Dallas Cowboys’ Emmitt Smith, Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin reflect on the glorious time – NFL News
The era of 1990s was unarguably the best in the history of the Dallas Cowboys who won three Super Bowl titles from 1992 to 1996, but the franchise has been struggling to achieve the lost glory again since more than a decade now.
Three of the Cowboys best players ever running back, Emmitt Smith, quarterback, Troy Aikman, and wide receiver, Michael Irvin, who were a part of all the three Super Bowl winning squads reflected on those victories and the team’s downfall during an engaging
session on the The Rich Eisen Podcast.
They all unanimously opined that the departure of head coach, Jimmy Johnson, from the franchise was the main reason behind the team’s slump.
Johnson joined the Cowboys as head coach in 1989 and led the team to winning two straight Super Bowl titles (XXVII and XXVIII) before parting ways with them in 1993.
The Cowboys won the Super Bowl x*x in the 1995 season without Johnson, but it was believed that the efforts Johnson had put in during his tenure as the head coach resulted in the third Super Bowl victory of the decade for the franchise.
Unfortunately, Johnson and Cowboys’ owner, Jerry Jones, were not able to develop good understanding with each other and could not continue association even after winning two Super Bowl titles in a row.
Aikman believes that the downfall began starting with Johnson’s departure. He said:
"I think that the chemistry of it all began to change you know ... when we lost Jimmy. You know the argument of Jimmy and Jerry ... that can go on forever, they'll write books about that, that's fine.”
Irvin mentioned that Johnson wanted his players to stay focused. He said:
"We needed it (Jimmy's demands). We needed it, let's be real. Troy and Emmitt, these are good guys, but we had a whole bunch of other guys and Jimmy brought it all together and kept us well, and kept us focused."
Since winning the Super Bowl in the 1995 season, the Cowboys have registered seven playoff appearances, but they were not even able to win any conference championship title. Their last playoff appearance was in the 2009 season in which they lost the divisional
round game against Minnesota Vikings.
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