The Dallas Cowboys are known to be “America’s team” yet they are probably the most hated sports franchise in the country. So when the Cowboys lost to the LA Rams in the divisional round this year, there was cheer more than sadness among football fans.
Former Dallas Cowboys and running back legend Emmitt Smith knows firsthand playing for the Cowboys for 12 seasons. Smith went on Golic and Wingo this morning and explained how the Cowboys are nationally hated and/or loved.
“Kind of like the Patriots,” Smith said, “I mean you either love us or hate us.”
Smith continues to explain how the hate and love towards the Cowboys and Patriots are similar.
“Mostly hated for various reasons. (Patriots) been here nine times in 18 years,” Smith said, “It’s beyond the numbers. It’s about performance. They have performed better than any other organization in the lat 18 years.”
As a Cowboy back in the 1990s, Smith made it to the playoffs eight times and out of those eight times, won three Super Bowls.
“When you’re in the spotlight that much, people have the tendency to start picking at things that they don’t like about you versus what they do like about you.”
One thing people starting picking at was the Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett after their divisional round loss to the Rams. Jerry Jones made some moves after that lost by firing their offensive coordinator Scott Linehan and not extending Jason Garrett’s contract.
“I think it’s the right thing to do. You give yourself options. You give him a chance. He know what the deal is,” Smith said.
Even though he agrees with it, he sees the Cowboys improvement under Garrett.
“What people should look at is beyond the numbers sometimes. When you have a team that stats off the way the Dallas Cowboys did this past year – he got everything together. He kept the team together,” Smith continues, “There are a number of things I think the Cowboys have done this past year that we can be proud of and build up on and now it’s a matter of can we follow up.”
Garrett will have one more chance after commendable season and this will also be his star rookies, Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott, last year of their rookie contract. It will be a very intriguing 2019 season in Dallas.