Cowboys: Troy Aikman Calls For Changes In Dallas

Dallas Cowboys Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman calls for changes within the organization, or else it could be many more years before Dallas wins another Super Bowl.

To start with, I’ll just say that Fox Sports color commentator Troy Aikman is among the most bland, boring and one-dimensional sports broadcasters I’ve ever heard in my life. Following the legendary performance given by John Madden before him, succession is a nearly impossible task.

Just consider the job description of ‘color commentator.’

In Aikman’s case, you might alter that description to ‘black and white’ commentator.

Wasn’t watching the Dallas Cowboys already tough enough?

Having said that, one thing you can certainly count on Aikman for is common sense. His statistical interpretations are generally spot on, at least if you can stay awake long enough to hear it, and what little you gather from his playing days usually makes sense.

For example, I heard Troy Aikman suggest long ago that quarterback sacks are overrated. The way he stated this idea was so simplistic that I paused for a second, and then it hit me.

You can sack a quarterback eight times, but if the opposing passer never fumbles, throws and interception and keeps converting first downs somehow, then the pressure being applied can end up useless.

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Makes sense.

It’s now been over 20 years since the Dallas Cowboys have played in a Super Bowl. In fact, the team has yet to play in an NFC championship game during that same span and the team has only won three playoff games since last hoisting up the Vince Lombardi Trophy.

Can you believe that the Cowboys overall-regular season record since that last championship in Tempe, Arizona is 162-158? That’s four games above completely average. We can’t even blame that on ‘Mr. Average,’ head coach Jason Garrett.

I must point out, however, that Garrett’s record as head coach (no interim tag) with the Cowboys is exactly 40-40 – no wonder owner and general manager Jerry Jones is so comfortable with Garrett. The aspiring head coach’s record almost mirrors Jones’ results as undisputed king of all things football at Valley Ranch in the post-Jimmy Johnson era.

Don’t look now, but Aikman is essentially calling out Jones on the future prospects of another Super Bowl win coming to the Dallas-Ft. Worth. Aikman visited with Metropolex sports radio station KTCK on Wednesday, which happened to be the 20th anniversary of the Cowboys’ last Super Bow win. As if anyone else might know better, Aikman stated that without changes within the Dallas organization, it could be awhile before there’s any championship success coming for the Cowboys.

"This team, for 20 years, really has been so inconsistent. And unless practices change, I don’t see that changing any time soon. You look back at last year and 12-4 and get excited about that, but was 12-4 really what this team is or is 8-8? I don’t think 4-12 is this year because of the injuries that occurred. But you’ve got to do it more than once every seven or eight years before you can say, ‘Hey, the things that we’re doing are really paying off.’ It’s been a long history of frustration and up-and-down years, and, for the most part, disappointment."

Actually, the Cowboys, as already mentioned above, have been quite consistent, at least where being average is concerned.

Aikman then offered the nuts and bolts of the conversation.

"And I think you’ve got to be able to look back on something and say, ‘OK, we’re building something here and these things that we do pay off,’ but I haven’t seen that, so I don’t anticipate any time soon anything being any different from what we’ve seen the last 20 years."

No, things probably won’t be done any differently in Dallas. Not when you have an owner whose priority isn’t really winning football games. Remember that this billionaire already had the best team in the NFL within five years of his self-appointed role as general manager back in 1989. Rather than keeping that system intact for as long as possible, he ran off the true architect of the 1990s dynasty, Johnson, as quickly as he could.

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Since the end of the Johnson era, which included that one last championship for then-head coach Barry Switzer, of all people, Jones has stayed as far away from successful and proven head coaches as much as possible. The only exception was the hiring of Bill Parcells in early 2003, but this was only done to get a new stadium built, as Jones freely admitted while being videotaped drunk at a bar several years ago.

Aikman is exactly right on the fact that fundamental change at Valley Ranch, or The Ford Center at The Star, is absolutely necessary if Jones plans to witness another championship during his life. I’m not sure the same can’t be said for the rest of Cowboys Nation.

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