The Loop
Very bright Cowboys fans are sending a retired Giants running back threats for injuring Dak Prescott
Tom Pennington
Normally, we'd say a few bad eggs on Instagram are not representative of an entire fanbase. But for the Dallas Cowboys, we will happily make an exception.
On Sunday, Cowboys' quarterback Dak Prescott went down with a gruesome injury to his ankle against the New York Giants, ending his 2020 season. What made it so unfortunate was the fact that Prescott was set to become an unrestricted free agent this offseason. Had he continued on the statistical trajectory he was on, and had Dallas won the NFC East and made some noise in the playoffs, there's a chance Jerry Jones would have made him the highest paid player in the league.
Prescott will still get paid, but how much and for how long remains to be seen. He's expected to make a full recovery, but an injury like this can be used as a negotiation tactic. It's a business. Understandably, Cowboys fans are just as upset as Prescott, their franchise quarterback who was on pace for a breakout season.
Sometimes, fan anger leads to some serious stupidity, especially in Cowboy-land, where a large percentage of the fans are out-of-staters who hopped on the bandwagon in the '90s. A few particularly not-so-bright bulbs sent threats to the player they thought injured Prescott on Instagram. The player who actually hurt Prescott—and by actually hurt we mean made a routine tackle that very unfortunately led to injury—was cornerbacl Logan Ryan, who wears jersey No. 23. But a few fans went after former Giants running back Rashad Jennings, who wore No. 23 during his time in N.Y., which ended in... checks notes ... 2016. Jennings posted a sampling of some of the messages he received to his Instagram story:
Some fine people here, people who I imagine typed in "No. 23 on the giants," into Google and picked the first name they saw—Rashad Jennings who played for Big Blue from 2014 to 2016—then searched him on Instagram and sent him messages threatening him for causing an injury he did not cause. How 'bout them Cowboys!
To be clear, no, these people don't actually represent the Dallas Cowboys entire fanbase. They're either A. bandwagoners or B. not even Cowboys fans. Just weird sickos who send threats to people they don't know on social media. People should stop doing that, forever.