Andrew Hawkins likens Bill Belichick in Dallas to a king in a circus

The Dallas Cowboys are a broken football team.

Without much of an identity, they’re led by head coach Mike McCarthy and owner/GM Jerry Jones, who has pretty much told his team at every twist and turn leading into the 2024 NFL season that he’s already bought enough ingredients and that it’s time to make the meal already.

But Jones, the owner, is holding back Jones, the general manager, and he essentially admitted as much when claiming the Cowboys couldn’t afford Derrick Henry , who ran for 151 yards and two touchdowns in a 28-25 Week 3 win over Dallas.

Instead, he opted to sign Ezekiel Elliott, and while staying with the cooking metaphors, Jones went for the steak-umms rather than the ribeye.

So, saying that the Cowboys should opt for Bill Belichick to save whatever’s left of a franchise on the rocks seems like an oversimplification. Earlier this week, Stephen A. Smith was clamoring for the future Hall of Fame head coach to take his talents to Dallas, but not everyone thinks it’s that simple of a fix. As good of a football mind as Belichick is, he won’t be able to mask every issue that’s plagued the Cowboys, specifically those that rise to the top.

And even though that idea keeps getting thrown around—ESPN’s airwaves included—Andrew Hawkins seems to think it’s like putting a Band-Aid on a bullet wound.

“Look, if you put a king in the circus, the circus doesn’t look like a palace; the king looks like a clown,” the ex-Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver said on Wednesday’s Get Up . “…The culture in Dallas is not conducive to bring out the best of Bill Belichick, or that organization, for everything [Domonique Foxworth] said about Jerry Jones.

“He wants to run the show. He wants to be the one to pick the players. He wants to go in the media and say what he wants because it’s his team, and none of that works for Bill Belichick. Because when he was running the organization top-to-bottom, nobody talked to the media.”

The Cowboys’ struggles aren’t just about Xs and Os or finding the right head coach, whether it’s McCarthy, Belichick, Jason Garrett or whoever can stand working for Jerry Jones. The issues are rooted in a culture where the lines of power and responsibility are blurred.

Jones’ need for control, both on and off the field, undermines any chance of success — and has for years.

Bringing in a 72-year-old Belichick may sound like a silver bullet. Still, as Hawkins largely said, without addressing the actual issues that affect the organization on a day-to-day basis, even a king like Belichick would struggle to reign in that circus.

Until the Cowboys can reconcile the deeper issues of leadership and autonomy within their ownership structure with a winning formula, they’ll continue to miss out on the dynasty they so desperately crave.

[ Get Up ]

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