Its become a folk legend that Jimmy Johnosn always went with young players building for the future, while Bill Parcells always go with the vets and plays for 1 year. So I decided to compare the age of the starters on the teams for both coaches by their 3rd year in the league. NOTE: I'm not saying the 2005 Cowboys are as good as the 1991 Cowboys, or that they're going to win 3 Superbowls in the next 4 years. I'm just wanting to find out if there's any truth to the notion that Jimmy just threw young players out there and Parcells always goes with the veteran if given the opportunity.
Still, its interesting to see the numbers.
Starting Defense 1991
OFFENSE...
Position - Name - Year Experience
---------------------------------
LDE - Tony Tolbert - 3
DT - Russel Maryland - 1
DT - Tony Cassillas - 6
RDE - Jim Jeffcoat - 9
LB - Vinson Smith - 3
LB - Ken Norton - 4
LB - Jack Del Rio - 7
LCB - Larry Brown - 1
FS - Ray Horton - 9
SS - James Washington - 4
Avg mean year of experience per starter - 4.27
Avg median - 4.0
Starters with 3 years experience or less - 4
Rookies starting - 2 rookies
Dallas starters last Sunday
LDE - Spears - 1
NG - Glover - 10
RDE - Canty - 1
LOLB - Fujita - 4
MLB - Shanle - 3
MLB - James - 3
ROLB - Ware - 1
cB - Newman - 3
CB - Henry - 5
SS - Williams - 4
FS - Davis - 4
Avg mean year of experience per starter - 3.54
Avg median - 3
Starters with 3 years experience or less - 6
Rookies starting - 3
OFFENSE
QB - Aikman - 3
FB - Johnson - 3
RB - Emmitt - 2
WR - Irvin - 4
WR - Harper - 1
TE - Novacek - 7
LT - Tuinei - 7
LG - Newton - 6
C - Stepnoski - 3
RG - Gesek - 5
RT - Gogan - 5
Avg mean year of experience per starter - 4.18
Avg median - 4
Starters with 3 years experience or less - 5
Rookies starting - 1
Dallas starters last Sunday
QB - Bledsoe - 13
FB - Polite - 2
RB - Julius - 2
WR - Keyshawn - 10
WR - Glenn - 10
TE - Witten - 3
LT - Torrin Tucker - 3
LG - Larry Allen - 12
C - Johnson - 3
RG - Rivera - 10
RT - Pettiti - 1
Avg mean year of experience per starter - 6.27
Avg median age per starter - 3
Starters with 3 years experience or less - 6
Rookies starting - 1
The only area in which the 1991 team was younger was the mean average age of offense, where a handfull of old vets tipped the scales. However, the median age of the offense was younger in 2005.
If you want to look past the starters and get into the periphery players -- long snapper, nickelback, 3rd WR, kickers, punters ... specialty players who aren't starters but see a lot of snaps or play critical roles, the gap widens considerably. The Cowboys were particularly "seasoned" on the periphery players in 1991. You're comparing the experience of Kelvin Martin to Patrick Crayton. Bill Bates to Jacques Reeves. Mike saxon to Matt McBriar. Ladouceur to Dale Hellestrae. Alonzo Highsmith to Marion Barber.
Now, I know in advance that some people are going to say "Ellis is the true starter, not Canty." Fair enough, but Kelvin Martin started more games than rookie Harper in 1991. I still listed Harper as the starer.
In the case where a veteran and rookie shared the starting spot, I gave the edge to the rookie. Both teams benifited.
Now, this really is not a fair matchup. There is no way Bill Parcells should even be close. He has not had nearly the wealth of draft picks Jimmy had to stockpile his teams full of young players thanks to the Herchel Walker trade. Not only did he have the bounty of draft picks brought by the Herchel Walker trade, he had constantly drafted higher and had better draft position to draft higher quality players who could play right away. Jimmy had the #1 pick in each round his first two drafts. If you count the fact that supplemental pick spent on Walsh would have been the first pick in the draft, The Cowboys had the rights to the #1 pick in the draft all of Jimmy's first 3 years in Dallas ... Parcells has not had nearly anything close to the opportunities to add young talent that Jimmy was afforded. No coach in the history of hte NFL did, really.
Then the question of where free agency comes to play. If Jimmy had the opportunity to go out and get a veteran through free agency to fill a position like Parcells does, how much older would the 1991 roster have been? Jimmy certainly showed a penchant for adding older veteran through any means he had available ... Alonzo Highsmith and Charles Haley in trades, and all the veterans he brought in through Plan B Free agency. Meanwhile the Cowboys have not spent even close to the allocated cap space available to Parcells while he's been here to add veteran free agents. In cases where Dallas has added veteran talent for depth, such as Peerless Price, Parcells really didn't give him the time of day and prefered to go with the younger player like Crayton.
Now I know what the next response is ... But, but, but THE QUARTERBACK. We'll, Unfortunately for Parcells, he's never had the opportunity to sit with the #1 pick in the draft with a consensus #1 pick sitting there at the QB position. Would he take one if there was? His history with the Patriots says he would. And if the shoe were on the other foot, if Jimmy didn't have a #1 pick with a consensus #1 QB , would he d he stick with a veteran QB past his prime or would he go with any young QB no matter what and just stick him out there to see what he could do. His history in Miami says he goes with the vet.
