ARLINGTON, Texas — The roof is literally falling on the Dallas Cowboys. A piece of AT&T Stadium’s roof fell onto the field before the Cowboys’ Monday night matchup against the Houston Texans that ended in a 34-10 loss.
Specifically, a large piece of metal fell from the ceiling approximately two hours before kickoff as the retractable roof was opening. Fortunately no one was injured.
“There were a lot of gusts of wind all day, and apparently they did a lot of damage, and then when we tried to open it up, the winds got under the roof at that point,” Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones said after the game. “Everyone agreed it caused some damage, but in Dallas there were gusts of wind all afternoon… We were aware of it when we opened the gates a few hours before the game and we had a plan at the time not to open the gates. ceiling.”
“We can confirm that a piece of metal came loose and fell onto the field (with some additional small debris) while the roof was in the process of opening,” the Cowboys said in a pregame statement. “There were no injuries. This is being reviewed further and, where possible, a decision will be made on whether to safely reopen the roof.”
Jones said the problem can be solved and that he had not yet heard from anyone who had to flee to avoid falling debris from the roof pieces.
“It can be fixed, but we didn’t have, it wasn’t the situation or the time or the other thing to do it tonight,” Jones said. “There was no risk to anyone on the field playing once we closed the roof… we opened and closed the door.” [the roof] before any fans or anyone was there. I think it’s four hours away. The reason they do it is to make sure everything is working and to avoid those kinds of risks if there are fans or anyone there. That’s what happened and it worked. They basically told us we probably wouldn’t open the door. [the roof]. The piece was apparently loose due to the strong winds that were here all day. … We open and close those ceilings, doors. “We do that a few times throughout the week before we get to a point where we’re actually going to use them on any fans or anyone around us who is affected by it.”
There was also another loose piece of roof stuck high up that did not fall onto the field.
“They [the NFL] “I wouldn’t have made this game or started this game if there had been any risk,” Jones said. “The NFL wouldn’t have done it, but I wouldn’t have done it if there was any risk.” “There was no risk when we started this game.”
This was the first time the Cowboys attempted to open the roof for a game since Week 8 of the 2022 season against the Chicago Bears. That game was the 1 pm ET kickoff.
The Cowboys’ home stadium continues to make headlines for all the wrong reasons. In Week 10, Cowboys All-Pro receiver CeeDee Lamb dropped a sure touchdown pass after fumbling in the sun. Despite that and other previous issues with sunlight interfering with games, Jones doesn’t plan to block out the sun during games anytime soon.
“My biggest thought when we were building it was, ‘Don’t make it look like it’s not outdoors. Make it look like it’s outdoors.'” Jones said.whose team is going through a difficult 3-6 season. “That stadium was built to feel like it was outdoors when you’re inside, and it was built to let in the sunlight.”
