If the Dallas Cowboys aren’t the most prominent team in the NFL in terms of attention, they’re pretty close. That’s a large part of what brings so much attention to their three-decade-long Lombardi Trophy drought. A new Netflix documentary series, “America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys,” won’t do the franchise many favors in quieting those criticisms.
Talking on the “DLLS Cowboys Podcast” on Tuesday, Cowboys insider Clarence Hill Jr., the longest-tenured beat writer covering the team, discussed how the documentary will only stoke the flames for fans and pundits who wonder why the team hasn’t been able to make it back to the top of the mountain since 1996, its third of three Super Bowl crowns during that decade.
“They’re selling this trailer. They’re selling the gambler and the making of the Cowboys,” Hill said. “Michael (Irvin), Deion (Sanders), Troy (Aikman), Nate (Newton), Jerry (Jones) … They’re talking about the ’90s and firing Tom Landry and they’ve got all this stuff. They’re selling this thing to the public.
“They’re selling history. They’re not selling what’s happening now. They’re selling about the ’90s. That’s all that’s prominent they’re selling. They’re not selling Dak (Prescott), they’re not selling Dez (Bryant), they’re not selling CeeDee (Lamb), they’re not selling (Tony) Romo.”
Each of the four stars Hill listed has tried to bring Jerry Jones' Cowboys back to the game’s forefront. Prescott and Lamb will do so again this upcoming season, but Dallas hasn’t been back to an NFC Championship game since it won Super Bowl XXX after the 1995 season.
“The ’90s don’t matter, have no impact on this team and what they’re doing,” Hill said. “These players are different. Yes, that’s the specter that hangs over this organization. Everything they do, everything they’ve gotten is about what happened in the ’90s. They’re thinking Frisco, they’re thinking Arlington. It’s about the ’90s.
“To think that you can walk into that building and think, ‘It’s just about us?’ No, it’s about the ’90s. That’s the standard. That’s what’s held over their head and, to me, this documentary proves that even more. They have this thing hanging over their head, this 30-year drought, because of the championships of the past.”
Detailing the Cowboys documentary series
America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys will premiere on Aug. 19. The voices of Emmitt Smith, Aikman, Irvin and Sanders will be featured. Former Cowboys head coaches Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer will also be part of the series, along with former United States President George W. Bush and Nike co-founder Phil Knight.
First-hand interviews and never-before-seen footage are promised in what Netflix says, “unravels the dramatic twists and turns on the road to the ’90s Cowboys becoming football legends.”