The Dallas Cowboys beat the Kansas City Chiefs 31-28 in the Week 13 Thanksgiving game. But do not let this win hide the fact that Dallas receiver George Pickens missed a straight pass from quarterback Dak Prescott during the second quarter. If you have watched the game, you already know how the sunlight stopped Pickens from catching the ball. And the person at the center of the blame is none other than Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.

Noted stadium design analyst Ben Veenbrink accused owner Jerry Jones of not paying attention to one of the most important things in a sports venue.

“In case of new stadiums, it is very common to commission a sun path analysis, using the 3D design of the building, to understand the impact the sun could have on the players and main TV camera positions,” Veenbrink said.

“It could be, but now I am speculating, that nobody bothered for AT&T Stadium because of the retractable roof. The window design was ignored while taking this decision or these windows could have been added/changed during the design development process without checking the sun trajectory study.”

For those who don’t know, Veenbrink is the managing director of The Stadium Consultancy, which has worked on more than a hundred stadiums worldwide. If he is saying that Jerry Jones ignored the sun’s design, then it becomes a major negligence on the owner’s part.

The AT&T Stadium has a unique design, with an east-west end zone configuration rather than the north-south end zone configuration in most NFL stadiums. So, when games begin around 3:30 P.M. local time, the sunlight comes through those large stadium windows. Sometimes, it almost blinds the players, affecting their visibility.

That’s exactly what happened with Pickens in the Week 13 game. It didn’t come out of the blue. CeeDee Lamb had already warned him.

Jerry Jones is expected to ignore his receiver’s requests

Around the 11-minute mark in the second quarter, the ball fell just in front of Pickens. He blamed the sun for not seeing the ball properly.

“I really couldn’t see the ball. It was the sun,” Pickens said.

However, Lamb has been through these situations plenty of times in home games, and he had told Pickens about this natural element which often disturbs their rhythm.

“He already knew it. Welcome to Dallas, bro,” Lamb mentioned.

Pickens, though, had a big request to the owner, saying, “Curtains would help,” but he left the decision on Jones.

Will the request of his receiver affect the owner enough to use curtains during NFL games? Chances are low, as Jones doesn’t like using curtains during the NFL games. Even last year, Lamb had the same request for the owner.

However, instead of trying to help, he has often gotten angry at such requests. There’s another side to this story. Jones often uses curtains during concerts or other sporting events, but never during football games. His dual stance on the window curtains remains a mystery.

One thing is certain. The Cowboys are aiming to break free from the three-decade drought of championships in NFL history. They are better off getting used to the nature play in Arlington.