Netflix’s ‘America’s Team’ Cowboys docuseries isn’t just football’s ‘The Last Dance’ — it’s better

The comparison between Netflix’s America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys and The Last Dance isn’t just an obvious one, but one that’s already been made multiple times. And for good reason.

Between the ’90s nostalgia, big personalities and focus on the behind-the-scenes drama of a decades-old dynasty, it’s easy to see the parallels. And considering the obvious overlap, both projects possess plenty of appeal to millennials of a certain age (including this author).

But as easy as it is to draw a line between Netflix’s new eight-part docuseries and the definitive story of Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls, there’s a difference between being The Last Dance 2.0 and the NFL’s version of The Last Dance. America’s Team is the latter. Because frankly — as is the case with most NFL-related media projects — it’s significantly better.

That’s no slight to The Last Dance, as much of a hagiography as it might have been. Regardless of its deference to its stars, it’s still an important and deservedly well-regarded piece of sports history, to say nothing of the oasis of content it provided during the dog days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rather, my preference for America’s Team stems from it being just that good. Is it a perfect piece of journalism? Of course not, especially when it comes to its relatively generous portrayal of Jerry Jones. But it’s one of those series that you can’t stop watching as soon as you start; the type where you’ll tell yourself “just one more episode” 50 minutes before you repeat the same conversation with yourself following the ensuing episode’s cliffhanger.

One of the greatest dynasties in sports history. Relive the ’90s Dallas Cowboys like never before.

America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys comes to Netflix on August 19. pic.twitter.com/6SdcLuuzAY

— Netflix Sports (@netflixsports) August 11, 2025

Especially so in the first half of the series, which primarily focuses on Jones’ relationship with Jimmy Johnson, their inevitable breakup and its fallout. Admittedly, most of this occurred before I was conscious as a sports fan. But that only made it crazier to remember a time in the not too distant past where an NFL owner and head coach publicly feuded during the leadup to a Super Bowl and broke up after back to back titles, only for the head coach to wind up a prominent TV analyst who still openly discussed said feud throughout the team’s run to a third championship.

Johnson is the big winner of the docuseries, as his personality as both a coach and analyst cement his status as a true one of one. But he’s hardly alone in shining throughout the series, as Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and especially Michael Irvin each make the most of their co-starring roles.

And then there’s Jones, who is given the room to tell his side of each story, but typically with enough checks in place that it prevents him from becoming an unreliable narrator. And for those understandably worried that the docuseries is little more than a rehabilitation project for one of sports’ most polarizing figures, just know that the eighth and final episode focuses on Jones’ football and non-football shortcomings of the last quarter-century (although there are some off-field controversies notably absent).

But while the project leans into the complicated nature of Jones’ legacy, one of the most striking aspects of the entire docuseries is the way in which he is presented as one of the architects of the modern NFL. Some of the series’ most entertaining stretches come during storylines such as his role in marrying the league to Fox as a media partner and the decision to buck preexisting NFL partnerships in favor of outlaw sponsorship deals with the likes of Nike and Pepsi. Even looking at the way he leaned into Emmitt Smith’s holdout in 1993, it’s easy to see the connection to today’s modern news cycle.

From a filmmaking perspective, perhaps the most impressive part comes via the restraint that directors Chapman and Maclain Way display in focusing an eight-part docuseries spanning more than 40 years on a select few personalities, optimizing their time with each. The relationship between Jones and Johnson is the story’s heartbeat, as evidenced by the happy ending we get with Johnson finally being inducted into the Cowboys’ Ring of Honor. But even after their breakup, the series slows down thanks to episodes featuring the feud between Aikman and Barry Switzer, the Cowboys’ acquisition of Deion Sanders and the penultimate episode, “Cocaine Cowboy,” focused on Irvin’s myriad of off-field issues.

Add in the ’90s-inspired pop music soundtrack and America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys feels every bit as high octane as the franchise and personalities it covers. All things considered, this is required viewing for all football fans, as it sets a new standard for the modern sports docuseries genre.