Why the Dallas Cowboys Have SUCKED Since 1996

Why the Dallas Cowboys Have SUCKED Since 1996

From 1970 to 1995, the Cowboys played in 14 of the 26 NFC Championships. Then over the next 29 seasons, the Cowboys played in zero. This makes them the only team in the NFC to not make it to that game once in that time. To answer this video’s title, the reason is Jerry Jones. Thanks for watching. In all seriousness, it’s a bit more complicated than just Jerry Jones. But at the end of the day, over the last 30 years, he’s had a massive role in what’s transpired. I don’t have time to have a bad time. It isn’t on my schedule. Of the 32 franchises in the NFL, the Cowboys are the only one that has their owner also acting as the general manager. This creates an obvious problem because when the roster stinks, this GM ain’t getting fired. I’ve been here when it was glory old days and I’ve been here when it wasn’t. And so having said that, uh, uh, I want me some glory ho. But here’s the weird thing. The Cowboys have been one of the most successful franchises in recent memory in terms of regular season wins, ranking 11th in the NFL since 2000. Yet, despite this, they’ve only won four measly wild card games in that span. How is that possible? I can’t believe we lost. Ain’t nobody else, man. In this video, we will take an overarching look at what’s happened to this team over the last 30 years and what’s made them about as reliable as socks with holes in them. Now, let’s be honest, there might not be a more important piece of clothing during a workout than your socks. You could have the best shoes in the world, but if your socks suck, well, then it’s like fumbling the snap on a chip shot field goal. When you’re working out, what things off, let me give the fastest explanation of the Cowboys from 1960 to 1995 that I can. The Cowboys were an expansion team in 1960 that eventually saw sustained success with head coach Tom Landry. They had this 18-year stretch where they won more Super Bowls than years missing the playoffs. But by the late 80s, things had fallen apart and owner Bumbrite sold the team to Jerry Jones in 1989. Jones fired Lantry and brought in Jimmy Johnson, who revived the team. Johnson, who ended up being an amazing coach, orchestrated the famous Hershel Walker trade in 1989, sending the running back to Minnesota for their entire draft. This helped Dallas build the best roster in the NFL, led by the triplets, Aman, Smith, and Irvin. A few years later, the Cowboys went on to win back-to-back Super Bowls. But the power struggle between Jones and Johnson led to Johnson’s shocking departure from the team. Jones, who famously said that he could have won with 500 different coaches, brought in Barry Switzer, who had much less of a spine than Johnson. But luckily, the roster was so good, they managed to win it all again in 1995, marking three titles in four years. Okay, now with that out of the way, we will be more meticulous with each passing year. 1996 got off to a rough start. In March, police arrested Michael Urban in a hotel room for cocaine possession with two self-employed models. He ended up not being charged for the incident, but was suspended for five games. In general, the ’90s Cowboys were insane off the field. They were constantly in the news. There was always controversies, and there’s a really good video about it done last year by Brandon Pererna. He goes a lot more into depth on the off-field madness of those times. And I’m not going to go into that much depth, but I will mention a few more points. Barry Switzer resigned after 1997, a season in which he was arrested for bringing a loaded gun to the airport, and the team finished 6- 10 off five straight losses. At a crossroads, Jerry hired Chan Gaye. Gaye had a much less impressive pedigree than the previous two coaches. Chan Gaye is here to coach do the kinds of things we need to do from a head coaching perspective. His last head coaching gig was at Samford, not to be confused with Stanford. And most recently, he had been the OC for the Steelers. And once he was on the Cowboys, famously, he didn’t want to draft Randy Moss. in his two seasons as the head coach. They were sort of like the modern-day Steelers. They did just enough to get into the playoffs and then they lost in the first round. The most famous incident during this time was when Michael Urban slashed teammate Everett Macgyver across the neck with scissors in the team locker room. Ironically, Urban’s career would end the following year due to a neck injury. Considering how good the Cowboys had been in the9s, what they had done under Chan Gay was just not enough for Jerry Jones. So he fired him after two seasons and this would be a decision that he would later say that he regretted because of who they had next. Jerry decided to hire Dave Campo. Campo had been the team’s defensive coordinator and had never been a head coach at any level. As you can see, the quality of who Jerry Jones was able to pull had taken a noticeable dip. I want to get back to the championship attitude that we had in ‘ 92, 93, 94, 95. In a desperate attempt to find Michael Urban’s replacement, Jones sent two firstrounders to Seattle for Joey Galloway, then proceeded to give him a massive contract that eventually led to Dion Sanders departure. Galloway’s years in Dallas were hugely disappointing. Under Campo, this team saw three brutal seasons. It saw Aman retire. It saw Emma Smith’s last season in Dallas. And overall, this team was just living off of nostalgia by that point. The pieces that once made this franchise great were either retiring or way past their primes. Campo is viewed by the fans as the worst head coaching hire in the team’s history. And it was clear that Jerry Jones was struggling to figure things out after what they had done in the ’90s. This was a period of uncertainty across the board. At quarterback, it was a bumpy transition away from Aman with Quincy Carter and Chad Hutchinson taking snaps under center. EA Sports, it’s in the game. They had a different top receiver in each of those years. The Cowboys were in search of a new identity. Someone needed to take them into their next era. I think what Jerry understands is that if I had a whole bunch of talent, um, that I can put any coach in there. But when I don’t have a whole bunch of talent, I better get me a coach with a whole bunch of talent. Obviously, there will be changes here. There isn’t any doubt about that. Bill Parcels was a wellestablished past his prime part who had been out of coaching since 1999. He had a remarkably successful coaching career to that point and Jerry Jones had brought him in to establish an old school toughness and identity the team needed. You better think about that cuz you can’t play if you don’t do what I tell you. You cannot play if you don’t listen to what I’m saying. Here’s an excerpt from Wikipedia. quote, “Always known for deploying psychological tactics and strategies to get the most from his players, Parcels mandated upon his arrival in 2003 that the Cowboy star placed on the helmet was a privilege reserved for players that had made the team, not a right, and informed all rookies that regardless of their draft position, it was incumbent upon them to earn the star. Since then, it’s been a regular practice for new Cowboys to earn their star. Immediately, the Cowboys saw improvement under Parcels. They went from five and 11 to 10 and six in his first season and they made the playoffs. More play action by Carter standing and looking deep down the left side for Glenn at the 15 yd line and down inside the 10. They possessed a much better defense which ended up being one of the best in the NFL that season. However, things quickly faded. They didn’t make the playoffs the next two seasons and they just didn’t have the same level of defense that they had. Plus, they were struggling to build any continuity on offense. The main issue was Parcels had a different main starting quarterback in each of his four seasons as the Cowboys head coach. Quincy Carter was a young quarterback who showed promise at times, but he failed multiple drug tests that led to his sudden departure in 2004. Vinnie Testie was a 41-year-old journeyman on his last legs. Drew Bledo was also in the twilight of his career and had the most success of these three, but his play began to fade in his second year with the Cowboys. Midway through the 2006 season, Parcels decided to make a change at quarterback. And he went with the pretty unknown and undrafted quarterback Tony Romo. You’re going to get killed out, huh? They’d be licking their chops. You’d be like Liveron Ry, huh? Little pepperoni there. So, we got a little pepperoni back here we can have for lunch. Romo had been with the team for two and a half years to that point and had gained favor from the staff. Fourth and nine. They just ran off the linebacker. Fires over the middle. Right at the goal line. He’s not there. He’s got to get up and spike it. Right at the goal line. Antonio Romo to the end zone. You can see how happy this moment made Bill Parcels. That preseason earned Romo a roster spot in 2004. Now in 2006, it was his turn to show off his game in the regular season, and he made it clear he belonged. And by the way, Tony Romo is coming in now at quarterback. And Romo back to throw his first NFL pass deep down the left side for Sam Herd. Fade caught it leaping in the air at the 5 yd line and down to the four game. Here’s second and goal and a busted play and Romo throws it out to Owens and it’s caught on the left side of the end zone for a touchdown. In 10 regular season games, he went on to surprise the entire NFL, leading the league in yards per pass attempt, put up one of the highest quarterback ratings in the NFL, and earned Pro Bowl honors. Also in 2006, you saw Jerry Jones do what he had done throughout his career. He had gone from Michael Irvin to Joey Galloway to Keon Johnson and now he had Terrell Owens. During Owens time in Dallas, Parcels only referred to him as quote the player. Owens had made a great connection on the field with Romo that season and he would later come to defend his quarterback in a 2008 press conference. It’s my team. It’s my quarterback. The season was good enough to get this team back to the playoffs and there was a lot of promise as they were about to win that game versus Seattle. But then this happened yd field goal attempt. Oh, it is fumbled by Romo. And then Romo’s going to run to the end zone and he’s going to get tackled by Jordan Babauo. To see a field goal attempt that goes in 99% of the time have the improbable happen was shocking to all those who witnessed it. For younger football fans, you may not remember a time when holders were quarterbacks. It was typical in those days for a team’s backup quarterback to be the team’s placeholder. What made this situation unique was that since Tony Romo took over mid-season, Dallas didn’t change their protocol, which made him the only starter in the NFL by that point, still holding for the kicker. This moment led to rule changes. The following season, the NFL introduced Kballs. These were footballs only used for kicking. Basically, they made the whole procedure easier from snap to hold to kick, and kicking accuracy hit all-time highs in ’07. Also, not too long after that, teams began to realize that since a kicker and punter spend so much time together at practice, why not just make the punter hold. By the early 2010s, everyone in the NFL was doing this. To go back to the infamous snap that was botched, what’s so crazy is he nearly scrambled into the end zone. It would have happened if it weren’t for an incredible play by the defender. Despite the successes Romo would experience throughout his career, he would never live this moment down. Also, after four seasons, Bill Parcels decided to retire once again. Jerry replaced him with Chargers defensive coordinator Wade Phillips. Although Phillips wasn’t the hard ass that Parcels was, he had a proven pedigree in the NFL, being a head coach multiple times, and he was a schematic genius on the defensive side of the ball. Under Phillips, the defense saw immediate improvement. They became one of the best in the NFL, and the offense was absolutely rolling. The 2007 season was the Cowboys most dominant season since their last Super Bowl run. The offense was unstoppable behind their trio of Romo, Owens, and Whitten, as well as their young running back, Marian Barber. The Cowboys finished 13-3, locked down the number one seed, and were the favorites to make it to the Super Bowl from the NFC. In the divisional round, they faced off against their division rival, the New York Giants. The Cowboys came in as heavy favorites to win this game. You’re Cowboys and Giants. Let’s begin with you, Howie. Frank is taking the Cowboys. Who you going with? Yeah, I’m going with the Cowboys. I’m still laughing at Frank’s piece. That’s funny. Dallas. Dallas. Dallas. All right, Jimmy. They copied off of me. I’m taking Dallas. But instead of a dominant win, they found themselves in a dog fight. New York found a way to take the lead early in the fourth. and the Cowboys got multiple opportunities to answer, but with bad intentional groundings to just barely missing on passes like these, the Cowboys fell short in the end of what was considered a shocking defeat and the Giants went on to win the Super Bowl a few weeks later. Entering 2008, despite that devastating playoff loss, the Cowboys were seen as the favorites out of the NFC and they had the second best overall Super Bowl odds. They were also featured on Hard Knocks, which only added to the hype. But despite a 4-1 start, this team faltered late and found themselves in a win- scenario versus the Philadelphia Eagles and they got worked. They were blown out in embarrassing fashion. Surprisingly, the Cowboys released Owens after the 2008 season after his performance had taken a dip. The team bounced back in 2009, finishing 11 and five with surprise breakout receiver Miles Austin. This season included dealing a revenge blowout of their own in the regular season finale versus Philly. Then they blew them out again in the wild card, but then they got destroyed by the Vikings in the divisional round. The divisional round was proving to be a problem for this team by that point. The positive takeaway here was that the Cowboys finally won a playoff game again, but like I said, they were building a reputation for brutal losses in the divisional round and at the end of seasons in general. 2010 was where the Wade Phillips era came crashing to a halt. With an aging roster, they got off to a one and five start and then Tony Romo broke his collar bone. After two more losses, Wade Phillips was fired. Under interimm head coach Jason Garrett, the turnaround in the final half of the season was substantial. Due to this late season performance, Jerry Jones decided to hire Jason Garrett as the full-time coach in 2011. Garrett was the team’s former backup quarterback throughout their dynasty and had been the offensive coordinator during that spectacular 2007 season. For the next three years, the Cowboys were in NFL purgatory, finishing 8 and8 in each of those seasons. They had the right skill pieces to build around, like Dez Bryant becoming one of the best young receivers in the NFL, but they just couldn’t quite get over the hump. The defense was a liability and holding this team back. By the end of 2013, the Cowboys had missed the playoffs four years in a row. However, finally, in 2014, things changed. caught Terrence Williams. Touchdown Cowboys. The defense was finally middle of the pack, which was enough to help support their top five offense behind the best O line in the NFL. Demarco Murray had been good prior to 2014, but that year he led the league in rushing yards. And that Cowboys season resembled that incredible 2007 season, but their 12-4 record wasn’t enough to earn them either of the top two seeds. After an ugly first half versus Detroit in the wild card, the Cowboys overcame the idea of being chokers for the time being and they pulled off the comeback with a go-ahead touchdown late in the game. The next game was an absolute classic. The Cowboys trailed and needed a touchdown. It was fourth down so it was now or never. Then this happened by Des Bryant. After review, it has been determined that the receiver did not maintain possession of the football. The Packers would run out the clock after this moment. This play eventually led to rule changes and many fans of other teams admit that this should have been a completion. Well, the hangover from this season was immense because 2015 was terrible. Romo got hurt again and the season was a painful rotation between the backup quarterbacks on the roster. one of which was Kell Moore. Despite only starting in two games in his NFL career and losing both of them, he is one of just five quarterbacks in Cowboys history to pass for over 400 yards in a game. Honestly, that’s pretty sick to me. It’s just a little fun piece of trivia. But anyways, by 2016, Ruml had been the established starter in Dallas for a decade. He had four Pro Bowls to his name and was an MVP candidate in 2014. However, he had been injured a lot through his career and unfortunately it happened again in 2016. During the preseason, he suffered a fracture in his back and at the same time fourthround rookie Dak Prescott was balling out. The field on target again for a touchdown. Dak did enough in the preseason to give fans hope for the future. And not too long after the regular season began, it was clear Romo wasn’t getting his job back. Prescott Elliot got knocked down. Throws wide open Jason Whitten to win the game. With a rookie Zeke Elliot leading the way and the best O line in the NFL, Dak complimented this offense tremendously in 2016. He went on to win rookie of the year and was even an MVP candidate that season, which is something I talked about all the way back when I first started making videos on this channel. The 2016 Cowboys were the best rendition of the franchise since 2007. And in some ways, they were better. Like 2007, they locked up the number one seed and had high expectations for a Super Bowl run in the playoffs. Once again, they faced off against the Packers in the playoffs. And this was an absolute classic. At first, the Cowboys looked completely overwhelmed, going down 28 to 13. And after this interception, many thought the game was over. But Dallas stormed back, tied it up, and these teams went back and forth. It looked like the game was going to go to overtime. But then A-Rod made one of the greatest throws I’ve ever seen. Then Mason Crosby broke the hearts of Cowboys fans as time expired. This one was less of a Cowboys choke job and more of just a Hall of Fame level moment by Aaron Rogers. This was a stunning and painful defeat, but it seemed like the team at least had a young nucleus of talent that gave them hope for a bright future. However, the rest of the Jason Gara era was pretty underwhelming. They missed the playoffs the following season. Then the next year they did win in the wildard round, but they lost again in the divisional round. Then they would miss the playoffs again in 2019, which was the final straw for Jason Garrett. Despite coaching the team for 10 years, he didn’t exactly have the love of the fan base due to his mediocre clock management, lack of a fiery attitude, and the constant annoying clapping. 2019 was such a weird year because they outscored their opponents by over a 100red points yet they didn’t make the playoffs. It probably was due to bad coaching. Well, their next hire certainly got more consistency out of the Cowboys. Mike McCarthy was a Super Bowl winning head coach. He was never given as much credit as the typical championship coach because he had Aaron Rodgers. Overall, he was not seen as a great hire or a bad hire. Somewhere in the middle. 2020 was the first season in the McCarthy era and it was pretty rough, but they bounced back in 2021 with the number one offense in the NFL. They went on to win 12 games and they made the playoffs. Similar to that Green Bay playoff game in 2016, the Cowboys were getting worked for most of the game, but they came barreling back and brought themselves within six late. And infamously, Dak had that draw play that just took too much time, ending the game in stunning fashion. In 2022, they were once again a 12- win team, and they managed to win in the wildard round, and again, they played the Niners in the playoffs. This time around, the Cowboys just couldn’t muster up enough offense, and it cost them in the end. Once again, in 2023, they won 12 games again. The one thing you could say about the McCarthy era was that they were damn consistent in the regular season. And Dak had his best season of his career, going on to earn second team allpro honors and runner up for MVP. In the wildard round, the Cowboys were massive favorites against the Green Bay Packers, who no longer had Aaron Rodgers, and they were kind of an underdog team to make it into the playoffs in the first place. However, the Cowboys got rocked. This one was an absolute shocker. Love zips it in there. It’s caught for the touchdown. Romeo D. The thing with the Cowboys is they seem to do this every year. They have this awesome team on paper and then they really do prove it in the regular season. And enough people convince themselves that this is the year they’re finally arrived. Then history happens again. And those who have been preaching the message of same old Cowboys are again proven correct. Recency bias makes you forget what history is telling you. That this is the same old Cowboys. 2024 was a year where it all fell apart. Dak got injured again and in his absence, the team finished seven and 10 and Mike McCarthy wouldn’t return in 2025. His Cowboys tenure began with Dak sustaining a season ending injury and ended with another. And this brings us to today. The Cowboys enter the 2025 season with Brian Shodenheimer as their head coach. As a first-time head coach, he’s considered by many to be a disappointing hire considering the pool of potential guys they could have had. Well, where are Jerry’s priorities right now? It’s like, does he just want to save some money here with Brian Shottnimer? Did he get into a situation that he never thought he’d be in and then didn’t know who to talk to? They’re just they have really fallen to me, John. Uh, and I don’t take any pleasure in saying this, they’ve become a little like Cleveland. They’re a little like the Jets. They’re not as chaotic, but they’re they’re really a second tier franchise. Whether it’s Jerry Jones having too much control or paying B quarterbacks A+ quarterback money or the players simply just choking when it matters most, there really isn’t another team like the Cowboys. The late former player Uch Noaneri, rest in peace, gave an interesting perspective on Reddit from his brief time with the Cowboys. The whole thing is worth reading and I’ll link below. For this video, I will pick out a few quotes that stand out to me. quote, “In my short time playing in Dallas, I learned a lot about the circus environment that is the world of the Dallas Cowboys. The Dallas Cowboys fail because they have an owner who has interjected himself in the daily operations of a professional sports franchise. When I first walked into the Cowboys facility as a free agent signing after leaving Jacksonville, I was filled with excitement. Yet, that would soon turn to annoyance as I was constantly reminded of the privilege it was to play for the Dallas Cowboys. Posters and signage plastered all around the facility pushed a message of prestige and inflated arrogance. And as a player who came from a small market team in the Jaguars, I could sense that arrogance a mile away. It was as if we were in some alternate universe in which the Cowboys were defending Super Bowl champs. It was quite mind-boggling to me that the staff headed by Garrett was promoting a false culture around a mystique that had long since faded in the mind of those who had lived outside the cultural bubble of the silver and blue. In the end, for better and for worse, Jerry Jones is responsible for the constant failings of the Dallas Cowboys. The locker room in Dallas buckles under the immense pressure and hype created by long past success until he steps back and lets go of the power he has embellished himself in. Nothing will change. Second and two here though. Here’s Prescott over the middle. It’s going to be picked off and no one in front of him. Darnell Savage touchdown.

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Outro- The Fix by Aldous Young