The Dallas Cowboys are 3-5 and without starting quarterback Dak Prescott, and Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo is already taking a victory lap around Joe Buck.
Russo, like much of the media and non-Cowboys fans, enjoys relishing the opportunity to declare Jerry Jones’ football team dead. And at 3-5, Russo did just that by mocking Buck for still having two Cowboys games left on the Monday Night Football schedule, Nov. 18 and Dec. 9.
“Joe Buck, who I love, I love,” Russo said on his SiriusXM Radio show. “But Joe having the audacity to question me about, ‘How dare you say that we are gonna flex out of Dallas.’ Joe, I’ll tell you right now, I promise you, you will be BEGGING for a flex with the Cowboys when you see them basically on Monday night nine million times…on television the rest of the year. Because the Cowboys are done. Are done. And nothing you can do is gonna change that.”
Buck joined the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast last week and host Jimmy Traina asked the ESPN announcer about having the Cowboys on the Monday Night Football schedule twice this season. Even with a losing record, Buck said, “They’re always relevant… I’m in the business of trying to get the most people to watch.”
The NFL could conceivably flex the Cowboys off their Dec. 9 Monday Night Football game. Flex rules can be implemented during at the NFL’s discretion in Weeks 12-17. The Cowboys Dec. 9 game against the Cincinnati Bengals is Week 14. But would the NFL ever flex a Cowboys game? Buck doesn’t seem to think so.
Death. Taxes. And people watching the Cowboys. Things would have to get really bad for the NFL and ESPN to want to flex out of a game featuring the Cowboys and Bengals. Does it serve the NFL fan to push a 5-8 Cowboys team on them during Monday Night Football in December? No. But will it serve ESPN and their rating? Probably.
If the Cowboys are 3-10 and the Bengals are 4-9, maybe the NFL will look to put a better matchup in primetime. But if either one of those teams are still playing for something, Buck probably won’t be begging to have Cowboys-Bengals flexed off Monday night.
[SiriusXM]
About Brandon Contes
Brandon Contes is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He previously helped carve the sports vertical for Mediaite and spent more than three years with Barrett Sports Media. Send tips/comments/complaints to bcontes@thecomeback.com