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Todd Archer, ESPN Staff WriterNov 10, 2024, 09:47 PM ET
- Todd Archer is an NFL reporter at ESPN and covers the Dallas Cowboys. Archer has covered the NFL since 1997 and Dallas since 2003. He joined ESPN in 2010. You can follow him on Twitter at @toddarcher.
ARLINGTON, Texas — In a 28-point blowout, maybe a second-quarter touchdown would not have mattered much, but once again sunlight was a storyline in a Dallas Cowboys game at AT&T Stadium.
Trailing 7-3 and facing second-and-goal from the Philadelphia Eagles‘ 3, Cooper Rush had an open CeeDee Lamb in the end zone for a go-ahead score. One problem: Lamb could not see the pass because the sun was in his eyes.
The Cowboys settled for a field goal and would not score a point the rest of the game in a 34-6 loss to the Eagles.
After answering questions for a little more than five minutes, Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones brought up the issue of the sun on his own.
“We do know where the damn sun’s going to be at our own stadium,” Jones said.
As he walked down the hall toward the elevators, more questions were asked.
Why not put up curtains?
“Well, let’s just tear the damn stadium down and build another one? You kidding me?” Jones said.
CeeDee Lamb said he was bothered by the sun at AT&T Stadium on a dropped pass against the Eagles. Getty Images
There’s no need to tear down the 15-year-old stadium that cost $1.2 billion to build, but the Cowboys have used curtains for concerts, basketball games and other events at AT&T Stadium.
“Everybody’s got the same thing,” Jones said. “Every team that comes in here has the same issues. They know where the sun’s going to be. Every team has the same thing.”
The Cowboys do not practice at AT&T Stadium. And the sun is an issue only in games with late afternoon kickoffs during the fall.
So should coach Mike McCarthy call plays differently knowing where the sun should be?
“I’m not saying. I’m saying the world knows where the sun is,” Jones said. “We get to know that almost a year in advance. So someone asked me about the sun and what about the sun? Where’s the moon?”
Initially it wasn’t clear if Rush was throwing to tight end Jake Ferguson, who pulled his hands away from the pass, or Lamb.
“I was throwing to CeeDee,” Rush said. “He’s open over there coming across the middle. I didn’t see. I threw and got hit. I didn’t see what happened. I heard it was the sun. I don’t know.”
Television replays caught Lamb pointing at his eyes, as if he lost the ball in the sun.
Would Lamb be in favor of curtains?
“Yes,” he said. “1,000 percent.”
Will he bring it up to Jones?
“I mean y’all are doing my job right now,” Lamb said.
It might not matter since Jones has been dug in on the matter since the stadium opened in 2009.
“We’re fine,” Jones said. “But everybody plays in the sun out here.”
