Jimmy Johnson hints that Netflix Cowboys documentary skews in favor of Jerry Jones' version of the truth

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Jerry Jones and Jimmy Johnson may never see eye to eye, or recount the past with the same level of accuracy, but their recent reconciliation, as depicted in the popular Netflix documentary covering their years together with the Dallas Cowboys, is very much real – even if Johnson has some issues with the series itself.

"We're really good now," Johnson said Tuesday at a speaking engagement for the Little Rock Touchdown Club. "We see each other, it's like we're best friends. It's all good."

Johnson said he has watched snippets of the eight-part series, "America's Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys," which focuses on the NFL franchise's rise under Jones' ownership in the 1990s and the subsequent decline as the organization was embroiled in off-the-field controversy, the firing of a Super Bowl coach and an aging roster. 

The heart of the series lies in the relationship between owner and coach, detailing their triumphs and failures, a laundry list of disagreements and the long-running dispute over who deserves credit for the infamous Herschel Walker trade and the organization's resurgence into a Super Bowl winner. 

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Johnson hinted Tuesday that the Netflix documentary skews toward Jones' version of the truth.

"We were in Carolina when we were announcing that I was going to go in the (Cowboys') Ring of Honor and he told an off-color story," Johnson said of Jones Tuesday. "I said, 'Jerry, Jerry.' He says, 'No problem. I got final say on editorial content.' Well, watching the Netflix (documentary), he had final say on what was put in the Netflix documentary. It was definitely the Jerry Jones Documentary."

The crowd in Little Rock erupted with laughter.

"Hey, just being honest," Johnson told the crowd. "At 82 years old, you can't lie."

The Netflix documentary features interviews with several key figures, including Hall of Famers Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, Michael Irvin and Deion Sanders. Johnson and Jones participated in more than 40 hours of interviews with the film's producers, according to reports.

Jones has always been known for his headline-grabbing behavior as the owner. When he purchased the Cowboys in 1989, he immediately fired legendary coach Tom Landry and hired Johnson, his friend and former college teammate at Arkansas. They were a league-worst 1-15 in 1989, but later, with a wealth of draft picks and future Hall of Famers, rebounded to win back-to-back Super Bowl championships in 1992 and 1993. 

Then Jones abruptly fired Johnson after winning their second Super Bowl together. 

"The problem we had — and I think this is a good lesson for everybody — is when we first went there, they were the worst team in the league, and we went and 1-15, so obviously we didn't improve on it. But we'd go in and every day, we would talk back and forth. We communicated," Johnson said Tuesday." Jerry had borrowed all that money, and he was trying to pay off the loan. They were losing money with the Cowboys. He was trying to sell suites. In fact, I sat with him when we sold the first suite to Don Tyson. We were on the plane.

"… We didn't have a whole hell of a lot of friends, and so the two of us, we were each other's friend and we were probably the only ones that would talk to each other. And then we go on and we win a Super Bowl. Then after that, the loan gets paid off, and I start going my way, and he starts going his way. I think because we stopped communicating, we probably had some tension there, and we had some tough times."

The Cowboys inducted Johnson into their Ring of Honor in 2023.