How the Dallas Cowboys dynasty lived and died at the hands of Jerry Jones

jerry jones proved just how much a gamble can pay off on february 25th 1989 he bought the dallas cowboys as they were in the midst of some tough times he replaced franchise cornerstones tom landry and tech sram with jimmy johnson and himself led by michael irvin and first overall pick troy aikman dallas stumbled out of the gate to a one win season but quickly got some help an infusion of talent headlined by emmett smith graced the cowboys thanks to one of the nfl's most brilliant trades ever what holes they couldn't patch through the draft they fixed elsewhere tight end jay novacek came over in free agency and when san francisco grew tired of his antics charles haley joined dallas via trade alongside leonlette and russell maryland haley helped turn the defense into a terror running the ball was made far easier behind the great wall of dallas eric williams further solidified a line led by mark tuinet and nate newton which meant smith was able to do as he pleased as a bonus he had daryl johnston paving the way and in just the fourth season with jones at the helm the cowboys put it all together they blew out the bills for the franchise's first lombardi trophy since super bowl 12. a year later they did it again same opponent and all after a coaching change that we'll get to later and an early exit thanks to the eventual champs jones showed he wasn't content with just two super bowls he brought in dion sanders upgrading an already stout secondary led by darren woodson and after a fourth straight season of at least 12 wins dallas won jerry a third super bowl he had turned the franchise around and put them in position to keep rolling but about that barely a month after super bowl 30 part of what defined america's team once again spilled into public view dysfunction on march 3rd 1996 dallas police entered a hotel room that contained among other things lots of weed plenty of coke a pair of self-employed models and michael irvin when the cops entered the first thing irvin offered was can i tell you who i am he was a national champion with jimmy johnson's miami hurricanes he was tom landry's final first round pick as jeff perlman put it and boys will be boys he was the reason for the cowboys dynasty the police didn't need an introduction but irvin knew that this is the guy who wanted my greatest asset is my ego if there was a personification of the dallas cowboys other than jerry jones it had to be irvin and as he sat in the hotel room two days before his 30th birthday there couldn't be a more obvious omen for the franchise but one of the women claimed possession of everything in the room irvin made a plea deal and avoided a prison sentence he dodged an extortion attempt from an alleged rando then a murder plot by the boyfriend of the woman who took the fall but irvin couldn't slip past a suspension from commissioner tagliabue their title defense took another hit when russell maryland left for oakland he was the latest of many examples as to what the nfl's recently introduced free agency could do to a team as talented as the cowboys but with his first-hand experience maryland knew dallas could get through whatever obstacles they set in their own way the money saved by letting the defensive tackle walk was then put straight into their running backs pocket smith was extended on a massive deal that included a record signing bonus but it was a little less eye-popping when compared to the similar size stacks of cash given to aikman and sanders jones was investing in his team and looked to lock up the nucleus that had brought him success he was just banking on the hope that everyone could stay healthy happy and at the top of their game the bad news it didn't play out like that but the following year they did manage to win the nfc east so there's that it just came amidst further drama they spent the 1996 season working around an ongoing beef between their franchise quarterback and head coach whether it was trust issues stemming from that or a three-time super bowl hangover the offense took a major step back and in december the defense they had to lean on more than normal lost one of their anchors due to a drug-related suspension with all that they somehow managed a wild card win over the vikings but then came up short against carolina for the first time in five years they've failed to make the nfc championship game part of the struggle came from the fact that they were without their star tied in for the entire year novacek had missed the season due to a degenerative disc in his lower back and during the off-season aikman's safety valve decided to call it a career along with him went hayley who despite all of his off-the-field stunts had given dallas what it needed for success losing a leader from both sides of the ball was a tough pill to swallow and jones was doing what he could to not let the train slip off the tracks but preventing derailment can be costly jerry locked up daryl johnston to a massive deal for context here's how it compared to the extension signed by ervin just two years prior that was gifted to moose without many competing offers coming his way jones said simply we owed him that contract and as peter king put it it was a giant step for an organization that was otherwise spiraling johnston himself added i think there's a feeling among the guys in the weight room that the bad days are over for us moose sorry bud they're not not long before the season kicked off barry switzer was arrested for having a handgun in his luggage at the airport that was added to a list of complaints against switzer including those expressed from aikman directly to the team's owner as well as incidents like switzer getting flagged for contact with an official that helped seal their defeat in the 94 nfc championship theorest kicked off a season where the cowboys were truly spiraling their offense was a mess due in part to some career threatening injuries to some of the guys who had kept aikman clean and let smith rack up rushing titles a knee injury to mark tuinet shortened his season and led to his retirement in the offseason it was another crack in the great wall even with the behemoth larry allen filling some of the void the cowboys struggled to score and therefore struggled to win it was the first losing season of switzer's coaching career and his last season in dallas with that he resigned and jerry made it clear that he wasn't pleased with what the coach had done to his team but switzer would have had to have been perfect to keep jones happy jerry had been looking to prove a point with the position of head coach the cowboys had become the success that they were because of jones not whoever was coaching the team and while switzer had to fall on the sword of dysfunction it was his predecessor that helped cause the storm jimmy johnson was by jones's side as the cowboys were rebuilt he did more than his share in getting them into super bowl form and in jones's eyes he got more than his share of the credit in a now famous alcohol-fueled interaction with some sports writers jerry made his feelings clear johnson didn't do anything that any other coach couldn't do he could bring anyone else in and have success but johnson had his own thoughts on the matter while jerry was the one who signed the checks johnson made sure they were getting the most out of the players in his mind this was his team and he'd coach for as long as he felt like it allegedly telling jones as much on a flight home following a win it was no surprise that they couldn't find a way to keep working together then a split became necessary so when switzer walked into the organization it was egos from top to bottom and when he left not much had changed well i sort of take that back one thing did change they had a happy quarterback again on february 12th 1998 the unheralded chan gailey was announced as the new head coach aikman said that the hire was a sign of good things ahead a statement he likely would have made even if jerry had named himself coach and there were those that believed this move was actually jones doing just that his love of football plus his confidence in himself had led jones to be more hands-on than most in his position but few had had the success that grace jerry almost immediately it's easy to understand why he believed this team ran through him credit is due for the success but also for the drama that this team much like jones had a flare for and unfortunately that was again on display during the 1998 offseason offensive lineman everett mciver was getting his haircut during training camp when irvin rolled in the receiver shouted seniority and expected mciver to get out of the chair with teammates standing around irvin continued yelling at mackyver who eventually got up and shoved him after even leonlette couldn't break them up mciver punched irvin in the mouth that's when the wide receiver grabbed a pair of scissors and slashed mackiver across the neck leaving a room full of their teammates silent the offensive lineman would be all right after a hospital stay and thanks to jerry irvin avoided criminal charges plus a judge ruled that this didn't violate the terms of the wide receiver's probation that stemmed from the hotel incident my favorite part is the judge calling it playful and for dallas the drama didn't end once football began in week two aikman suffered a broken collarbone during a blowout loss against the broncos the cowboys were forced to lean on backup jason garrett who actually handled himself pretty well as far as what they could do on the field this was a good team dion proved he was still prime time smith got back on track for his best season since their last super bowl run and aikman returned halfway through the year to show what gayley's offense was capable of they became the first nfc east team to ever sweep the division those eight wins helped dallas get back into the playoffs but against the rival cardinals on wild card weekend third time was the charm for arizona dallas was left with even more questions about their future aikman admitted to the natural shifts of the nfl how this wasn't the team it used to be sanders added that no one should be happy with how they played and said it's time for some guys to step up or step out one of the guys who chose the latter was nate newton the career long cowboy had seen age get the better of him and instead of sticking around for a backup role opted to join carolina the great wall had crumbled and the team's on-field identity was in trouble their off-field identity remained well intact though once again thanks to let it was the third time since 1995 that substance abuse violations would keep him off the field but hopes somehow remained high and expectations hadn't changed for this team the start of the 1999 season looked like they were capable of another run it's just they're getting a collapse episode for a reason while visiting philadelphia in week five in the first quarter michael irvin caught a pass as he had 749 other times in his career trying to avoid a helmet to helmet hit he came down awkwardly on the artificial turf with little padding between irvin and the cement beneath the turf he suffered a cervical spinal cord injury and as the eagle's crowd cheered the stretcher was brought out just that morning the philadelphia inquirer published a piece by phil sheridan that credited the job jones and the cowboys organization had done in maintaining the triplets but that snap would be the last of irvin's career and with the trio down to two the cowboys got a glimpse of their future just a few weeks later aikman suffered another concussion smith broke a bone in his hand and for the first time since 1988 the cowboys would be without all three of their biggest stars that was on top of a neck injury to daryl johnston which being his second in three seasons meant his time as a cowboy was also over while moose was never going to threaten emmett for touches he was a leader of the team and beloved by the organization as well as the fan base the team was suddenly becoming unrecognizable they managed to sneak into the playoffs at 8 and 8 but it was over quickly against the vikings and from there things started to speed up right after the early exit jerry chased another coach out of town he promoted long-time defensive coach dave campo then once again gambled for the future by sending two first-round picks to seattle in exchange for joey galloway upon arrival he received a massive deal in hopes of filling the void at wide receiver but that meant they had to save cash elsewhere and sanders played the victim primetime had showed up and kept the good times going but was quickly another big name moving on things only got worse with campo as head coach after the first of three straight five and 11 seasons some of the last remnants of those super bowl teams found new homes eric williams moved on to the ravens leonlette became a bronco and the team made the tough but expected decision to say farewell to their franchise quarterback dallas waved aikman the day before a 7-year 70 million extension would have kicked in a month later injuries forced him to officially retire but he'd still be on the books for nearly 15 percent of the cowboys salary cap the highlight of the campo era came when smith broke walter payton's record for career rushing yards but even one of the greatest careers a running back has ever had wouldn't be enough to save smith like everyone else time had caught up to emmett he'd averaged nearly 350 touches per season over his 13 years as a cowboy and that's before adding postseason play as a result his effectiveness slowed in a way that mirrored the direction of dallas after yet another coaching change smith's time as a cowboy was over and other than jerry only one name remained from that first super bowl team darren woodson managed just one more season before a herniated disc led to his retirement at the end of 2004. with that the dynasty was officially over by the time woodson played his last snap the cowboys were 10 games below 500 since their last super bowl and now jones had no one left to share the credit or the blame he was left to pick up the pieces and try to resurrect the franchise for a second time after chasing championships big names and anyone who got in his way he'd get to try it all again but through the hard times the success still shined bright even with all the distractions that piled up along the way the collapse of america's team it felt massive but only because of how incredible their time on top truly was hey thanks for watching since you're still here i bet you'll enjoy our collapse episode about the greatest show on turf upon completion please write a 10-page paper double-spaced and send it to roger.goodell aol.com which will enter you into his mailing list of boomer memes or just check out this video subscribe to sb nation and make sure you hit the bell for 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Channel: Secret Base

Views: 1,447,680

Keywords: nfl, dallas cowboys, collapse, troy aikman, michael irvin, emmitt smith, jerry jones, Deion Sanders, charles haley, super bowl xxx, super bowl 27, super bowl 28, cowboys vs bills, cowboys vs steelers, moose, daryl johnston, jimmy johnson, barry switzer, america's team, michael irvin motel incident, jay novacek, nate newton, leon lett, jason garrett, dallas cowboys super bowl, football, american football, sports, sb nation, the dallas cowboys demise, the great wall of dallas

Id: 0Zmj9ix_Ngg

Length: 16min 16sec (976 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 23 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

yeah because making the playoffs 8 times in 9 years, winning 3 super bowls is a 'collapse' and not just 'how sports works'

tired of jerry jones getting shit for not winning MORE than 3 super bowls in 4 years. DAE think it's super easy to just win super bowls ever year and jerry jones is just bad????

[u/Justhereforcowboys]

Jerry Jones singlehandedly made the NFL what it is today. Not just the Cowboys who, by the way and barring extenuating circumstances, have been contenders since 06. Theyve been a few injuries, close calls, or a combination of both away from the NFCCG consistenetly for years. Lets not also forget that they are the most valuable sports franchise ON EARTH which was not the case when he bought the team- not even close. This is just the typical tabloid narrative created by the media that creates a bad guy for everyone to hate for the sake of ratings. I actually enjoy it, i love that everyone hates the Cowboys. Jealousy is an ugly sin. Jerry Jones is a master at all that hes done for the franchise and for the league. Goodell hates the Cowboys because he knows Jones is a prince who threatens him. Im sick of all the Jerry hate but I laugh under my breath every time someone makes a Jerruhworld comment cause I know, deep deep down, they wish he'd have bought THEIR team 30 years ago.

[u/JesuIsEveryNameTaken]

I knew this video was coming as soon as this series launched.

[u/FakeRussianAccent]

Good lord, this has to be the worst narrator ever.

His cadence sounds like he is squinting to read a teleprompter, and there's almost no energy in his voice. When I need to go to sleep tonight, I'll just put this on.

[u/SeesawGerrera]

Death, Taxes, and people neglecting to hand some of the blame to Jimmie Johnson like they love doing with Jerry.