Who Cares More About Cowboys: Loyal Fans or Stephen A. Smith?

FRISCO - Nobody cried at AT&T Stadium Sunday afternoon. But that didn't stop Stephen A. Smith from laughing Monday morning.

Continuing, fabricating and escalating the foundational straw man argument that has become his entire disingenuous facade of a TV persona, the ESPN host is tripling-down on being happy when the Dallas Cowboys lose. When, let's face it, fewer fans seem to care about them losing.

There was a smattering of boos after one Dak Prescott-CeeDee Lamb miscommunication. And, of course, lots of sad faces forced to watch the embarrassing 47-9 blowout loss to the Detroit Lions. But, for the most part, Cowboys fans that arrived in Arlington convinced this year's team wasn't good enough to contend for a Super Bowl departed with the same feeling.

Sorry to harpoon your professional villain character, Stephen. A., but nobody is burning their "Super Bowl or Bust" banners ... because they never hung them in the first place.

"I didn't know it was that bad. They stink!" said a chortling Smith, for some reason wearing a cartoonish black Stetson and wielding a "victory cigar" after a Week 6 game. "They've regressed to the point to where they are ruining kids' lives!"

No serious person takes Stephen A. Smith seriously.

I grew up as a kid in DFW who did indeed cry when the Cowboys lost. I begged not to go to school after stinging defeats, as to avoid ridicule from classmates who knew my rabid fan loyalty. But that was after Super Bowl losses to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Does Stephen A. really think fans - who haven't experienced grand success in 28 years - are distraught over a mid-October loss to the Lions in a season in which no one outside of Jerry Jones believed they were ever good enough to make it to February?

Jones promised last January to be "All in!" And then he wasn't. His fans have followed suit.

In the wake of the stunning playoff loss to the Green Bay Packers, the Cowboys were stagnant in free agency. Talent left. Dan Quinn left. Very little was added in skill or schematics.

After being dismantled by a Lions team that was favored to win, by the way, Jones claimed he was shocked. Can't say the same for fans who have now witnessed three home games in which the Cowboys have trailed by at least 22 points.

Related: Cowboys (Again) Humiliated at Home by Lions, 47-9: Top 10 Whitty Observations

Proof in the pudding: Dallas has three wins this season. One over the 1-5 Cleveland Browns. One over the 2-4 New York Giants. One over the Steelers, on the final play of the game.

The giddy revelation that the Cowboys aren't one of the best teams in football isn't the flex that Smith believes it is. He's deteriorating into a one-prop comic, and by now no one is moved one way or the other by his antics that are equal parts silly and scripted.

Stephen A.: "Hahaha, the Cowboys are a mediocre football team that ain't winnin' no division, much less a Super Bowl!"

Cowboys Fan: "Um ... you're just realizing this?"

Related: Bulldozed! Jerry's 'Blow It Up' Cowboys Exposed in Debacle vs. Lions

The Cowboys maybe in “Blow It Up” process, as our Mike Fisher reports. But they can - and will - get better. Key contributors such as Micah Parsons, DeMarcus Lawrence, DaRon Bland, Brandin Cooks and Tyler Guyton will return. And, thankfully, they won't play the Lions every week.

But until they drastically improve, Jones will get spoon-fed the one thing he fears most in his life: fan apathy. And until then, Stephen A. will continue gleefully badgering a Cowboys Nation that is invested in their team's success considerably less than he is in their failures.

At this point the only debate is determining what Cowboys fans believe less: That their team will make it to the Super Bowl? Or that Stephen A. Smith genuinely dislikes their team?