Dan Patrick: Netflix Cowboys’ series felt like ‘extended PR documentary’

We can count Dan Patrick among those who are not big fans of America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys, Netflix’s docuseries on the Dallas Cowboys under Jerry Jones.

Patrick began “underwhelmed by it.” After explaining his feelings on the team by saying he’s neither a fan nor a hater and noting his history with them goes back to Don Meridith and the famed Ice Bowl, Patrick explained why the docuseries didn’t meet his expectations.

“I’m just not really hearing anything that I haven’t heard before,” Patrick said. “And if you get Jerry Jones to sign up for 40 hours of being interviewed, I’m gonna guess it’s probably not too spicy or negative. And maybe I’m tuning in because that’s what I’m hoping for. Like maybe there’s something there that I hadn’t heard. Jerry’s Jerry. It just felt like it was an extended PR documentary with the Dallas Cowboys.”

Paul Pabst then noted that documentaries where viewers are too informed of the subject often “don’t work” because they don’t reveal any unknowns. He added that the Cowboys were “the most overcovered sports team of the last century,” adding that because of that, “the documentary has very little place to go.”

“They have everybody in there that you would want to hear from,” added Patrick. “But it just felt like it was a family reunion and everybody’s telling fun stories.”

Patrick’s comments weren’t quite as scathing as other reviews for the docuseries have been. He even added that younger viewers who were either not born or were young children when the Cowboys won three Super Bowls in four years might hear new stories.

“But just for me, I haven’t learned anything,” Patrick said. “I’m five episodes in. It’s still fun to go down memory lane and open up the scrapbook there. But I’m just not hearing anything that I hadn’t heard before.”