New Dallas Cowboys documentary on Netflix

Rooting allegiances aside, American sports fans in the 1990s were largely fixated by two teams: The NBA ‘s Chicago Bulls and NFL’s Dallas Cowboys. Now, three decades on, Netflix is learning that recipe still works. Five years after Netflix’s successful documentary about Chicago’s final championship, The Last Dance , it’s Dallas’ turn with ‘America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys.’

It may not offer quite as much behind-the-scenes footage as The Last Dance, which benefitted from a scrapped documentary that went unused for 20 years, but Netflix’s latest offering is having a similar impact with audiences. ‘Even though I rarely binge anything these days, I went through all of America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys ,’ one fan wrote online. ‘It has more melodrama than The Last Dance, but I’d argue it’s a far superior sports documentary series.’ ‘I’m four episodes in, but this Cowboys doc is better than the Last Dance,’ another added.

Even admitting to a ‘generous portrayal’ of controversial team owner Jerry Jones, Awful Announcing’s Ben Axelrod also thought the eight-part series was ‘better’ than Last Dance. In particular, Axelrod was intrigued by the episode focusing on Jones’ volatile relationship with Cowboys coach, Jimmy Johnson, who was hired to replace the legendary Tom Landry after Jones bought the team for just $150 million in 1989. (Today the Cowboys are the most valuable franchise in sports with estimates at over $12 billion) A national champion at Miami, Johnson was also a college football teammate and friend of Jones’ at Arkansas, making him a natural choice to take over a team that went 3-13 in 1988. The turnaround happened within just a few seasons.

Dallas already had receiver Michael Irvin, Johnson’s best player at Miami, but would soon draft quarterback Troy Aikman. Later, in what many consider the most lopsided trade in NFL history, Dallas sent former Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker to the Minnesota Vikings for a bevy of picks that ultimately became Hall-of-Fame running back Emmitt Smith, star defensive tackle Russell Maryland and Pro Bowl safety Darren Woodson. After a 1-15 season in 1989, Dallas went to 7-9 in 1990 and 11-5 in 1991 before surviving a brutally tough NFC East division to win back-to-back Super Bowls in 1992 and 1993.

But success wasn’t enough for the team’s owner and general manager, Jones. He also wanted some of the credit, much of which was going to the charismatic Johnson. Things quickly grew icy. At an owners meeting in Orlando, former Cowboys defensive coordinator Dave Wannstedt remembered Jones raising a glass to toast the team’s 1993 title only for Johnson to refuse. Later that night, reporters Ed Werder and Rick Gosselin recalled, Jones told them: ‘Don’t leave now. You’ll miss the story of the year. I’m going to fire that [expletive] Jimmy Johnson, that disloyal son of a [expletive].’

Once again, Jones fired a legendary coach, this time setting Johnson free before the 1994 season. And once again, Jones replaced his Super Bowl-winning coach with another Arkansas teammate of his who’d also won a national championship at the college leve: Oklahoma’s Barry Switzer. Both Johnson and Jones would go on to have success separately, Johnson with the Dolphins and Jones with Switzer in Dallas, where they’d win another Super Bowl in 1995.

The series goes on to tackle the team’s many controversies, including an episode titled ‘Cocaine Cowboy’ about Irvin’s off-field struggles, as well as the team’s ultimate descent. It also includes a final chapter for Johnson and Jones, who admittedly struggled to get over his animosity for his former friend and coach.

While undergoing his recently revealed cancer treatment in New York, Jones was advised by a doctor to ‘make a list of 10 people who can just boil your blood’ so that he could wish for them to have greater things in their life. ‘At No. 1, I wrote down the name “Jimmy Johnson,”‘ Jones said, as quoted by the Morning News. ‘I went back to the female doctor a few weeks later and said, “I can’t get past that first mother…”