Jerry Jones vs. NFL: Who Will Pay to Move Cowboys Video Screen?

The NFL's Competition Committee is meeting to discuss the efficacy of keeping a video screen in place at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Only in a monument to excess could this happen, but nonetheless it has.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones showed off his $1 billion+ edifice during a weekend, pre-season NFL game against the Tennessee Titans. During the game, the Titans kicker had his punt bounce off the bottom of the excruciatingly huge video screen that hangs 90 feet from the playing surface.

When the Titans coach wanted to stop play and have a replay decide if a "do-over" was in order, he was told it wasn't on the list of reviewable plays and, by the way, no officials saw it. Television replays clearly showed the kick bounce and now we're off to the races.

Jeff Fisher, the Titans coach and a member of the competition committee, is making a big deal over this. He wants the league to decide if the screen should be moved or if a new rule should be instituted for similar situations in which the screen interferes with the flight of the football.

Oh the drama! Jerry Jones has already weighed in and basically said "hell, no, it won't move." I guess he and his investors are tapped out after the price tag for the entire project. And besides, why not point fingers at the NFL for its final approval of all elements in the new stadium.

Here's what it might sound like during an initial phone call between the bombastic team owner and the lawyers for the NFL:

Jones: Jeff Fisher embarrassed me by going to the competition committee about this, and for what? Because his punter aimed at it and struck it on purpose? This is hogwash, you know it and I'm not inclined to do a thing.

NFL: Now Jerry, no one is telling you to move it yet. Roger wants us to see if we could at least look at the cost to do that if it's necessary.

Jones: I'm told it will cost at least $25,000,000 and right now I've got moths flying out of my pockets. You get my drift, right?

NFL: From those suits you wear, really? Well, I've checked notes from our review and ultimate sign-off Jerry and we relied on the assurances you gave us that this was tested 10 ways from Sunday.

Jones: Hey now, you guys were crawling all over this place. Don't tell me you didn't have your own tests. And here's what I've got in my notes, I was told it had to be hung no less than 85 feet from the ground. I went five feet beyond that.

NFL: I'm looking at the papers we all signed and it clearly points to your tests as the definitive ones. We told you what the minimum height needed to be, not the correct height. See where I'm going with this?

Jones: Oh yeah, I can see. And let me tell you something, I'm not liking it. All you had to do was to bring a kicker with a strong leg to your final inspection and have him kick it. I thought Roger was such a stickler for detail.

NFL: What about your kicker?

Jones: He says he's kicking it as high as the special teams coach told him to. And that's pretty high. Are you saying I don't have the best punter on this team? Hmmm, let me call Wade about that.

NFL: You do that Jerry. Maybe this is all about who is wearing a Cowboys uniform and less about contracts.

Jones: I'll get back to you.

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Comments

[Sinick]

Easy answer(s):

1) Ticketholders
2) Taxpayers

[yankees]

How right you are!

[Jackson Williams - Huffpost Blogger]

It turns out the NFL rule for things above the field is 85 feet, and this is 90 feet, so it is within specs.

On the other hand, most punters could hit it any time they wanted.

On the third hand (I apparently have one), most punters wouldn't hit it. There were 14 punts in that Dallas-Tennessee game (9 by the Titans and 5 by the Cowboys) and the thing got hit once. So there you are. Not bad numbers. Also, the plan with a punt is to go down the field in addition to "hang time."

I say the league needs to 1/ change the rules so that the game clock is reset if the board is hit (to avoid teams hitting it on purpose to run time off the clock), 2/ have the official who sits in the press box be charged with watching the trajectory of the ball to see if it hits the board (so the on-field refs don't have to worry about that), and 3/ do nothing else at the moment. If it needs to be upped from 90 feet to 95 or 100 feet, then let's wait for evidence to justify it. It'll come soon enough.

There's a really good story posted on Tuesday's Dallas Morning News website about physics and angles, etc, related to the Cowboys scoreboard: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/stories/082509dnspocowlede.3ff1433.html

[Shawna Vercher]

Maybe most punts didn't hit the board during the first game, but you've got to think that it's a right of passage for punters to hit it now. It's like dunking a basketball or when Janakowski used to try and get kick-offs through the field goal posts at a Florida State game.

Jones just dared punters across the league to aim for his new toy and now it's a game of chicken - will the NFL blink first when a team figures out how to abuse the loopholes in the system and win dirty or will the Cowboys balk the first time the board costs them a game.

One other point...baseball (which I rarely point to as a model for any professional sport) has rules that are stadium specific like hitting the catwalk at the Trop, etc. Maybe it's time that the NFL considers it as these stadium specs get more and more elaborate.

[iamfinch]

Yeah it really angers me but more likely than not once the board costs the Cowboys a game will they finally do something about it.

I cannot believe Wade Phillips's statement last weekend when he said "hopefully we can figure out a way to play the screen to our advantage" suggesting punters practice accurate kicking through the rafters (as the rule stands if it does not touch it is still a live ball) This is deliberate interference and ranks right up there with cheating if you ask me.