Peyton Manning couldn’t resist taking a swipe at the Dallas Cowboys‘ miserable season during his hosting duties at the Country Music Awards Wednesday night.
The NFL legend joined country music stars Luke Bryan and Lainey Wilson Bridgestone Arena in Nashville as he hosted the awards show for the third year running.
But the former quarterback’s focus didn’t stray too far from the football field as he made a joke at the Cowboys and Jerry Jones’s expense during the opening monologue.
Co-host Wilson gave a shout out to Kelsea Ballerini, who is nominated for female vocalist of the year and musical event of the year for ‘Cowboys Cry Too’ featuring Noah Kahan.
‘Come on, give it up for Kelsea,’ Wilson said as the camera panned to Ballerini sat in the audience with boyfriend ‘Outer Banks‘ actor Chase Stokes.
‘This is the year we discovered that cowboys cry, too,’ she added.
‘Alright, that’s enough about Jerry Jones,’ the NFL Hall of Famer then chimed in, referencing the Cowboys owner.
Peyton’s quip was a clear dig at the Dallas franchise, who is enduring a miserable 2024 season.
Dallas suffered more humiliation on Monday night, when the Texans secured a blowout win and the AT&T Stadium roof collapsed.
The Cowboys are now 3-7 for the season and are the only men’s American pro team – across the NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS and NFL – without a home win in 2024.
That has piled the pressure on head coach Mike McCarthy and the team’s billionaire owner.
After Monday’s game, Jones branded suggestions that McCarthy has lost the locker room ‘so overblown’. He also claimed tough seasons like this are inevitable if ‘you stay in this league long enough’.
Jones’s claims earned him comparisons to President Joe Biden by analyst Stephen A. Smith, who blasted his interventions.
‘I’m not joking when I say this: I’m getting very, very worried about Jerry Jones,’ Smith told ESPN’s First Take.
‘Because the only thing that’s worse than the team’s play is his press conferences… where he says one thing after another, after another.
‘I find myself thinking about Joe Biden before he backed out of running for re-election. I think Jerry’s one month older than President Joe Biden for crying out loud.’
Jones, who has a net worth of nearly $16billion, was born in October 1942, a few weeks before president Biden.
