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On Sunday, during the Cowboys’ 34-6 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas wide receiver Ceedee Lamb completely missed a sure touchdown pass from Cooper Rush because he didn’t see the football through the glare of the sun shining through AT&T Stadium.
Had Lamb caught the pass, the Cowboys would have gone up 10-7. Instead, they kicked a field goal and didn’t score again the rest of the game.
After the game, Ceedee Lamb confirmed that the sun was the reason for the missed pass connection, adding he is “one thousand percent” in favor of installing curtains in the stadium.
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
As it turns out, Jerry Jones wouldn’t even have to install curtains at AT&T Stadium. They already have them and the curtains do get used for events like concerts.
Jones, upon hearing yet another complaint about the sun causing issues on the playing field, blasted the idea of using the curtains during games.
“Well, let’s tear the damn stadium down and build another one?” Jones replied when asked about it on Sunday. “Are you kidding me?”
In an ironic twist, Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy held his weekly press conference and because of the blinding glare, the team set up a giant sun shield.
On Tuesday, Jerry Jones was asked during his weekly appearance on 105.3 FM The Fan about the idea of using the curtains during games.
“Of all the things that we need to improve, that is way down the list of improvement,” Jerry Jones replied. “All I can say is that stadium was built to feel like you’re outdoors. And it was built to have sunlight come in every way that you could put it out there as though it were open air, yet still being inside.
“It’s the largest air conditioned space in the world, the stadium. It has over three million cubic feet of air conditioned space. My biggest thought when we were building it was don’t have it not look like it’s outdoors. Make it look like it was outdoors.”
“Every venue has certain things that at certain ways and times in the contest can create an advantage,” he continued. “That really goes under the category of home field advantage. And so, usually, and if there’s a field or in the case of your home field, which it is of the Dallas Cowboys, it should be an advantage to the home team.
“So I don’t want to adjust it for one reason, is because it is an advantage to us. Over the years, we’ve played 52 games that have anything to do with the time of year when that sun could be there. Obviously, eliminating night games and games where the sun is not, wouldn’t be involved. We’ve had 52 games, we’ve won the majority… It has been an advantage to know where the sun is and I don’t want to change that.”