Titans coach Jeff Fisher, co-chair of the NFL’s Competition Committee, addressed on Tuesday morning the dilemma of the gigantic, four-sided television that hovers only 90 feet over the playing surface of Cowboys Stadium.
Said Fisher on The Dan Patrick Show regarding the problem: “No one’s to blame.”
Fisher guessed that, in planning the structure, the Cowboys relied on language contained in “a game operations book from 40 or 50 years ago.”
As we’ve heard it, however, teams aren’t left to their own devices when planning and building stadiums. A league source told us the day after A.J. Trapasso shtoinked a punt off the bottom of the video contraption that the league approves every minute detail of the design and construction of a new stadium.
Moreover, the implicit suggestion from Fisher that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones relied only on some arcane subparagraph in an outdated manual before green lighting the floating Circuit City Best Buy display (which sends a much different message than “no one’s to blame”) could serve only to increase tensions between the Cowboys and the league regarding this issue.
Fisher even took it a step farther, overtly nudging some blame toward the Cowboys.
“I’m told they did punt there and thought it was OK,” Fisher told Patrick.
Though we firmly agree with the notion that a do-over won’t do, Fisher also suggested that the mulligan approach won’t work because the officials don’t watch the ball after it is kicked.
Um, so how do they know whether to be paying attention for the possibility that it’ll go out of bounds, prompting that oddly tantalizing stroll up the sidelines to the exact point where the official estimates that it crossed the white line?
Again, kicking the ball again simply isn’t a viable option. But there are stronger arguments than the dubious notion that the back judge doesn’t watch the football once it has been kicked.
Regardless of how it turns out, this already has become one of the most compelling rules-related issues that we can remember. If it’s not handled correctly, it could have an impact on the willingness of Jones and the Cowboys to “play nice” as the league tries to figure out a new labor deal with the union.
Who cares what Jeff Fisher says? Tony Dungy holds the only opinion that matters anymore.
This is all bluster. It has to be moved up, regardless; they’re just blabbering back and forth to see who’s going to pay for it.
Is this the same Jeff Fisher that isn’t talking to Marvin Harrison?
OTOH – it’s not like this is unprecedented. When the Superdome opened there was a similar concern…
At the 1976 Pro Bowl inside the Superdome in New Orleans, Guy, the longtime Oakland punter, launched a kick that hit a video board that he estimated was from “90 to 100 feet off the ground, and I was about two yards from going over it.
http://www.ktbb.com/cowboys/2009/08/25/the-cowboys-stadium-digital-board-is-a-hot-topic/
The original designs unveiled to the public called for it to be 100 or 110 feet (depending on which source) above the field. How did it get lowered to 90 feet?
The league will change the language in the rule book. I’m not certain what’s a safe distance, but 20-30 feet more might just do it. I think they might have to flip the bill on having the board moved. Jerry isn’t paying for it. If he does it won’t be nice like. Who’s to say that Bud Adams wasn’t paying that rookie punter, with no shot to make the team with Hentrich there, a little extra to make Jerry World look stupid in the eyes of the media? He may be jealous that he didn’t get a stadium built in Texas. Who knows with these rich cats. A do over won’t work.
Vox Veritas says Jeff Fisher is to blame.
But seriously, Florio, if your last story is true and this is all one big publicity stunt…then you are falling into your usual trap of overhyping people/things that are shameless self promoters- see Favre, Brent and Ochocinco. Are you on these guys payroll or are you just a sucker?
One meaningless game has been played there and I am already sick of hearing about this place.
You can build a stadium but you just can’t punt in it
Youre the richest owner but you just can win a playoff game
Some break the rules
And live to count the cost
The insecurity is the thing that won’t get lost
And you want her and she wants you
We want everyone
And you want her and she wants you
No one, no one, no one ever is to blame
Florio,
What you failed to mention here, was that Jerry Jones has a long history of cheating in the NFL.
For example, in the old Texas stadium, Jones had the floor designed so that it was raised in the middle of the field. The raise was very significant in that it made the center of the field (where the QB is throwing the ball from) a good foot and a half higher then on the sides of the field. The raise in elevation wasn’t obvious to the naked eye, and it created a situation where opposing QB’s were throwing a ton of passes that were too high in the flats and along the sidelines.
You guessed it, those errant passes were about a foot and a half too high. Thus, the Cowboys had tons of interceptions falling into the hands of guys like Deon Sanders and Larry Brown. The TV guys kept claiming that it was the result of great play by the Cowboy’s secondary. The reality though was that everyone who paid attention knew that it was nothing but the result of an unfair advantage created by the owner of the club, Jerry Jones.
I can name lots of other examples of Jones pulling stunts like this, but the bottom line is that you can bet your arse that he’s doing it again with this TV sign. Maybe trying to gain an unfair advantage by making it so that punters cannot kick the ball high into the air, which will allow his kick returners to have a serious advantage on the field. Especially is his own kickers are well practiced on how to avoid that obstacle, just like his QB’s were on the old field.
And knowing is half the battle,
–Z
The Buff Bills built a practice bubble. They determined how high it had to be by watching their punter punt – Thats a true story.
Also, if there is no do over, they could just call it a live ball. That gives an incentive for the kicker not to hit it. Plus it would be cool to see the guys have to adjust to the ball going crazy like that.
Makes me think Jerry is one of those guys that can always get around needing a building permit, or get around safety guidelines.
Seriously, thats 2 strikes, if u count the practice facility coming down.
If by “No One” he means Jerry “God-Complex” Jones, then ok…
I took the stadium tour Thursday last week and our tour guide claimed, sadly now I guess, that McBriar attempted several times to hit the screen and couldn’t….So our guide confidenlty claimed the Cowboys have zero concerns about it coming in to play often enough to cause a problem….
I can’t help but find it odd that people go to a venue like this…
… to watch TV.
Mike,
A do-over would work wonders for QBs as well. If you drop back and don’t see anyone open, just throw it long and high enough to hit the thing.
Punters could use it to their advantage. If they get a bad snap or see a strong rush coming, just kick it at the ceiling, you’ll get a do-over, right???
They need to raise the thing. What idiot would put it at 30 yards high (90 feet). Any high school punter could hit it on a consistent basis.
Why is everyone bashing Tony Dungy?
He was asked to help Vick and he said yes that does not make him a bad guy
Everything I have ever heard about Tony is he is a class act.
He will not be the savior of Vick but give the NFL credit they picked the right guy to try.
Unless Jones wants a urinating contest with the NFL, to assert dominance before the league considers financial issues such as collective bargaining and revenue sharing, the solution is simple. When U2 pays to have the screens moved, leave them in place. Everybody wins. Neither Jones nor the league has to pay the cost and U2 gets a rebate because they don’t have to pay to put the screens back. If U2 complains, point out that the fact-finding, finger-pointing process between Jones and the league will not be resolved until after the concert. To sweeten the deal, Jones can promise to wear Bono glasses to the first home game (everybody else wins because the glasses will partially obscure Jones’ hideous eye job). Of course, nothing is ever that simple…
Why is Fisher guessing? Does he or does he not co-chair the Competition Committee? Is the Competition Committee not the *only* body that oversees the rules? Maybe it’s time for new leadership. Goodell needs to weigh in on this instead of staying silent as if he were a cowardly British PM waiting for someone else to take the blame.
“Regardless of how it turns out, this already has become one of the most compelling rules-related issues that we can remember.”
The most compelling rules-related issue that I can remember is the one when the Cowboys signed Deion Sanders to a contract that was approved by the NFL. After the fact, Paul Tagliabue negotiated a change in the salary cap rules with Gene Upshaw and made it retroactive to include Sanders’ contract. Tagliabue immediately demanded that the contract be restructured or he would find the Cowboys in violation of the salary cap and would personally cut players to bring the Cowboys in compliance.
If you didn’t get the chance to see the look on Tagliabue’s face as he handed the Lombardi Trophy to Jerry Jones four months later, get a copy of the Super Bowl 30 video.
What else is The Stache going to say? He’s way too cool to participate in any of these Perez Florio shenanigans. He’ll settle it on the field like all the other famous Staches that have gone before. And that includes Burt Reynolds and Magnum PI in their college ball days. Whoooyah! Go Titans!
Wtf? Is this a serious debate…. punt around it….why dont they force the Broncos to pump oxygen into stadium to take away mile high advantage…. It is what it is, McBriar has to punt there, is he whining like a little girl, and he is 10 times better than that rookie punter from TEN who wont have a job in a month. As for Jeff Fisher, who really cares what he thinks, they do not even play in the NFC east or the NFC. I would much rather the league force Danny Snider to fix the traffic into FED EX Field, so I dont have to start my drive to the Redskins stadium 15 hours before gametime, when I live 30 minutes away.
Fisher is so full of crap on this one. Of course somebody screwed up, multiple somebodies in both the Boys and league offices screwed up.
Just raise the damn thing already by 20-30′ and get it over with. Especially since U2 is paying the bill so neither the team or league has to pay, it would be retarded to lower it back down after their show.
Jeff Fisher’s mustache has spoken!
ZNorseman:
Oh my god, I thought I had read all kinds of crap in this website, but yours is certainly the most degrading, idiotic, retarded, disgusting and naive piece of $h1t I have ever laid my eyes on.
You are pathetic.
@ ZN0rseman
What are you talking about? The raise in the middle of the field is called a “crown” and every field has one so that the field does not flood.
Good post, ZN0rseman–
Jerry Jones is already a well-known cheater.
He’s been cheating death for the past 20 years, and those facelifts? Definitely trying to circumvent God’s plan.
“I’m told they did punt there and thought it was OK,” Fisher told Patrick.
So it sounds like the Cowboys have a punting problem, if he can’t hit it.
And if U2 is going to raise it in Oct., why not leave it up higher? What a waste of money. Anyone wonder why people can’t stand the guy?
I have to call BS on the story about Jones designing the crown in Texas Stadium to mess up the opposing passing game. First of all, the Stadium was opened in 1971. Jerry didn’t buy the team until 1989. In ’71 Jones was just seven years out of the U of Arkansas, drilling oil someplace I suppose.
In addition, all artificial turf fields, at least the early generations, had crowns in the middle to promote drainage. In fact, grass fields are slightly higher in the middle as well for the same reason.
I love to bash Jerry but this one doesn’t hold water.
“What you failed to mention here, was that Jerry Jones has a long history of cheating in the NFL.”
Oh good Lord.
“For example, in the old Texas stadium, Jones had the floor designed so that it was raised in the middle of the field.”
You can’t be this stupid. You just can’t be.
Jerry Jones will do anything to keep the Cowboys in the news. Its really pathetic, win a playoff game.
Just play it by madden rules..
Nobody punts in that game anyway.
ZNorseman, so did Jerry have the floor poured that way (you know for the game advantage and not for drainage reasons) when the stadium was built knowing he would buy the team almost 20 years later?
@Znorseman
Texas Stadium was built in 1970. Jerry bought the team in 1989.
The crown was 18″ and was there for drainage purposes, not for an advantage on gameday. Cowboys Stadium has a crown as well, although a much smaller 6″.
Next?
Hi guys. ZNorseman, you are wrong about Jones raising the floor. It always had that hump in it to drain rainwater. There is a hole in the roof.
Scoreboard: I suspect that JJ is laughing his butt off about this, because EVERYONE who watches football is talking about the Cowboys. And in a brand new super stadium, too. It could hardly be better. Who is talking about whoever won the superbowl last year? Who?
Its all about the Cowboys
The Eagles suck balls.
JD-Houston TX
“Punters could use it to their advantage. If they get a bad snap or see a strong rush coming, just kick it at the ceiling, you’ll get a do-over, right???”
And if they miss?
“They need to raise the thing. What idiot would put it at 30 yards high (90 feet). Any high school punter could hit it on a consistent basis.”
Not if he doesn’t have a consistent 4.7+ second hang-time on his punts.
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2008/dec/18/1s18chargers00415-chargers-scifres-takes-it-all-st/?uniontrib
“For the second time in his career, Scifres leads the league in average hang time this season, at 4.57 seconds.”
This is no different than the field being a total quagmire in Pittsburg late in the season, or the grounds crew in SF watering down the field. If you are going to police these things, get them all, not just the shiny new one.
The NFL can’t let Jerry Jones win on this one. The Big Ass HDTV has to be moved up. Its impacting how the game is played. A punter should be able to kick it as high as he can. Is the Big Ass HDTV gonna look that bad from Jerry Jones Suite if its moved up 20-40 ft? Its just a rich guy being stubborn. Must be nice.
“So it sounds like the Cowboys have a punting problem, if he can’t hit it.”
Right, because the point of punting is to hit the damn scoreboard. Jeez.
“Good post, ZN0rseman–”
You’ve got the idiot contingency fully behind your claims, ZNorseman.
this whole thing blows my mind.
how on earth are we going to let a monstrosity of a video billboard dictate the rules of football? the video screens need to be moved – no ifs, ands, or buts about it.
if not, you’re telling me we’re going to change the rules of this game to accomodate jerry jones’ megalomania? effing insane, this is just pathetic
Of course it’s nobodys fault – the stadium designed and built itself!
Seriously, who designed the thing, the guys who built the stonehenge replica in Spinal Tap?
Can’t Jeff Fisher just send Bo Scaife to take out Jerry Jones’ knee like he did when Merriman bumped into his star QB VY?
Football should never be played indoors. Never.
There should be a rule against having a roof.
Obviously everyone is laughing at Jerry Jones for not planning his theater better.
If he build a stadium none of this would have happened.
But he built a theater.
Call it a touchback and then enforce a 15-yd penalty on the hometeam. Jerry’s Kids would penalized regardless if their kicker or their opponent’s hit the scoreboard. Plus, it would be fun to see the opposing kickers aiming for the scoreboard to pin the Pokes at the 10 yd line (after the half-the-distance penalty was enforced).
I don’t understand the point of this gigantic HDTV display at mid-field. Save yourself the 100 bucks and watch the game at home if you’re there to watch the game on TV.
When in the hell has Jerry Jones cheated? I guess managing the salary cap to bring in top notch talent and win 3 superbowls is cheating right? God, to be a Cowboy hater without justification is just ridiculous. Look I’m a Cowboy fan and I hate Jerry Jones, but calling him a cheater without any bit of proof is just plain dumb. At least when Bellicek was accused of cheating there was proof.
Next Cowboys hater please…
When a leg like Shane Lechler’s gets there on Thanksgiving… you can guarantee it will be hit, raised or not…
There were stories that Jones didn’t want to raise it because it was at the perfect level to view from the owners suite…
This will be interesting to say the least.
Also, for the record, Jerry Jones didn’t violate any rules to have this TV hung. In fact he followed the exact letter of the rules. It’s not his fault that the rules were terible. That being said, why risk someone blasting a kick and breaking this expensive ass TV? It would be far cheaper to Move it up 10-20 feet then to have some idiot kicker ordered by his envious coach to hit the thing and break it.
Hey guys lay off ZNorseman- he’s actually right about this one.
Back in 1989 shortly after purchasing the team, Jones wanted to curry favor with the old guard of NFL owners. He cut a deal with Wellington Mara to take Jimmy Hoffa out of the Meadowlands and bury him under the star in the middle of Texas Stadium. In order to camouflage Hoffa’s remains, Jones raised the center of the entire field to the ridiculous heights astutely cited by ZNorseman.
But that is not where the story ends.
In 1996, still smarting from the four consecutive Super Bowl losses, two of which were at the hands of the Cowboys, Bills owner Ralph Wilson, another old guard owner, purchased Hoffa’s remains from Jones in a vain attempt to break the obvious curse over his franchise.
Alas, that ol’ Hoffa magic was gone and after a few years Wilson ordered the bones removed from Wilson Stadium and reburied in a random Buffalo park where they remained until “discovered” by local Buffalo newscaster Bruce Nolan back in 2003.
Jerry has cheated the fans of the Dallas Cowboys out of playoff wins for the past 12 years.
“CapsLockKey says:
August 25, 2009 2:08 PM
I don’t understand the point of this gigantic HDTV display at mid-field. Save yourself the 100 bucks and watch the game at home if you’re there to watch the game on TV.”
————————————————————-
I’m so sick of this argument, can someone please explain to these morons, that it is all part of the experience, and that if you lower your sight by just 10 degrees you can actually see the field.
jerry didnt GM the cowboys into 3 SB wins. all he did was sign checks.
@ Jackal:
For once I totally agree with you
@ skf727
LOL
@ empty:
apparently you arent aware of the role of a GM
The only choice the league has is to force the cowboys back to Texas stadium until the T.V. issue is dealt with/removed.
It’s been my experience that the one saying “Nobody is to blame.” is usually hiding the fact that his side (the NFL) is to blame. I hate Jerruh just as much as anyone, but he’s right as far as who should pay to move it. As Florio pointed out, the NFL meticulously reviews all stadium designs for any potential problems. Apparently this is the first time anyone wanted to hang a drive in movie theater from the rafters, and they failed to realize it may pose more of a problem than just a couple of cables for the camera.
Hey Empty,
So Jerry the GM gets no credit for the SB wins, but all the credit for the playoff drought?
Interesting.
Overheard at the Cowboys headquarters:
Jerry Jones:
“I’d like to send this letter to the Prussian consulate in Siam by aeromail. Am I too late for the 4:30 autogyro?”
The best move Jerry Jones has ever done being the owner of the Cowboys was making that Hershal Walker ( I think it was Walker ) trade and got more draft picks and Jimmy Johnson drafted Aikman, Emmit, and Irvin and the rest is history. Coaching staff developed that team not Jones and Barry Switzer inherited Jimmy Johnson’s team and everyone got old and then that when you saw Jerry Jones so called GM genious go down the crapper. 13 years later still no Playoff wins and still an overhyped team.
“if not, you’re telling me we’re going to change the rules of this game to accomodate jerry jones’ megalomania?”
Did you bump your freaking head? The rules will have to be changed to appease whiners like you.
“Can’t Jeff Fisher just send Bo Scaife to take out Jerry Jones’ knee like he did when Merriman bumped into his star QB VY? ”
Who is Bo Scaife?
“jerry didnt GM the cowboys into 3 SB wins. all he did was sign checks.”
Jimmy Johnson says that you’re full of bull dung.
@killachap The salary cap was introduced in the 94 season. The talent wasn’t just in place before the cap but had also won back to back SB’s prior to it. Great great teams but to say they managed the cap to get them in place is just silly man.
“The best move Jerry Jones has ever done being the owner of the Cowboys was making that Hershal Walker ( I think it was Walker ) trade and got more draft picks and Jimmy Johnson drafted Aikman, Emmit, and Irvin and the rest is history.”
Aikman and Irvin were drafted before the Herschel Walker trade. In fact Irvin was drafted before Jones even bought the team. Your accuracy is overhyped.