Getty Chief Operating Officer Stephen Jones was not happy with Cowboys fans throwing trash at players.
Dallas Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones is not a happy camper these days.
Not only did the Cowboys lose to their hated NFC rivals, the San Francisco 49ers, in the first round of the NFL playoffs, fans at AT&T Stadium didn’t exactly display the classiest of gestures following the loss.
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After Dallas lost in heartbreaking fashion to the 49ers, fans pelted players and referees with trash as they walked off of the field. Jane Slater of The NFL Network showed one such video of the incident.
While appearing on Dallas-area radio station 105.3 The Fan, Jones directly addressed the subject and ripped Cowboys fans for the gesture.
“That’s just unfortunate. That’s not the way I see our fans,” Jones said. “I think we’re class acts. I just think there’s no place for things like that. I understand being frustrated, but I don’t understand throwing things onto the field where people can get injured. There’s just no place for that.”
Prescott on Fans Throwing Trash: ‘Credit to Them’
While Jones understandably took issue with the matter, Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott took the high road on the subject. When informed that the trash was intended to be thrown at the referees, the Cowboys franchise quarterback didn’t have too much of a problem with the incident.
“Credit to them, then,” he said. “The fans felt the same way as us. I guess that’s why the refs took off and got out of there so fast. I think everybody is upset with the way this thing played out.”
The loss to the lower-seeded 49ers means the Cowboys will exit the playoffs one-and-done for the seventh time in their last 10 postseason appearances.
Prescott Defends Final Play Call
In one of the oddest endings in NFL history, the Cowboys lost following a designed 17-yard run to the 49ers 24-yard-line by Prescott. As Dallas attempted to spike the ball before time elapsed, they failed to do so in time.
Despite the failure of the play, Prescott defended the play call following the game.
“We’ve practiced it,” Prescott said. “You hand it to the center. The umpire, all he has to do is usually come in and tap the ball. Don’t necessarily know exactly … why the hit (with the official) happened, I guess. Yeah, I know he’s going to come in and touch the ball. We could say, ‘Yeah, he needs to be closer to the ball,’ or whatever, but in hindsight, it’s just tough. Just tough to accept.”
Head coach Mike McCarthy took a similar approach following the game, instead deflecting blame to the official.
“I have never seen that come down the way it came down, as far as the collision between the umpire and the quarterback,” McCarthy remarked on January 16. “We were trying to get inside the 30-yard line to set up the last play. The mechanics were intact, I felt, from our end of it.
The communication that I was given on the sideline that they were reviewing it, they were going to put time back on the clock. And the next thing I know, they’re running off the field. So, that’s the only facts I have for you. … Yeah, he [the referee] thought they were going to put time back on the clock.”