Everyone's Championship Talk Vs What & When Jimmy Johnson Said

[DallasEast]

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)​

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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.​

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“We’ll be in the playoffs.” (link)​

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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.​

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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:​

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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:​

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“We will win the ball game. And you can put it in three‑inch headlines.” (link)​

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^ 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):

1. 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?
2. If the answer is yes, where has players' and coaches' inner assurance come from?
3. 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?

 

[Coogiguy03]

We'll be saying HOW BOUT THEM COWBOYS in a locker room with champagne!!!!!

 

[DallasEast]

We'll be saying HOW BOUT THEM COWBOYS in a locker room with champagne!!!!!

Admit it. The caffeine stopped you from reading my wall of text, didn't it?

 

[sbark]

You are what your record says you are," famously coined by legendary NFL coach Bill Parcells.
2025. 7-9- 1

 

[Cowboys5217]

You are what your record says you are," famously coined by legendary NFL coach Bill Parcells.
2025. 7-9- 1

The 30+ year record is what the Cowboys REALLY are under Jerry's total control.

 

[Coogiguy03]

Admit it. The caffeine stopped you from reading my wall of text, didn't it?

yeah I get reminded of a poster when I see super long posts (trauma)

 

[DallasEast]

You are what your record says you are," famously coined by legendary NFL coach Bill Parcells.
2025. 7-9- 1

Well, that means, technically, every comment made by every NFL player or coach during the off-season says every team's record is 0-0. I am not disagreeing with you. Just saying my OP refers to members using Johnson's words to support whatever players and coaches are saying about the playoffs and the Super Bowl before this regular season has even begun.

Players can and will say whatever they want, especially if it's self-motivational. However, I do not believe there is a strong enough tie-in to make the counterpoint. What Johnson said and what others have said and are saying are not the same.

 

[PA Cowboy Fan]

Many of these players including the qb have flopped in the playoffs for years. I just don't believe a thing they say anymore. I'll believe it's different when they actually win a divisional playoff game.

 

[Vtwin]

"We bleeping suck"

Dak Prescott, November 3, 2024

 

[PA Cowboy Fan]

"We bleeping suck"

Dak Prescott, November 3, 2024

Well he did speak the truth there
Lol

 

[DallasEast]

Many of these players including the qb have flopped in the playoffs for years. I just don't believe a thing they say anymore. I'll believe it's different when they actually win a divisional playoff game.

Agreed. That would be a sure stepping stone to support statements of self-confidence. After Super Bowl XXX, coaches have not led their teams to the NFC Championship game. Different rosters have fallen short as a consequence.

Johnson built something in stages that continued to excel past his departure from the team. His words were a reflection of that growth DURING both his team's growth and after achieving everyone's ultimate goal.

 

[Momanpr100]

Gotta speak it into existence. I don’t mind the players and Coaches talking about the goal at all. The Jone’s Boys I just tune out, that’s just marketing.

 

[GINeric]

You are what your record says you are," famously coined by legendary NFL coach Bill Parcells.
2025. 7-9- 1

So why when we were 12-4 all those times, people tried to downplay it with different excuses? We were what our record says we were, correct?

 

[DallasEast]

Gotta speak it into existence. I don’t mind the players and Coaches talking about the goal at all. The Jone’s Boys I just tune out, that’s just marketing.

I do not disagree, but are the words from a well of self-aspiration or from inner belief? Johnson's words speak of the difference (link):

“I wasn't a dreamer. Dreaming is hoping. I believed. I really believed.​

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When you believe it, it has something (to do with) the way you act and how you deal with people, your expectation. You put expectations on them. You treat a person as he is, he's going to stay as he is. Treat a person as if he were what he could be and should be, he'll become what he could be and should be.​

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I didn't dream. I believed we were going to do it...​

...You can live your life influenced by others, or you can believe in something. People say, ‘Hey, you're stubborn, you're foolish, you're crazy,’ but if you believe it, you're going to work to make it happen."​

It has been three decades of players and coaches not speaking their words into existence. It is far past time for one of these teams to stop dreaming and start doing the work necessary to reward belief. And forget about fans' and media' belief. Belief in themselves.

 

[ArtClink]

The 30+ year record is what the Cowboys REALLY are under Jerry's total control.

Exactly, so why are fans shocked that longtime fans have a huge dose of skepticism when we’ve had nothing to celebrate for three decades? I hope this is THE year but with zero fundamental changes to how the franchise is run, how can anyone be optimistic?

 

[acr731]

1. 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?
2. If the answer is yes, where has players' and coaches' inner assurance come from?
3. 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?

Dak's history is only making comments about super bowls right after he gets a pay raise. This is the first year, I think, that he is running his mouth about super bowls without a pay raise.

I choose "no" for option 1. Dak never followed through with the promises in the past, so there's no reason to believe he will get close this time. He's just running his mouth, nothing more. In fact, Dak sounds like Jerry at times when he tries to spread the false hopium.

 

[CT Dal Fan]

"We bleeping suck"

Dak Prescott, November 3, 2024

Fans went wild when Dak said that. Fans went wild when he wore a Super Bowl t-shirt to camp.

I get that Dak needs to deliver when it matters most but people are not happy no matter what he says.

 

[CT Dal Fan]

Dak's history is only making comments about super bowls right after he gets a pay raise. This is the first year, I think, that he is running his mouth about super bowls without a pay raise.

I choose "no" for option 1. He never followed through with the promises in the past, so there's no reason to believe he will get close this time. He's just running his mouth, nothing more. In fact, Dak sounds like Jerry at times when he tries to spread the false hopium

All 32 starting QBs in the NFL will say right now that the Super Bowl is the goal. Unless it's the Jets, Dolphins, or Cardinals most fan bases can cling to even slight hope.

Dak stating that the ultimate goal is a title should surprise nobody. What is he supposed to say is the goal? Eight wins? Would that fill everyone here with joy?

 

[DallasEast]

Exactly, so why are fans shocked that longtime fans have a huge dose of skepticism when we’ve had nothing to celebrate for three decades? I hope this is THE year but with zero fundamental changes to how the franchise is run, how can anyone be optimistic?

Anyone can be optimistic. That is an individual self-perspective.

The one undeniable variable in the Dallas Cowboys equation is the work environment all players and coaches have remained immersed in. That is the Jerry Jones, the owner/GM, nonsensical partnership work environment. It is the long-standing constant variable despite all of the annual tweaks and whistles, the good and the bad, that he has authored directly and indirectly.

It is why I believe this team or any capable team may somehow overcome his influence and win it all somehow, but that it will happen despite him. Unlike other NFL coaches and rosters, Dallas teams have three instead of two obstacles every season. Everyone else has to excel beyond their capabilities and what their opponents are capable of. Cowboys teams have Jerral W. Jones, Sr., 'I am GM for life baby!' miasma to overcome.

 

[Rockport]

I thought everyone knew this already. Buuuuuuuuuut not many of the Zoners.