Troy Aikman’s Super Bowl Analysis of The Cowboys Roster is Both Compliment And Curse
Troy Aikman has rarely shied away from criticizing his old boss Jerry Jones for the way the owner runs his Dallas Cowboys. But in a sort of backhanded compliment issued this week in Miami at the Super Bowl, Aikman actually praises the building of the present day cowboys roster under Jones.
"To a man, Troy said, "there’s not many coaches that wouldn’t have traded their roster with the Cowboys."
Of course that is both a complement and a curse from the three-time Super Bowl winning Cowboys quarterback now the-highly respected lead analyst on the NFL for FOX Sports.
The flattering analysis of the roster in someways is actually an indictment of Aikman buddy Jason Garrett, the ousted head coach. With this ballyhooed roster, Garrett was only able to finish 8-8 in 2019 before this off-season being replaced by Mike McCarthy.
We know from our one-on-one conversations with Aikman that he believes the Jones family's style of operation sometimes did Garrett no favors. So maybe what he's saying here is that something other than the head coach held them back. (Aikman is a supporter of the McCarthy hire, as you can read here.) In 2020, under new leadership, Dallas will take another crack at Super Bowl contention, something Aikman - who once led this franchise to three Super Bowl wins in the 1990s - believes this roster can achieve.
"Yes,'' the Pro Football Hall-of-Famer said. "Without a doubt. I thought, looking at them (over the course of the 2019 season), that they were really talented. I would talk to coaches around the league and to a man, there’s not many coaches that wouldn’t have traded their roster with the Cowboys.”
That's flattering as it relates to what Aikman thinks Dallas can do ... and damning if Dallas ends up again falling way short.
