Jerry Jones reveals he was rooting for the Philadelphia Eagles to win the Super Bowl game. (AP)
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones revealed he was pulling for the Philadelphia Eagles to win Super Bowl LII over the New England Patriots despite the two teams’ rivalry.
Jones told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram the Eagles’ Super Bowl victory puts some added pressure on the Cowboys. The two teams are in the same division.
"I think it raises the bar. I think it puts pressure on the Cowboys," Jones said. "They've took it down to the bone and brought it back up and have a world championship and we've been doing the same thing. Where is ours? That's fair. That's fair."
The Cowboys have not won a Super Bowl championship since 1995.
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Jones said despite the rivalry the Cowboys and Eagles have, he was hoping they would win the game.
"As much as we have the rivalry that we have, and as frustrating as it was for the Cowboys not to be playing, as much as all of that, I was proud of [the Eagles], given that narrow set of circumstances, could root for them," Jones said. "That takes it right down to just absolutely no choice, you either do or you die. And I want to go again."
The Cowboys had high expectations going into the 2017 season but star quarterback Dak Prescott did not play as well as 2016 and star running back Ezekiel Elliott was suspended for six games over domestic violation allegations. Jones worked tirelessly to overturn the decision but the NFL ruled the decision stood.
Jones gave the Eagles credit for winning despite being without their star quarterback Carson Wentz.
"They didn't have a quarterback either, and they got one, and then they lost him and they got one," Jones said. "You didn't have Zeke [Ezekiel Elliott], so good excuse, but they didn't have a lot of their players. So just the fact that they did it the way they did it, really for me it sure eliminates one of the real excuses. You can say that you just can't have the kind of depth, but they didn't have necessarily that kind of depth but they had enough that they shifted some of the ability of the team to execute their parts where they had their regulars, and we didn't do that.”
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Jones recently made headlines after it was reported last week that the NFL was exploring options to get more than $2 million in reimbursement for legal fees from Jones over his threat to derail NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s contract extension. He also supported Elliott’s two-month legal battle to avoid the suspension.
Jerry Jones worked tirelessly to get Ezekiel Elliott's suspension overturned. (AP)
Dallas News reported Jones will meet with Goodell Monday in an attempt to appeal to the NFL commissioner in order to drop the legal fees.
"I think I'm going to be pretty limited in my comments because of the pending hearing that we have," Jones said. "But a hearing before the Commissioner is like a courtroom. You separate the wheat from the chaff, and you get right into the facts as they are, and I welcome that.
"Looking forward to my time with him regarding both the issues of how we were involved or not involved in the Ezekiel Elliott issue as well as the issue of what we did or didn't do relative to his contract negotiation. Those will be the subject areas, but the key thing is it's really factual...you...address the facts. I know he wants to know that, and I want him to know what the facts are."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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