Stephen Jones doubled down on his father’s comments about expecting his players to stand for the National Anthem on Sunday’s.
In an interview with KTCK 96.7 FM The Ticket’s Norm and D Invasion, Stephen Jones reiterated his father’s policy, which was laid out during Wednesday’s news conference to pick off training camp in Oxnard, California:
“There’s one way to do it right in our mind, and that’s go toes on the line and stand for the anthem.”
He took it one step further and said that players would be punished if they choose to stay in the locker room instead:
“If they want to be a Dallas Cowboy, yes.”
“That’s not an ‘I’ or ‘me’ thing. This is an organizational thing,” Jones said. “We feel strongly about it. We don’t think it’s a controversy. We just think that’s the way we do it. Jerry feels strongly about it. I think he’s had a good feel for what our organization should be over 30 years. I think it’s paid off for our players for the most part.
The team is happy to support players’ social causes at the right time, Jones said, but they’re expected to stick to sports on Sunday.
“We certainly are supportive of them when they have their personal issues or their personal things that they want to pursue. And we’ll help them pursue them on Tuesdays,” Jones said. “But when you’re wearing the Dallas Cowboy uniform and a Dallas Cowboy helmet and you’re working for the Dallas Cowboys, you check the I and the me at the door and you’re a part of a team. There’s bright lines in terms of our organization.”
Will the Cowboys hold everyone to the same standard when it comes to punishment? We’ll see, after all this is the franchise that is known for employing criminals.
