Armour: Jerry Jones' enabling and excuses just as bad as Greg Hardy's behavior
As appalling as Greg Hardy’s behavior is, Jerry Jones’ isn’t any better.
It might be worse, actually, because it is Jones’ endless excuses and enabling that allow criminals like Hardy to continue acting as if the bounds of good behavior don’t apply to them. Hardy will never see how wrong his actions are so long as Jones downplays them at every turn.
Choke your then-girlfriend, threaten to kill her and toss her on a bed covered in guns? Not only will Jones not condemn Hardy, he’ll give him a fat, $11 million contract. (All the better to replenish Hardy’s depleted bank account after buying the silence of his ex-girlfriend to make that annoying court case go away.)
Show up your teammates, shove at least one of them and go after one of your coaches in a juvenile tantrum that humiliates your team on national TV as Hardy did in Sunday night’s 27-20 to the New York Giants?
Why, that’s just passion, Jones said, the kind any owner would love to see from a leader.
“That’s the kind of thing that inspires a football team," Jones said afterward, appearing to be utterly serious. “… He's just getting guys ready to play, in my view. I don't have any issue with him being involved in motivating or pushing in any part of the football team because he plays and walks the walk."
Of course Jones doesn’t have any issues with Hardy.
Hardy has played all of two games this season and is already tied for the team lead with three sacks. So long as Hardy is anchoring a Dallas defense that’s the only thing keeping the Cowboys from being a five-alarm dumpster fire, Jones will absolve him of pretty much anything.
And, in the process, make a mockery of the NFL.
That Hardy picked Sunday to remind everyone of his hair-trigger and violent temper is pathetically ironic. The Giants, you see, had chosen the game to recognize October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month. In addition to unveiling a new public service announcement featuring its players and management, the Giants had actress and domestic violence activist Mariska Hargitay do the coin flip before the game.
Though Hardy was never punished legally for domestic abuse – his conviction by a judge was thrown out when he appealed, and the case was dropped when his ex-girlfriend refused to cooperate – Commissioner Roger Goodell tried to have him suspended for 10 games. That was reduced to four games upon appeal.
Criticize Goodell for his arbitrary discipline procedures, but he’s at least tried to do something to address the league’s long and woeful history with domestic violence. The league has implemented education programs for players and staff; put steps in place to identify potential abusers and victims; and retooled its disciplinary process so it’s not reliant on a judiciary system that is too often toothless.
But all the league’s millions won’t make the least bit of difference so long as there are owners like Jones, willing to sell their souls for the promise of 10 sacks a season.
Follow Nancy Armour on Twitter @nrarmour