Owner Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys attends training camp at the River Ridge Complex in Oxnard, California on July 24, 2021.
Jayne Kamin-Oncea | Getty Images
The NFL fined the Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager $250,000 for making an obscene gesture — which he later called inadvertent — toward fans during the team’s road victory Sunday against the New York Jets.
Multiple reports Tuesday indicated that Jones is appealing the fine.
Jones was shown in a viral social media video in his box at Metlife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ, pointing at fans then giving the middle finger.
He explained on his radio show Tuesday that the finger was an accidental response to Cowboys fans celebrating quarterback Dak Prescott’s fourth touchdown pass in the 37-22 victory.
“It was unfortunate. It was kind of an exchange with our fans in front of us,” Jones said on 105.3 The Fan. “There was a swarm of Cowboys fans out front – not Jets fans, Cowboys fans. The whole stadium was overflowing with Cowboys enthusiasm and certainly late in the game.
“(The gesture) was inadvertent on my part because it was right after we made our last touchdown, and we were all excited about it,” Jones said. “There was no antagonistic problem or anything like that. I just put the wrong show on hand. It was done inadvertently. I’m not kidding. If you want to call it accidental, you can call it accidental. But it got straightened out pretty quickly. I had a chance to watch it.
The Cowboys (2-2-1) visit the Carolina Panthers (2-3) on Sunday, whose owner David Tepper was fined $300,000 for throwing drinks at Jacksonville Jaguars fans during a game in 2023. The league also fined Bud Adams, then the owner of the Tennessee Titans, $250,000 in 2009 for having waved the middle fingers of Buffalo Bills fans.
