Dallas Cowboys legend Emmitt Smith is no longer buying what the franchise has been selling for the last few years.
Smith offered a scathing assessment of the Cowboys from top to bottom in a Friday appearance on “PFT Live," saying that he was “completely surprised” that coach Mike McCarthy was retained after the team’s ugly 48-32 home playoff loss to Green Bay while suggesting that the decision reflected poorly on owner Jerry Jones.
“Things have to change,” Smith said, via Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. “I thought the reason why I was so convinced that [McCarthy] was going to get fired because last year there was a whole lot of talk about ‘OK, this might be it. If he doesn’t perform this year, OK.’ You’re gonna accept 12 wins and the playoff berth, but you’re gonna accept the way we got kicked out of the playoffs? I mean, dominated.”
Smith outright accused Cowboys players of living off the team’s history and legacy, arguing that “no one wants to fight hard anymore” and that current players lap up attention without deserving any plaudits. Smith said he and his peers had great respect for the legends that came before them and that teams of his era did not want to disappoint them, but instead sought to build off that legacy. To Smith, that has not carried over to today’s players.
“I’m tired of being sold on what the Cowboys could be,” Smith said. “I’m tired. I’ve had enough of it because I’m more about what the Cowboys really are. And who we really are and who we were. That’s where I’m at. That’s where everyone else is at. How do you allow this to happen?”
Presumably, the organization will be aware of Smith’s comments, which are downright brutal. Jones presumably will not be happy at the implication that he is content with how the season ended, and questioning the pride of the team’s current players is bold as well.
Jones has made some fairly significant promises about the upcoming season. Smith does not sound interested in hearing them, but wants to see them backed up by action.
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