A scan of the crowd at a typical Cowboys home game normally displays a sea of white and blue. However, this past Sunday, a third hue was suddenly equally represented, lending AT&T Stadium a particularly Francophilic appearance: a bright, vivid red. The Houston Texans came to town to take their turn at pummeling a directionless and injury-depleted Dallas squad and managed to bring with them a sizable contingent of their faithful. The stands looked to be at least a third full of that hideous “battle red,” which looks like it was designed by a PR team in Houston to appeal specifically to 13-year-old Roblox enthusiasts.
The thousands of Texans fans repping the tacky shade were treated to the second senseless public beating of a pitifully overmatched opponent at JerryWorld in just three days. And those of us watching along at home didn’t even have to contend with nuisance buffering issues! The Cowboys, like “Iron” Mike Tyson, showed their ass to the world.
In a virtual replay of every game at the Death Star in the calendar year of 2024, Dallas was completely ineffective on offense, and the opposition ran the ball down their throats, capitalized on consistently blown coverages and veritable slapstick-comedy turnovers to steamroll the home team 34-10. Going back to January, the count is now six straight losses at home with a combined point differential of -134! Imagine what that figure would be without Dak Prescott’s garbage-time “heroics” that narrowed the gap in the playoff game against the Packers and in Week 2 against the Ravens.
Currently my give-an-eff with this team is lower than it’s ever been. No amount of Jerry’s carnival barking can save my enthusiasm. I was actually more upset by the last of the three Joe Mixon touchdowns because it put the game so far out of reach for Dallas (as if it ever was within) that they began sitting starters like CeeDee Lamb, whom I needed to catch just one more pass in the game to beat my opponent in fantasy football for the week. Now I have an even worse chance of making the playoffs than the lowly Cowboys do.
I’m obviously not alone. Seems like everyone is pulling the ’chute on Cowboys 2024, and home game attendance a glaring indicator of such. A third of the seats may have been occupied by Texans fans, but it was only another third taken up by Cowboys fans. The remaining were occupied by the free give-away rally towels hanging over the back of an otherwise empty seat. Not only are season ticket holders trying to flip their seats to out-of-towners, but in the event that they can’t, apparently, they’re just no-showing. Seems better to eat the cost of admission and save themselves the ludicrous expense of concessions, not to mention the embarrassment of the product on the field.
It’s this, if anything, that could be the one thing to make Jerry Jones actually realize what a failure this year has been. I’m not sure he really cares about who the folks in the stands are cheering for. In fact, he likely sees it as a testament to AT&T Stadium being an NFL destination. Football fans from all over are surely dying to make the pilgrimage to his sun-bathed pharaonic temple. Hell, even empty seats have already been paid for and Jones has made his money from the gate. But if they remain vacant throughout the game, that means there’s no one there to pound $12 beers and $7 hot dogs and drop $50 to park. He just might feel that.
The motives of Jerry Jones as an owner/“GM” is a steady debate among fans and the Cowboys media industrial complex. Countless radio segments and columns are burned debating them. Does he care more about winning or generating revenue? Are the decisions he makes and the things he says a result of what he feels are in the best interest of the team regardless of its effect on his reputation? Or with only that in mind? With the scatterbrained, reactionary moves he makes, it’s impossible to decipher. In this way, he remains practically impervious to criticism. Empty seats are a two-fer. It’s both a financial and a reputational hit.
Next week is the Thanksgiving Day game. It’s Jerry’s favorite day of the year. The day, more than any other, that his franchise grabs the largest attention of the nation. Imagine how he’d feel if the crowd was mostly Broadway Blue cheering on newly anointed Giants starting QB Tommy “Cutlets” DeVito. Or worse, the black eye of a sea of vacant seats. Would he then question his approach to this season? Would the emperor then be aware he’s out and about in his skivvies?
The smart money is on “no.” Head Coach Mike McCarthy will be the scapegoat, or the ridiculous number of injuries will offer Jones a fig leaf to hide what a failed offseason he managed. But it won’t matter. Because we are fools with goldfish memories, the seats will be filled with white and blue again next September and the world will keep turning and another out of touch billionaire will slip the noose and add yet more to his billions.
