Just like the team of the 90's, the areas of strength for this team was never planned. The GM and coach never sat down and came up with the idea of building a dominant offensive line backed by an elite RB. It was never planned in the 90's and it wasn't planned now.
Jimmy Johnson never wanted Emmitt Smith, Johnson was all about speed on both sides of the ball. However, an old scout talked him into it after his choice, LB James Francis was taken before the Cowboys could choose.
And when it became time to talk about contracts in 1993 Jerry Jones got stubborn, saying, "Emmitt Smith is a luxury, not a necessity." So, even after winning their first Super Bowl Jerry never saw Emmitt as a critical cog and so Emmitt sat out the first two games in 1993, which the Cowboys lost.
That offensive line was half there before Jerry and Jimmy ever showed up. Kevin Gogan, Nate Newton, and Mark Tuinei, all future Pro Bowlers, had been playing for the Cowboys three to five years before Emmitt was drafted.
Half of today's offensive line is made up of the guys drafted as a consolation after not getting the guys they really wanted. They wanted defensive guys but the ones they wanted were gone so they "reached" and took Fredericks. Jerry pouted for years after being talked out of Manziel despite their choice, Zach Martin making All Pro his rookie season.
And once again, the RB was disrespected, run out of town with a low ball offer that was later sweetened but the damage had been done. All we heard was how unimportant the RB position was in the pass happy NFL We were told any RB could run behind that line. Taking Elliott was an admission that they had stumbled, yes stumbled, onto an interesting phenomenon. In this pass happy environment, defenses were being built to stop the pass to the detriment of defending the unfashionable running attack. Against a real physical ground game NFL defenses would fatigue and fade.
What Cowboy management has done is recognize this phenomenon and increased the physical aspect by drafting Zeke. There is nothing wrong with that but they have certainly not made an effort to emulate the 90's team.
The current team management has done better than that. They are emulating the teams of the 70's, develop a specific philosophy and draft players that fit their system with attributes that help to make them great team players. I give that credit specifically to Jason Garrett with critical support from Stephen Jones.
In Jerry's world the QB would be Manziel, the RB would be Randle and the team success would mirror the current status of these two guys....gone....lost......but, hey, they would have a great receiver....occasionally.....
