silver lining was nonsense did not happen literally on the deck of a super yacht.

Agree, it started the down roll we still see today. The SB by the next coach was still JJ but you saw it crumble after that and the famous Troy explosion on the sidelines by him about no accountability by the coaches.

 

[DallasEast]

And after he failed on drafting Moss he doubled down with the Joey Galloway trade.

...who tore his ACL in the season opener that year. It is like the football gods were trying to tell Jones he was a GM jinx.

 

[VaqueroTD]

And after he failed on drafting Moss he doubled down with the Joey Galloway trade.

Good one. I debated about putting some of those WR trades on this. My perception was as fans, we took the Roy Williams trade harder than the Galloway trade. Galloway was a weekly Sportscenter highlight reel at the time.

 

[VaqueroTD]

Agree, it started the down roll we still see today. The SB by the next coach was still JJ but you saw it crumble after that and the famous Troy explosion on the sidelines by him about no accountability by the coaches.

Good one. Should have put that Troy Aikman explosion in the fan PR reaction to the team falling apart with off-the-field incidents. Coaches are the ones supposed to hold this accountability but the view -- fair or not -- from most fans is that Jerry enables the culture.

 

[KJJ]

For the 100th time Jimmy wasn’t fired. He and Jerry mutually parted ways.

 

[Aerolithe_Lion]

A lot of the stuff he did and said was not great, but the singular thing he said that he should have never said was he would have fired the GM many times over due to performance if he wasn’t the GM. That was just an absolute catastrophe PR moment that he will never outlive. Thats the equivalent to Rice admitting to using stickum or Skip Bayless proclaiming “All in my $&@.”

He’s done some good things and some bad things, but all of them were on his terms. That slip though was just unnecessary and damaging.

 

[LonnieElam]

Drafting a RB at #4 overall, then caving to his immature holdout, making him the highest paid RB.

 

[Cowboysheelsreds053]

A lot of the stuff he did and said was not great, but the singular thing he said that he should have never said was he would have fired the GM many times over due to performance if he wasn’t the GM. That was just an absolute catastrophe PR moment that he will never outlive. Thats the equivalent to Rice admitting to using stickum or Skip Bayless proclaiming “All in my $&@.”




He’s done some good things and some bad things, but all of them were on his terms. That slip though was just unnecessary and damaging.

This, it sounded and came out bad. I am doing a terrible job but will continue to do a terrible job but anyone else I would have fired there a—‘-.

 

[VaqueroTD]

A lot of the stuff he did and said was not great, but the singular thing he said that he should have never said was he would have fired the GM many times over due to performance if he wasn’t the GM. That was just an absolute catastrophe PR moment that he will never outlive. Thats the equivalent to Rice admitting to using stickum or Skip Bayless proclaiming “All in my $&@.”

He’s done some good things and some bad things, but all of them were on his terms. That slip though was just unnecessary and damaging.

 

[Londonboy]

Rowdy.

 

[Ranching]

Trip down memory lane. I'm sure everyone has their own memories, but these are blunders that stick out in my memory of the Jones Era.

• ALL IN COMMENT. Whether Jerry meant it or not, the fans took it to mean that Jerry and Stephen were going to roll up their sleeves, finally spend again in Free Agency, and do all that it took to get this roster that has been highly successful in the regular season over the Playoff hump. With the coaches staying mostly the same, pressure was on even more for the Jones to make great roster additions.
• TOM LANDRY FIRING. In fairness, I don't think there is any way to successfully fire a legend like Tom Landry, but even Jerry admits it could have been done better. From firing him on the golf course, to getting caught by the media eating lunch with Jimmy Johnson before the announcement at Tom Landry's favorite restaurant, too many things went wrong. Fans got their pitchforks ready.
• JIMMY JOHNSON FIRING. Just when fans forgave him for the Tom Landry firing, along comes the sudden departure of Jimmy. 2 Super Bowl Rings, and a chance to be the first threepeat in NFL history, and just like that -- gone. When word slipped about Jerry's "1 in 500 coaches could do the same thing," it was over. Barry Switzer's fumbling personality didn't help.
• 1993 EMMITT SMITH HOLDOUT. No way for Jerry to win this holdout. Looked like a cheap owner who was completely out of touch with what made that offense tick. Team lost every game without him, and even the players started barking in the media. #22 was signed quickly and fans wondered what was the point.
• NOT INDUCTING JIMMY IN ROH BEFORE HOF. Whatever Jerry's reasoning for it, when the NFL came calling to recognize Jimmy's greatness before his own team and owner did, fans looked at it as petty politics and more ego clashing. Jerry eventually realized it had turned into something he never intended and admitted as much when he inducted Jimmy last year to the delight of all fans.
• NOT DRAFTING RANDY MOSS. Jerry still has faithful to this day who claim he made the right decision, but most fans were fed up with the stagnant offense post-90's Dynasty and wanted Aikman and Company to rise again. Cowboys were handed a gift when Moss dropped. Sign of the times, the Vikings, the team the Boys had famously fleeced, were the ones to realize Moss's greatness and went all the way to the NFC Championship game with it along with several humiliating Cowboys defeats. The iron is Jerry did it to try and make up for letting the team get out of control after the Jimmy era, which leads me to...
• "WHITE HOUSE," MICHAEL IRVIN, BIG E CAR CRASH, ETC... At one point, every Cowboy fan said "enough is enough" and wondered who was really leading the team. With no Head Coach since Jimmy to get the 90's players in line, fans viewed it as Jerry's fault, even though the players were the ones who did it.
• HIS BOY, JASON GARRETT. Admit it, most of us were in line with Garrett as the savior at first, and bought it hook line and sinker on Garrett bringing back the glory days... but through the years, fans began to realize Jerry was too faithful to his boy, Jason Garrett, allowing him to run through 2 lameduck years, quit the Cowboys when his contract expired and lead to claims of nepotism that reached into the roster itself with Romo.

And just so I'm fair and not a total Jerry basher, here are some of his PR highlights. Admittedly, after a lot of early mistakes, Jerry has mostly managed to stay out of the headlines until this "All In" fiasco.

• FIGHTING THE NFL ON THE ZEKE SUSPENSION. Didn't do Jerry any favors in the NFL hierarchy, but most fans backed him up thinking that the Commish was being unreasonable on this and history is on everyone's side as Goodell realized his errors and pulled back from some of these "teach a lesson to NFL" punishments.
• SECOND DAK EXTENSION. This is a current and growing one along with his "All In" mess. First extension has proven to be a mistake in how long it took, and fans were still mixed, but at this point, seems like most fans are cautious about Dak taking the Cowboys anywhere beyond the second round, no matter how MVP his regular season. Fans are tired of choking, tired of the crazy high contracts in the NFL now, and the average joe just doesn't understand giving $60+ million a year to a QB who chokes annually in the Tourney.
• BILL PARCELLS. All was forgiven as Jerry brought in probably the ONLY person in the NFL who could change the losing culture of the Cowboys. The only thing that would have stoked fans more was Jimmy Johnson coming back to football to lead the Cowboys. Dallas was back in the picture and fans were excited, enough to gladly give Jerry his new stadium.

What would be yours?

Jimmy wasn't fired, he quit. His ego was as big as Jerry's, but Jerry was signing the paychecks. He didn't like working like that and left.

 

[jujoboys]

Not letting Romo compete for his job in 2016.

Romo’s back was toast. He couldn’t even stay healthy in a preseason game which was why Prescott got the start to begin with. Besides is not like Mr Cabo was clutch. Half those come from behind games by him was because he threw interceptions to get Dallas behind. I liked Romo but he was on the same level as Dak when it comes to winning games in the playoffs.

 

[JustDezIt]

personal fave was the "g hole" comment