Fan Zone discussions have become centered around what current coaches and players have said about playing in the Super Bowl. The talk is not unique. The same talk has been ongoing, almost uninterrupted, for decades by other coaches and players, and especially in Dallas.
Lately, what Jimmy Johnson had previously said about playing
and winning the Super Bowl has been introduced as a counterpoint defense for present-day comments. Is it the same thing, though? I invite anyone to add additional cited quotes (not hearsay) Johnson made--
only during the time he was Dallas' head coach--in addition to the few I am posting here:
“We’ll win here, and we’ll win big. Write it down.” (quoted by Sports Illustrated's Peter King)
These were his words after becoming the team's second-ever head coach. Unfounded or not, his self-confidence came from what he accomplished at the college level, including winning or competing in national championship games.
“We’ll be in the playoffs.” (
link)
Here's something to consider about what Johnson said during the offseason before the 1991 season. Dallas opened the previous season 3-7. There had been obvious improvement made in comparison to Johnson's first season, but there seemed like equally obvious room for greater growth.
Then it happened. Roster improvement and the Johnson system clicked. The Cowboys beat the Rams, Washington, Saints, and Cardinals, evened their record at 7-7, and greatly improved their opportunity of being in the 1990 playoffs. Endure 53 seconds of Chris Berman to refresh old members' recollections and provide better context for younger members who were too young or not even born yet to understand what happened next:
Apologies to Babe Laufenberg, but Johnson's team was in the same situation as practically all NFL teams losing their starter: done for the season. Months later, and before the next season began, Johnson spoke with self-confidence that he already had a playoff-caliber team with his now-healthy starting quarterback. On to the supposedly best Johnson quote that counterpoints have rested upon:
“We will win the ball game. And you can put it in three‑inch headlines.” (
link)
^ Johnson said this in late January 1994. His self-confidence nested within the knowledge of having a team that matured FROM:
- Reaching the divisional round in 1991
- Winning Super Bowl XXVII
- Decisively winning 12 of 16 games AFTER a two-game Emmitt Smith holdout AND winning a huge game AT New York (the legend of Smith grows), cementing a #1 playoff seed AND dispatching the pesky Packers in a game that was 17-3 Dallas at halftime
Questions (and I will leave Jerry Jones' decades-old diarrhea of the mouth out of this):
- Should playoff and Super Bowl comments made by players and coaches over the past 30 years, including this offseason, be taken the same as what Johnson said?
- If the answer is yes, where has players' and coaches' inner assurance come from?
- Could players instead mainly base their confidence on seeing peers like Seattle bounce from 9-8 (winning record), 10-7 (winning record) to last season's Super Bowl champions?
