Netflix’s 8-part docuseries “America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys” is so similar to the hit ESPN series “The Last Dance” that they could have called it “The Last Hoedown.” As entertaining as that series (about the Michael Jordan-era Chicago Bulls) was at a time when people needed a sports property to rally around during the prime of the COVID pandemic, it was also pretty obviously a puff piece, a documentary that had to be approved by its main subject. One gets the same sense watching “America’s Team”: That this has all been carefully calculated by one of the most calculating men in the history of the NFL, Jerry Jones.
However, also like “The Last Dance,” this project from the directors of the Netflix hit “Wild Wild Country” can also be wildly entertaining. In the same way that the ESPN series used the ’90s Bulls as a window into that era of the NBA, this project extends beyond the Dallas clubhouse to include other luminaries of the era, such as Jerry Rice, Steve Young, Jim Kelly, Bill Cowher, and many more. However, don’t worry, Cowboys fans, the stars of this show are the people you loved from one of the most impressive runs in sports history: the icons of the three-time Super Bowl winners, including Jimmy Johnson, Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, Michael Irvin, and Deion Sanders. They are all excellent interview subjects, skillfully edited by Chapman and McClain Way in a way that makes you overlook the fact that it’s both exhaustive and shallow at the same time.
One of the highlights of “America’s Team” comes at the opening of the fifth episode. The Dallas Cowboys have just won two consecutive Super Bowls, but team owner Jerry Jones and head coach Jimmy Johnson are bickering over who should get credit for the victories. Friends since they were alphabetically paired together in college, Jones brought in Johnson when he purchased the Cowboys, and the two achieved historic success, laying the foundation for what is still one of the world’s biggest brands. However, they consistently fought over credit for the Cowboys, leading to increasingly petty behavior, including Johnson refusing to toast Jones with the rest of the table at an Owners’ event and Jones stating that 500 other coaches could have done what Johnson did. To start the episode, both men are forced to dig deep. They’re awkward, asking to start their sound bites over in their interview sessions. They need to get this part specifically right. The curtain drops a bit on a very curtained production, and we see what all of this has meant and still means to Jimmy Johnson and Jerry Jones. It’s not just about credit. It’s about history, legacy, broken friendships, and everything that truly matters. While it would be nice if there were more moments like it in “America’s Team,” there are enough in those uncomfortable beats or emotional pauses that speak volumes.
For the most part, the Ways provide prologue and epilogue episodes to six hours on the prime of the Dallas Cowboys. If you’re looking for a lot of Tom Landry or even a ton of early biographical stuff on Jones—the series almost depressingly skims over the racially charged allegations about a young Jones that came out a few years ago, and even that isn’t until the final chapter—you should look elsewhere. The series also never answers the question at the end of the seventh hour other than with a shrug about what could have been: “What happened to the Cowboys?” This team hasn’t even sniffed the Super Bowl in three decades, and even casual fans would probably love some answers to questions from people like Tony Romo and Jason Garrett. They’re not even mentioned. It’s all about the peak, the era that made the Cowboys into America’s Team.
Each of the three Super Bowl wins is expertly detailed, including interviews and archival footage from the games, and often the NFC Championship game as well. Here’s where “America’s Team” works best as players like Aikman, Kelly, Rice, Young, Smith, and Irvin break down key moments in these historic match-ups. Eschewing a dull ESPN Classic approach that skips the details, the Ways get their interview subjects to really break down what happened both on and off the field in those key seasons. It’s a bit ironic that the most interesting chunks of “America’s Team” occur when Jones is pushed to the side and players get to discuss issues like how they played for Johnson versus Barry Switzer or Aikman’s notorious temper. That stuff is gold, and it’s very well-directed by the Ways.
The best Jerry Jones material is also the off-field stuff, especially how he essentially broke the business of the NFL by striking a singular business deal with Nike in an era when sponsorship was structured on a league level instead of a team level. The image of Jones as a gambler is a bit overplayed, but there is a striking reality to “America’s Team” in that it almost doesn’t matter that his gambles haven’t paid off in over a generation. Whatever you say about his truly bizarre negotiation tactics, it’s striking to watch the octogenarian getting emotional during the 2024 playoff game versus the Packers, one in which his Cowboys were yet again embarrassed on a national stage. And it’s just as striking to realize that it didn’t matter: the Cowboys are still the most valuable property in the NFL, valued at over $11 billion (Jerry paid $140 million, for the record). In the end, there’s something remarkable about a team that can keep losing and yet be as popular as ever. It doesn’t matter if they win or lose. How American.
Whole series screened for review. Starts on Netflix on August 19th.
