Record TV viewership proves the Cowboys' enduring "America's Team" status. ... no matter what critics and rivals claim.
FRISCO - It's now an annual NFL event, all driven by "the nationals and the casuals'' who clearly either don't understand or don't respect what "America's Team'' means.
The latest stab at trying to assign the Dallas Cowboys' nickname to another team comes courtesy of none other than CBS play-by-play man Jim Nantz, who on Thanksgiving worked the Chiefs-Cowboys and apparently suggested that the nickname could be bestowed on another club.
Hey, Jim: Look around you! Your own network just released the numbers, and that Dallas win over KC was watched by a record 57.2 million people. ... setting a new regular-season TV record.
Oh, and it shattered the previous record by 32 percent!
Oh, and who played in that previous-record game? The Cowboys, of course.
Nantz' salary on that day was literally justified by the fact that you (well, 57.2 million of you) watched his game!
This "move-the-nickname'' folly is commonplace every time Dallas doesn't win the Super Bowl.
The height of hilarity? In 2023, ProFootballTalk.com noted that NBC's "Football Night in America'' host Maria Taylor "has suggested a couple of times in recent weeks that the Jets might be the new America’s Team. And she might be right.''
What was Taylor's reasoning? What was PFT's reasoning? It seems that Sunday’s Eagles vs. Jets game brought more than 26 million viewers to Fox, and that now each of the top three most-watched games of that year at that time involved the Jets.
So ... the Jets are "America's Team of the Month''?!
We assume Taylor is aware of how this really works, and we're sure PFT does ... and that PFT is simply trying to gain some poke-the-bear traction with its outrageous headline: "The New York Jets might be the new America's Team.''
But just in case: The Jets being a hip attraction on TV in the first few weeks of a singular NFL season is a blip on the radar in terms of NFL popularity, which is of course founded in decades of fandom. (We also assume, without even looking it up, that one of those "highly-rated Jets games'' was against Dallas, meaning it was actually a "highly-rated Cowboys game.'')
Oh, and in 2023, the Jets finished 7-10. ... and America barely cared.
There is something more here, something bigger than a month of TV ratings, something bigger than even the Patriots or the Steelers or the 49ers winning multiple Super Bowls in an era: No matter how many times and no matter how many teams stake their claim ...
It's the Cowboys' nickname. Dallas as "America's Team'' is etched in stone.
A couple years ago, as Washington owner Josh Harris took over that franchise and said, "I’ve seen the numbers: The Commanders were once the No. 1 franchise in the NFL back when they were the Redskins, not the Dallas Cowboys.''
That's not how this works.
As the Chiefs have gained popularity featuring superfan Taylor Swift, KC's tried to steal the moniker.
That's now how this works.
"America's Team'' is not a WWE belt that changes hands year to year based on the whims of the media or even on the Super success of a franchise.
Pittsburgh is "The Steel Curtain.'' Not even in a season in which the Steelers defense isn't impregnable do the Ravens or the Browns get to call themselves, "The Steel Curtain.''
The Montreal Canadiens are "Les Habs,'' regardless of whether they have a poor season. "Bronx Bombers,'' "Phi Slamma Jamma,'' "The Purple People Eaters,'' "Monsters of the Midway''? These concepts are not transferrable.
They are ... official.
NFL Films created the Cowboys-as-"America's Team'' connection in 1978. (The fact that it was a sales-and-marketing ploy is actually quite fitting for a Jerry Jones-run business. Jerry loves it as much as coach Tom Landry hated it.)
It stuck, for better ... and yes, sometimes for worse, when Dallas fails and gets mocked for it. And that's all the more reason Cowboys Nation owns it; it doesn't go away when the team fails, even though some fans might wish it to.
Other states have lakes. But Minnesota is "The Land of 10,000 Lakes.'' Period.
Other states have sunshine (Florida) and sunflowers (Kansas) and enchantment (New Mexico).
Oh, and stars.
But Texas is "The Lone Star State'' because it is.
The Jets being interesting? Fleeting. The Chiefs being cheered for by a celebrity? Fun! The Patriots as a dynasty? Impressive.
But the Dallas Cowboys as "America's Team''? The nationals and the casuals aside, that's forever.