Stephen Jones says Dallas Cowboys have four things in common with 90s Super teams
Admit it.
It’s hard not to let your imagination start running wild if you’re a Dallas Cowboys fan.
The team’s 4-1 start and the seemingly unlimited potential for improvement on both sides of the ball has some envisioning a super special season is in the making. Even the ever-positive owner and general manager Jerry Jones is having to bite his tongue, it seems, when he’s asked about the possibilities for this team.
Cowboys vice president Stephen Jones acknowledged some similarities the current squad has with the franchise’s early 1990s teams that eventually won three Super Bowls in five years. Jones identified three similarities in the two eras, but added a major —and perhaps obvious — caveat during his weekly interview on KRLD/105.3 “The Fan” Monday morning.
The similarities
Quarterback:
“It starts at the top with the quarterback. Obviously Troy [Aikman] was a great leader. I think Dak [Prescott] is the same. I think he has high expectations, not only for himself, but for his teammates. He’s very unselfish, all about the team, not about individual goals. So, I think it starts there,” Jones said.
Swagger:
“The other thing is I would say this team plays with a swagger. They play with a lot of confidence on both sides of the ball, offensive obviously,” Jones said.
Balance:
“The other thing that’s familiar is the balance that we have with our team. There’s no question in my mind Troy could have been one of those quarterbacks probably his whole career like [Dan] Marino that could have passed it 400 yards a game if he needed to, but that wasn’t what was called upon. And these last four wins that we’ve had, Dak’s played great and he’s had very productive games, but he’s not needing to throw for 400 or 500 yards to keep [us] in these games. The balance we have with our rushing attack, really, I think, makes it difficult on opposing defenses.”
Team speed:
“On the flip side of the ball, it’s team speed, which reminds me a lot of those [90s] teams. We have great depth. If you’ll remember, we had great rotations in the defensive line, which we have now in terms of being able to keep players fresh for the fourth quarter when you need them. Great speed at the linebacker position obviously with Micah [Parsons] leading the way there. And then, of course, I do think we got great play-makers and great leadership in the back-end as well.”
Now, here’s the caveat ...
“There are a lot of similarities to the two teams,” he said. “Now, this team has a lot to prove and a long ways to go before, I think, you can compare this team to those teams that won three out of four in the early ’90s.”
Point taken.
This story was originally published October 11, 2021 at 3:09 PM.
