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By SportsDayDFW.com
Former Dallas Cowboys head coach Jimmy Johnson was interviewed on 1310 The Ticket on Wednesday to discuss his time during the Cowboys’ Super Bowl years. Here are some highlights:
You didn’t have a lot of believers when you were first brought in to coach the Dallas Cowboys. You eventually proved all the non-believers wrong but did you ever have any doubts during that first 1-15 season?
Now, this is a true story: when I was at Oklahoma State University, I grabbed my crew and I brought them in. We were at a place called the Ancestor and I said, “Guys, hang with me, we’re going to win us a national championship.” Well, we ended up winning a national championship; it was at Miami a few years later but we still won it. Well, that year that we were 1-15, they were really down so I grabbed them and we went to a little restaurant not too far from Valley Ranch, Bennigan’s. And so we all went in there and were talking like I said and they were a little bit depressed so I said, “Guys, I told you we were going to win a national championship. Believe this, we will win a Super Bowl here in Dallas. So just hang with me and keep your spirits up; we’re going to be fine. We just got to go through this process right now.”
We actually made some moves that year knowing it was going to cost us games. I cut our leading receiver from the year before because I knew he wasn’t really good enough to achieve what we wanted to achieve. We traded away our only Pro Bowl player. But I knew what was going to happen down the road and I needed draft picks. I needed some ammunition to bring in some talent. And so, I just said, “Hey guys, hang with us; we’ll get enough talent to where we’ll be able to do our thing.” I felt bad for the fans.
What are your memories of your first trip to the Super Bowl in Pasadena?
You know, I’ve told this story a few times but when we beat San Francisco in the NFC Championship Game, we felt like we beat the best team in the league. They were better than us and we won that game so we knew going into the Buffalo game…Buffalo turned the ball over a ton throughout the year. And I knew that we were going to win the game. I never, ever coached in a game in my entire career where I was as confident about winning a game as against Buffalo. We went for a little jog before the game that Sunday morning and I told our guys, “Guys, hey, just hang with us because we’re going to be Super Bowl champions this afternoon.”
And I felt so good, I went out to the field and I walked up and down the field like I always did prior to the games and it was just such a feeling and the jets went across the stadium before the kickoff and the only thought that went through my mind was that three or four hours from now, I’m going to be a Super Bowl champion. I mean, I knew it was going to happen and it did happen and they did turn the ball over and we won decisively. But it was a great feeling knowing that we were going to be the best in the world after that ball game.
What do you see in Jason Garrett, who was once one of your players as a Cowboy and is now the head coach of the team?
Jason called me a few years ago when he was thinking about the Atlanta or the Baltimore job and he talked about the different options and I was actually surprised after all the advice I gave him that he decided to stay with Dallas. So, he said that he didn’t feel like he was ready yet at that time and then Troy [Aikman] and Jason came down to the Keys and spent a few days with me. I thought it was going to be fishing and drinking beer but Jason had a list of questions. Man, he just about wore me out.
But it makes a point in that Jason has prepared himself for this opportunity. Now, I think, with all this possibility of a work stoppage, the teams that have continuity and kept their coaches, I think they’re going to have an advantage over teams that changed their coaches. So, I think that was a smart move, but I think it was a smart move for Jason as well. He’s very intelligent; he’s got a passion for the game; I like what he’s doing; he put in some pad practices last year. I think that helped and from my understanding, he’s going to be in pads more in training camp, which I think will help him. It was the same thing we did for our Super Bowls. If you practice in sweats, you get sloppy, you get bad habits. I was always a stickler that I wanted our guys in pads.
We never broke from the routine of ‘we’re in pads Wednesday and Thursdays and we’re wearing shoulder pads on Fridays’. Players would come up, Troy and all of them, and say, “Coach, why don’t you relax a little bit and let us go in sweats?” I said, “Hey, we got to this point by being in pads. We’ll stay in pads.” And so I listened to them but I didn’t change.
Former Dallas Cowboys head coach Jimmy Johnson was interviewed on 1310 The Ticket on Wednesday to discuss his time during the Cowboys’ Super Bowl years. Here are some highlights:
You didn’t have a lot of believers when you were first brought in to coach the Dallas Cowboys. You eventually proved all the non-believers wrong but did you ever have any doubts during that first 1-15 season?
Now, this is a true story: when I was at Oklahoma State University, I grabbed my crew and I brought them in. We were at a place called the Ancestor and I said, “Guys, hang with me, we’re going to win us a national championship.” Well, we ended up winning a national championship; it was at Miami a few years later but we still won it. Well, that year that we were 1-15, they were really down so I grabbed them and we went to a little restaurant not too far from Valley Ranch, Bennigan’s. And so we all went in there and were talking like I said and they were a little bit depressed so I said, “Guys, I told you we were going to win a national championship. Believe this, we will win a Super Bowl here in Dallas. So just hang with me and keep your spirits up; we’re going to be fine. We just got to go through this process right now.”
We actually made some moves that year knowing it was going to cost us games. I cut our leading receiver from the year before because I knew he wasn’t really good enough to achieve what we wanted to achieve. We traded away our only Pro Bowl player. But I knew what was going to happen down the road and I needed draft picks. I needed some ammunition to bring in some talent. And so, I just said, “Hey guys, hang with us; we’ll get enough talent to where we’ll be able to do our thing.” I felt bad for the fans.
What are your memories of your first trip to the Super Bowl in Pasadena?
You know, I’ve told this story a few times but when we beat San Francisco in the NFC Championship Game, we felt like we beat the best team in the league. They were better than us and we won that game so we knew going into the Buffalo game…Buffalo turned the ball over a ton throughout the year. And I knew that we were going to win the game. I never, ever coached in a game in my entire career where I was as confident about winning a game as against Buffalo. We went for a little jog before the game that Sunday morning and I told our guys, “Guys, hey, just hang with us because we’re going to be Super Bowl champions this afternoon.”
And I felt so good, I went out to the field and I walked up and down the field like I always did prior to the games and it was just such a feeling and the jets went across the stadium before the kickoff and the only thought that went through my mind was that three or four hours from now, I’m going to be a Super Bowl champion. I mean, I knew it was going to happen and it did happen and they did turn the ball over and we won decisively. But it was a great feeling knowing that we were going to be the best in the world after that ball game.
What do you see in Jason Garrett, who was once one of your players as a Cowboy and is now the head coach of the team?
Jason called me a few years ago when he was thinking about the Atlanta or the Baltimore job and he talked about the different options and I was actually surprised after all the advice I gave him that he decided to stay with Dallas. So, he said that he didn’t feel like he was ready yet at that time and then Troy [Aikman] and Jason came down to the Keys and spent a few days with me. I thought it was going to be fishing and drinking beer but Jason had a list of questions. Man, he just about wore me out.
But it makes a point in that Jason has prepared himself for this opportunity. Now, I think, with all this possibility of a work stoppage, the teams that have continuity and kept their coaches, I think they’re going to have an advantage over teams that changed their coaches. So, I think that was a smart move, but I think it was a smart move for Jason as well. He’s very intelligent; he’s got a passion for the game; I like what he’s doing; he put in some pad practices last year. I think that helped and from my understanding, he’s going to be in pads more in training camp, which I think will help him. It was the same thing we did for our Super Bowls. If you practice in sweats, you get sloppy, you get bad habits. I was always a stickler that I wanted our guys in pads.
We never broke from the routine of ‘we’re in pads Wednesday and Thursdays and we’re wearing shoulder pads on Fridays’. Players would come up, Troy and all of them, and say, “Coach, why don’t you relax a little bit and let us go in sweats?” I said, “Hey, we got to this point by being in pads. We’ll stay in pads.” And so I listened to them but I didn’t change.