Cowboys' Jerry Jones rips Amari Cooper for not being vaccinated

When it rains, it pours for the Dallas Cowboys. Despite being one of the most surprising teams in the NFL this season, Mike McCarthy’s squad could be in for a tough week, as they’ll face the Las Vegas Raiders on Thanksgiving with a decimated offense.

Ezekiel Elliott looks far from healthy after leaving Sunday’s contest with a lingering knee injury. And while he was able to come back, Tony Pollard led the team in rushing yards and could be in for a bigger workload on Thursday.

Moreover, both CeeDee Lamb (concussion) and Amari Cooper (COVID-19) will be out for the game as well, leaving Dak Prescott with little weapons to work with during a must-win matchup.

Cowboys News: Jerry Jones Calls Out Amari Cooper Over Vaccination Status

That’s why Cowboys owner Jerry Jones showed his disappointment in Cooper, who chose not to get the vaccine and thus will be forced to miss yet another game after testing positive last week:

“It is a ‘we’ thing when you walk into the locker room, and anybody is being counted on to pull his weight,” Jones said on KRLD-FM. “Everybody expects that. Everybody understands our rights and our options as it pertains to those rights. But, if you forget that it’s a ‘we’ thing and how important your part is…”

Jones Has Advocated For The Vaccine Among NFL Players

This isn’t the first time that Jones advocates for vaccination and the greater good among his players. He believes that even though it’s a personal choice, it’ll affect everybody around them anyway:

“To me, this is a team game,” Jones said on 105.3 The Fan. “We rely on each other to play. We rely on each other to win. We have to have each other. There’s 11 guys out there at any one time to be trite about it. You have to count on the other guy being available, and you certainly don’t want to be doing anything that causes your teammates to not be available. All of that comes to the same conclusion as far as what you agreed to be as far as a player, be part of a team. You check ‘I’ at the door, so to speak. All of those has an answer.”

“Everyone has a right to make their own decisions regarding their health and their body,” the owner added. “I believe in that completely until your decisions as to yourself impacts negatively many others. Then, the common good takes over. And I’m arm-waving here, but that has everything to do with the way I look at our team, the Cowboys, or the way I look at our society. We have got to check ‘I’ at the door and go forward with ‘we.’ Your Dallas Cowboys are doing that.”

The Cowboys still have some margin for error and continue to be in sole possession of the top of the NFC East division. Then again, with the Eagles’ looming around and having the easiest schedule in the NFC, they just can’t afford to lose winnable games.