Jimmy Johnson on turning around the Cowboys from 1-15

KJJ said:
He moved on from some aging players, which was a problem for Landry. Cleaning house caused the team to take a step back the first year under Jimmy. The team was real young and didn’t have enough experience. What ultimately turned the team around was Troy Aikman panning out along with a number of other players at key positions. Trading for Charles Haley was a huge addition. Plus the players feared Jimmy who kept everyone in line.

He had the team ready to play every week. You could tell Jimmy was on a mission to win a championship when he arrived. It was clear it was his team from day one. He was in total control of the football side of things. We could only wish it was like that with the Cowboys these days.
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Good one KJ
 
KJJ said:
The roster certainly wasn’t staggering when he arrived. Once he cleaned house and traded Herschel Walker, that was one of the top 10 worst teams of all time. It looked pretty much hopeless after the 89 season. I didn’t expect the team to go 1-15 after being 3-13 the previous season. Practically everyone was questioning Jimmy and Jerry after that first season. I still can’t believe that three years later the Cowboys were hoisting the Lombardi trophy. That seemed impossible after the 89 season.
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Wow that’s amazing. You must have lived around Dallas, and that was the local sentiment. Info was scarce back then as compared to now, but I was amazingly pumped heading into 1990. Like rambo2 type level.

We had Aikman, all those picks, and I just didn’t think the rest of the roster was that bad. I completely trusted Johnson. Sucked a little that he gave away the first pick in the draft but I figured he would eventually deal Walsh and recoup some draft capital. Not quite, but forgiven lol.
 
fivetwos said:
Wow that’s amazing. You must have lived around Dallas, and that was the local sentiment. Info was scarce back then as compared to now, but I was amazingly pumped heading into 1990. Like rambo2 type level.

We had Aikman, all those picks, and I just didn’t think the rest of the roster was that bad. I completely trusted Johnson. Sucked a little that he gave away the first pick in the draft but I figured he would eventually deal Walsh and recoup some draft capital. Not quite, but forgiven lol.
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I was living in the Los Angeles area and still am. I was anything but pumped after the 89 season. I was pretty deflated. Aikman went 0-11 and was getting beat up. We had no RB after the Walker trade and although we got a lot of draft picks for him, they didn’t guarantee anything. The Rams made a similar trade a few years earlier with Eric Dickerson, and didn’t get much out of their picks. I didn’t start feeling hopeful until the 91 season. There was some noticeable improvement in the 90 season. The Cowboys won 7 games, but they could’ve won 9 or 10 games that season. Heading into the 92 season had me pumped. I still thought they were a year away, but that season turned into a dream come true.
 
KJJ said:
I was living in the Los Angeles area and still am. I was anything but pumped after the 89 season. I was pretty deflated. Aikman went 0-11 and was getting beat up. We had no RB after the Walker trade and although we got a lot of draft picks for him, they didn’t guarantee anything. The Rams made a similar trade a few years earlier with Eric Dickerson, and didn’t get much out of their picks. I didn’t start feeling hopeful until the 91 season. There was some noticeable improvement in the 90 season. The Cowboys won 7 games, but they could’ve won 9 or 10 games that season. Heading into the 92 season had me pumped. I still thought they were a year away, but that season turned into a dream come true.
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Ok. Everyone is different. I was excited about what I thought was being built….as long as they had Aikman I thought the rest would work.

If you’re an LA guy you must have been happy about getting Aikman, unless you’re USC I suppose. See below. The end of 88 was the only time I truly wanted them to lose and they came close to blowing that.

I remember being on the UCLA campus in early 1992 getting an Aikman jersey…before throwbacks were a thing. I had people at Texas Stadium tell me…” hey man the color is wrong on your jersey.” Ok, gotcha.

I also wore that when the Cowboys played at the LA Raiders in October of 1992. I was told in the parking lot….”you can get shot around here for that…not about the Cowboys.”

Apparently UCLA/USC is a big deal. I just wanted a quarterback.
 
fivetwos said:
Ok. Everyone is different. I was excited about what I thought was being built….as long as they had Aikman I thought the rest would work.

If you’re an LA guy you must have been happy about getting Aikman, unless you’re USC I suppose. See below. The end of 88 was the only time I truly wanted them to lose and they came close to blowing that.

I remember being on the UCLA campus in early 1992 getting an Aikman jersey…before throwbacks were a thing. I had people at Texas Stadium tell me…” hey man the color is wrong on your jersey.” Ok, gotcha.

I also wore that when the Cowboys played at the LA Raiders in October of 1992. I was told in the parking lot….”you can get shot around here for that…not about the Cowboys.”

Apparently UCLA/USC is a big deal. I just wanted a quarterback.
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Even if I was a USC fan, I certainly didn’t want Rodney Peete. Aikman was regarded as the best QB in the draft. It doesn’t matter where I’m from or what college team I’m rooting for, I want the best player I can get at any position regardless what college team they play for. I was thrilled we were able to get Aikman, but his rookie season was concerning because of the beating he was taking.

Even though he didn’t win a game his rookie year you could see the potential. He played well enough to win several games but the team around him sucked, especially the OL. Once we traded Walker in 89, he had no chance. Games got thrown on him.
 
KJJ said:
Even if I was a USC fan, I certainly didn’t want Rodney Peete. Aikman was regarded as the best QB in the draft. It doesn’t matter where I’m from or what college team I’m rooting for, I want the best player I can get at any position regardless what college team they play for. I was thrilled we were able to get Aikman, but his rookie season was concerning because of the beating he was taking.

Even though he didn’t win a game his rookie year you could see the potential. He played well enough to win several games but the team around him sucked, especially the OL. Once we traded Walker in 89, he had no chance. Games got thrown on him.
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I didn’t think it was about which college. Maybe re-read that. Not what I meant. I was naive to the situation was the reason for mentioning that.

Yeah the OL played like a total mess in 1989….BUT….Newton, Tuinei, Gogan and Stepnoski were already here, all but the latter already a veteran. Maybe coaching actually does matter.
 
fivetwos said:
I didn’t think it was about which college. Maybe re-read that. Not what I meant. I was naive to the situation was the reason for mentioning that.

Yeah the OL played like a total mess in 1989….BUT….Newton, Tuinei, Gogan and Stepnoski were already here, all but the latter already a veteran. Maybe coaching actually does matter.
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Some fans favor players from the college they root for. Honestly, I’m not a college football fan. However, growing up in Texas I did pull for the Longhorns. I lost interest in college football many years ago because they didn’t have a playoff system and I didn’t like determining the National Champion by a poll. Step was a rookie in 89 and only started four games. The OL really started coming together when Step gained some experience and we drafted Erik Williams.
 
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