“It’s well known that no decision is ultimately made there for what I either have acquiesced or approve it. That’s very fair.” Jerry Jones told 105.3 The Fan last September when fans blamed him for the Cowboys’ playoff failures. And honestly, plenty of people do blame him. For three decades now, the Cowboys have kept falling into the same old trap. They get everyone excited during the season, then break hearts in the playoffs, year after year after year. Critics say Jerry’s hands-on GM style, his love for splashy headlines over quiet team-building, and his refusal to step back keep the Cowboys from taking the next step.

Here’s the reality – owners don’t play the game. Eventually, players must step up too. Just as attention turns back to Jerry, Cowboys legend Emmitt Smith delivered a bombshell during a flashy Hollywood premiere. This week, Netflix rolled out the red carpet for its new Cowboys documentary. But Smith stole the show when reporters asked about Jerry Jones’ impact on Dallas’ nearly three-decade championship drought.

“Well, Jerry never caught passes. He never ran the ball, and he never showed any throwing,” Smith said. “So, at some point, players gotta take ownership of what they’ve been trained and what they’ve been taught to do. We had to do it ourselves.” Smith knows what he’s talking about. As the heart of the legendary ‘Triplets’ alongside Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin, he helped deliver three Super Bowls in four years (XXVII, XXVIII, XXX). An era where leadership came from the locker room, not the owner’s box.

“We went back-to-back some throws. And then we lost our leader. And we was in disarray for a year,” Smith recalled, hinting at the chaos after Jimmy Johnson’s exit in 1994. “But as the leadership of that ball club, we took it upon ourselves to say, ‘This is what we’re going to do. We don’t care who’s at the helm.’”

Under Jones’ hands-on ownership, the Cowboys have become the NFL’s and the world’s most valuable sports franchise ($10 billion, per Forbes). But also its most frustrating. Since their last Super Bowl win in 1996, they’ve watched rivals like the Patriots, Chiefs, and even the once-lowly Bucs lift trophies while Dallas keeps stalling in the playoffs.

While Smith’s comments stole headlines, the real reason Hollywood came calling was for something much flashier, Netflix’s deep dive into Jerry‘s world.

Jerry Jones Cowboys doc revives 90s glory days

The Netflix premiere in Hollywood wasn’t just another red-carpet event. It was a flashback to the glory days, and a glaring reminder of how much has changed. Jerry Jones walked the blue carpet (a Cowboys twist, of course) alongside legends like Emmitt Smith for America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys, a docuseries that digs into how Jones bought the franchise in 1989 and turned it into a ’90s dynasty.

The trailer alone spells out why this team still dominates headlines: “The Dallas Cowboys is a soap opera 365 days a year,” Jones declares, and he’s not wrong. From Micah Parsons’ contract drama to their 29-year Super Bowl drought, the Cowboys never miss a chance to stir the pot. But the real story isn’t just about nostalgia. That ’90s squad, Aikman, Smith, Irvin, and later Deion Sanders, wasn’t just talented; it was resilient.

They survived front-office feuds (Jimmy Johnson’s messy exit), off-field scandals, and Jones’ growing control to win three Super Bowls. Now, as Smith pointed out at the premiere, that same toughness is missing: “We were built from the ground up. That foundation never left… At some point, you as a player have to take ownership.”

The irony? This docuseries celebrates Jones’ gamble on the Cowboys. And it also highlights his biggest blind spot: great teams need players to lead, not just owners to meddle. As the cameras rolled in Hollywood, today’s Cowboys, weighed down by playoff flops and locker-room drama, felt miles away from the dynasty on screen. And that’s the problem Netflix’s show won’t fix: no amount of glamour can replace what made those ’90s teams special.