Aikman: Cowboys have 'their most talented team in the last 20 years'
FRISCO - Troy Aikman is a) not given to hyperbole and b) was a centerpiece of the most talented Dallas Cowboys teams ever. So when he heaps praise on the 2019 Cowboys? We listen.
"This is as talented of a team that there's been in Dallas for 20-plus years,'' the legendary Cowboys QB said during his FOX telecast of his old team's 35-17 win over the visiting Giants in Week 1.
There is no tangible way to prove or disprove this, of course. You will note that Aikman didn't say "last 25 or 27 years,'' because that would overflow into the early 1990's Cowboys teams that won three Super Bowls in four years, with Aikman behind center. And why not extend to then? Because that claim, if someone were to make it, can be disproved by results.
That team -- featuring so many Pro Bowlers, All-Pros, Ring of Honor inductees and Hall of Famers -- won three Super Bowls in four years. This present team is different from a few years ago, different in its core, but even if you count this part of the Jason Garrett Era as one thing, it's still only won three NFC East titles in five years. And NFC East titles aren't the same as Super Bowls.
Nevertheless, it's one thing -- impressive as it is -- when soft-spoken present-day Cowboys receiver Amari Cooper labels the 2019 Cowboys "lethal.'' Just like it's one thing when present-day defensive leader Jaylon Smith tells me the group on his side of the ball can be "elite.''
But it is another thing entirely when the non-hyperbolic Troy Aikman says it.
