Let’s get this out of the way. The sun isn’t the reason why the Dallas Cowboys lost a 34-6 clunker to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday. However, the sun causing issues during their highly-anticipated Week 10 matchup is kind of a microcosm for the Cowboys’ season as a whole.
The Cowboys’ $1.3 billion stadium has made a name for itself over the years for having some truly ridiculous sun glare, especially after the transition back to standard time in the fall. It’s a problem that has made itself known time and time again, yet it’s an issue that team owner Jerry Jones doesn’t seem to want to fix.
On Sunday, during a Cowboys drive in Eagles territory, CeeDee Lamb was wide open for a touchdown, but missed the ball thanks to the glare from the sun leaking through the windows in the stadium. Lamb even gestured to quarterback Cooper Rush after the play that the sun blinded him and prevented him from making the grab.
Jerry Jones building a stadium that blinds his own players & causes losses is so on brand pic.twitter.com/Nb9VK3FbEQ
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) November 10, 2024
After Sunday’s game, Lamb even voiced his support for curtains during Cowboys day games. Curtains which the stadium has and uses for events like concerts, but not for NFL games. For some reason.
CeeDee Lamb says he couldn’t see the ball, on Cooper Rush’s throw into the endzone.
Q: Are you in favor of curtains?
“Yes. 100%”
Q: Will you tell Jerry that?
“I mean, y’all are doing my job for me right now.”
— Mike Leslie (@MikeLeslieWFAA) November 11, 2024
Jones, however, seemingly hasn’t thought about curtains as a solution, as his response to a postgame question about them speaks volumes.
“Well, let’s tear the damn stadium down and build another one? Are you kidding me?”
A frustrated Jerry Jones had some comments about the sun impacting play at AT&T Stadium: “By the way, we know where the sun is going to be when we decide to flip the coin or not. We do know where the damn sun is going to be in our own stadium.”
Why not put up curtains over the… pic.twitter.com/28skNrZYBq
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) November 11, 2024
Yikes. There is a very easy fix for this problem and Jones just … doesn’t want to do it. For vanity or pride reasons, most likely. Like I said before, a pretty apt comparable to the Cowboys’ overall season, but swap the sun for firing Mike McCarthy.
NFL fans, of course, took this opportunity to roast Jones for the Cowboys’ glaring sun issues that impacted the team on Sunday.
Jerry Jones built a monument to his ego, a stadium with everything you would ever need, except for the ability to block the sun from blinding players, which nobody thought could be an issue pic.twitter.com/L0GGocM97r
— Philly Sports Sufferer (@mccrystal_alex) November 10, 2024
Jerry Jones spent all that money and we got glares on replays and a punt returner staring right into the sun.
— Ray Dunne (@RayDunne975) November 10, 2024
Jerry Jones to every Cowboys WR staring directly into the sun in an enclosed stadium he built pic.twitter.com/Q8ZOrCn5YL
— Matt Wagner (@MattWagner23) November 10, 2024
For the people that aren’t aware, the Cowboys can block the sun from shining into the stadium like that, but Jerry Jones likes the way the sun looks on TV.
— B. Miller (@BlaiseInKC) November 10, 2024
CeeDee Lamb literally lost the ball on what could have been a touchdown for the Dallas Cowboys because he was staring into this.
Jerry Jones willfully doing things that hurt his football team remains one of the most frustrating things going on with the Cowboys. pic.twitter.com/f4wJumQgMi
— RJ Ochoa (@rjochoa) November 10, 2024
Jerry Jones built a billion dollar stadium and every mid-day game there’s an hour’s + worth of sun rays blasting across the field.
— Jacob Gilmore (@jacobdgilmore) November 10, 2024
I know that Jerry Jones is overblamed and it's hard to sift through the real issues and the fake issues.
But as for the sunlight issue, there's a very simple fix and Jerry refuses to acknowledge it.
— Dan Rogers (@DannyPhantom24) November 11, 2024
The Sun, by Edvard Munch, 1911 pic.twitter.com/px6ZwIgoPa
— ArtButMakeItSports (@ArtButSports) November 10, 2024
Jerry Jones when asked about the design of AT&T Stadium. https://t.co/ZM20WU7cdE pic.twitter.com/8nyvFsuMqo
— Ben Stevens (@BenScottStevens) November 11, 2024
