Who was around in 1990

[AsthmaField]

I still say that Jimmy Johnson just got plain lucky in Dallas, as far as talent acquisition that is.

He had Irvin on the team when he took over.

He had the first overall pick in his first draft and anyone in their right mind would have taken Aikman.

The next draft, he had to have two trades that he tried fall apart, he had to have a fantastic RB slide in the draft because of his 40 time, and he had to have Pittsburgh willing to move back from 17 to 21 for that 3rd. If any one of those things happen, Emmitt isn't in Dallas.

If:

Landry had taken someone other than Irvin in his last draft, Jimmy wouldn't have had Michael.

Landry actually won his final game against Green Bay in 1988, he would have had the 2nd overall pick and wouldn't have gotten Aikman. He probably would have taken Mandarich who was a huge bust.

Cincy accepts Jimmys trade offer, he gets James Francis instead of Emmitt.
or
New England accepts his trade, he gets Ray Agnew and not Emmitt.
or
Someone been smart enough to take Emmitt where he was supposed to go
or
Pittsburgh not accepted Jimmy's trade offer, Atlanta gets Emmitt Smith.

So, it would have been incredibly simple for Dallas not to have the triplets. In fact, all three could have easily gone elsewhere.


Then, had Minn not been dumb enough to trade for H Walker, that boatload of guys never would have been in Dallas.

Had St. Louis Cardinals been smart enough to not let Jay Novacek go in plan B... something they later said never should have happened, then he is never in Dallas.

I could keep going, but the point is, Jimmy lucked into a **** ton of great players.

 

[AsthmaField]

Wow, I'd forgotten that Jimmy gave up five picks for a white cornerback. :/

A bad white cornerback.

Wait, is that redundant?

 

[BAT]

Jimmy Johnson dd not draft Irvin. Jimmy Johnson inherited the Aikman pick. It was a no-brainer to pick Aikman. Any team in the top position of the draft would have most likely chose Aikman. Now, why did Jimmy pick Steve Walsh in the supplementary (giving up a 1st) and offer to pick him up at the airport? Doesn't seem like Jimmy had a whole heck of a lot of confidence in Aikman. Also, Emmitt was not even Jimmy's target in the draft. He had a LB in mind and Emmitt was the fallback plan from what I have read. Also, another Jimmy pick in Russell Maryland was far from a HOF player taken in the 1st.

Ability? I'd say Jimmy got pretty lucky to inherit Irvin and Aikman and was very fortuitous to have Emmitt fall into his lap. Without those three, Jimmy was probably nothing more than a mediocre coach. Sometimes you just get lucky. Jimmy also got lucky to have Herscel Walker at his disposal. Jimmy did maximize the talents and value of those 4: Irvin, Aikman, Smith and Walker.

I wish people would just stop regurgitating this BS. Jimmy had clout to take any player he wanted and Jimmy chose Aikman, a player he heavily recruited in college. And Emmitt was a Jimmy pick. Period. If anyone followed the Cowboys at all during this period there was a reason why Jimmy was focused on D initially. Cowboys had no one on their front 7 in '89. Jeffcoat was old, Noonan was a bust and Norton was a rook still coming off injuries. And that '90 draft was loaded with Jimmy type players - Cortez Kennedy & Junior Seau were no brainers for such a defense poor Cowboys team. Francis and Lathon were LBers that Jimmy wanted to convert to DE. BUT with all those options off the table, Jimmy still traded UP to take Emmitt. Everyone on the Cowboys were ecstatic that he was still available. Even the media lauded the pick because it was BPA instead of need. Cowboys had Emmitt ranked as best RB in draft, ahead of Blair Thomas & his knee injury concerns. Jimmy, Brodsky & Yaworsky all are on record stating how special Emmitt was as a back - in same class as Dorsett & Herschel.

As for Irvin, he was a Schramm/Landry pick obviously, but Mike recently came out and said that Jimmy strongly hinted that he would be in Dallas and told him no shenanigans if Dallas picked him, Irvin had planned to force a trade if he did not like the team that picked him. Jimmy got wind of this and told Irvin not to do that if Cowboys picked him and Irvin listened. Irvin didn't listen to many, but he listened & respected Jimmy.

Jimmy Johnson mediocre??? That's a comment born of ignorance or just plain hate. Jimmy built the U - the championship mentality more importantly than the rings. He brought speed & the 4-3 back in vogue. He has won every level he's coached (and played). Jimmy built the Cowboys dynasty in the 90's, every single one of his players would attest to that, even the ones who hated him.

Jimmy Johnson did not believe in luck, he worked himself and his teams tirelessly to make their own luck.

 

[KJJ]

Also had man-love for James Francis.

Francis was the player Jimmy had targeted entering the 1990 draft. He tried to trade with KC to move up to #13 to nab him but Cinn beat Jimmy to the punch selecting Francis at #12 which put an end to the trade with KC. Jimmy wanted Francis so bad he even tried trading with Cinn to get Francis after the Bengals had selected him.

 

[dboyz]

Good thread, brings back memories. I remember watching the draft with my dad. When Dallas traded up, I told my dad, this must be to pick up Emmitt Smith. Mel Kiper was talking about Dallas drafting other guys, I think one of them was picked up by Cincinnati (Harold Green?). Anyway Emmitt was so productive at such a high level I was hoping it was him. When they made the pick I looked smarter than Mel Kiper.

 

[ShiningStar]

I still say that Jimmy Johnson just got plain lucky in Dallas, as far as talent acquisition that is.

He had Irvin on the team when he took over.

He had the first overall pick in his first draft and anyone in their right mind would have taken Aikman.

The next draft, he had to have two trades that he tried fall apart, he had to have a fantastic RB slide in the draft because of his 40 time, and he had to have Pittsburgh willing to move back from 17 to 21 for that 3rd. If any one of those things happen, Emmitt isn't in Dallas.

If:

Landry had taken someone other than Irvin in his last draft, Jimmy wouldn't have had Michael.

Landry actually won his final game against Green Bay in 1988, he would have had the 2nd overall pick and wouldn't have gotten Aikman. He probably would have taken Mandarich who was a huge bust.

Cincy accepts Jimmys trade offer, he gets James Francis instead of Emmitt.
or
New England accepts his trade, he gets Ray Agnew and not Emmitt.
or
Someone been smart enough to take Emmitt where he was supposed to go
or
Pittsburgh not accepted Jimmy's trade offer, Atlanta gets Emmitt Smith.

So, it would have been incredibly simple for Dallas not to have the triplets. In fact, all three could have easily gone elsewhere.


Then, had Minn not been dumb enough to trade for H Walker, that boatload of guys never would have been in Dallas.

Had St. Louis Cardinals been smart enough to not let Jay Novacek go in plan B... something they later said never should have happened, then he is never in Dallas.

I could keep going, but the point is, Jimmy lucked into a **** ton of great players.

i dont knwo if i saw he was lucky, but if you want to make that case i wont argue. but i personally think he just made good use of what he had. Even at times if he didnt believe it. Remember Aikman wasnt his guy at first.

 

[speedkilz88]

I wish people would just stop regurgitating this BS. Jimmy had clout to take any player he wanted and Jimmy chose Aikman, a player he heavily recruited in college. And Emmitt was a Jimmy pick. Period. If anyone followed the Cowboys at all during this period there was a reason why Jimmy was focused on D initially. Cowboys had no one on their front 7 in '89. Jeffcoat was old, Noonan was a bust and Norton was a rook still coming off injuries. And that '90 draft was loaded with Jimmy type players - Cortez Kennedy & Junior Seau were no brainers for such a defense poor Cowboys team. Francis and Lathon were LBers that Jimmy wanted to convert to DE. BUT with all those options off the table, Jimmy still traded UP to take Emmitt. Everyone on the Cowboys were ecstatic that he was still available. Even the media lauded the pick because it was BPA instead of need. Cowboys had Emmitt ranked as best RB in draft, ahead of Blair Thomas & his knee injury concerns. Jimmy, Brodsky & Yaworsky all are on record stating how special Emmitt was as a back - in same class as Dorsett & Herschel.

As for Irvin, he was a Schramm/Landry pick obviously, but Mike recently came out and said that Jimmy strongly hinted that he would be in Dallas and told him no shenanigans if Dallas picked him, Irvin had planned to force a trade if he did not like the team that picked him. Jimmy got wind of this and told Irvin not to do that if Cowboys picked him and Irvin listened. Irvin didn't listen to many, but he listened & respected Jimmy.

Jimmy Johnson mediocre??? That's a comment born of ignorance or just plain hate. Jimmy built the U - the championship mentality more importantly than the rings. He brought speed & the 4-3 back in vogue. He has won every level he's coached (and played). Jimmy built the Cowboys dynasty in the 90's, every single one of his players would attest to that, even the ones who hated him.

Jimmy Johnson did not believe in luck, he worked himself and his teams tirelessly to make their own luck.

Cortez Kennedy and Junior Seau were in the 1991 draft which Jimmy didn't have the overall #1 because he forfeited for Steve Walsh in the supplemental draft of 1990.

 

[iceberg]

yea, i had just moved to dallas and bought an endzone seat to see us beat san diego.

 

[Doomsday101]

I wish people would just stop regurgitating this BS. Jimmy had clout to take any player he wanted and Jimmy chose Aikman, a player he heavily recruited in college. And Emmitt was a Jimmy pick. Period. If anyone followed the Cowboys at all during this period there was a reason why Jimmy was focused on D initially. Cowboys had no one on their front 7 in '89. Jeffcoat was old, Noonan was a bust and Norton was a rook still coming off injuries. And that '90 draft was loaded with Jimmy type players - Cortez Kennedy & Junior Seau were no brainers for such a defense poor Cowboys team. Francis and Lathon were LBers that Jimmy wanted to convert to DE. BUT with all those options off the table, Jimmy still traded UP to take Emmitt. Everyone on the Cowboys were ecstatic that he was still available. Even the media lauded the pick because it was BPA instead of need. Cowboys had Emmitt ranked as best RB in draft, ahead of Blair Thomas & his knee injury concerns. Jimmy, Brodsky & Yaworsky all are on record stating how special Emmitt was as a back - in same class as Dorsett & Herschel.

As for Irvin, he was a Schramm/Landry pick obviously, but Mike recently came out and said that Jimmy strongly hinted that he would be in Dallas and told him no shenanigans if Dallas picked him, Irvin had planned to force a trade if he did not like the team that picked him. Jimmy got wind of this and told Irvin not to do that if Cowboys picked him and Irvin listened. Irvin didn't listen to many, but he listened & respected Jimmy.

Jimmy Johnson mediocre??? That's a comment born of ignorance or just plain hate. Jimmy built the U - the championship mentality more importantly than the rings. He brought speed & the 4-3 back in vogue. He has won every level he's coached (and played). Jimmy built the Cowboys dynasty in the 90's, every single one of his players would attest to that, even the ones who hated him.

Jimmy Johnson did not believe in luck, he worked himself and his teams tirelessly to make their own luck.

I like Jimmy but he took over after the 83 season the Hurricans with Schnellenberger won the National Championship in 83. Schnellenberger took over that program that had not done anything since 1966 and built them up. So Jimmy did not walk into a poor team it was already a national championship team. While Jimmy did great in Dallas there were picks like the overall #1 for Maryland and he never lived up to that pick, he was a good player but as an overall #1 his numbers were never that good. I do think Jimmy did a lot of great things not trying to claim otherwise but the Walker Trade was the biggest deal that helped Dallas out.

 

[viman96]

Everyone notice the tone of those articles? They do not call out Jerry or Jimmy or the scouts?

 

[perrykemp]

but if I recall, some wanted dallas to draft Tony Manderich....poor Green Bay, all those HOF's and they pick one of the biggest busts of all time

I believe Mandarich was the highest rated prospect in the NFL history up to that point as measured by the scouting services that were around at that time.

Does anyone have any idea if the Cowboys would have picked Mandarich if they had the #2 pick and not the #1 pick?

 

[Apollo Creed]

Was 3 years old. Winning.

 

[AsthmaField]

I wish people would just stop regurgitating this BS. Jimmy had clout to take any player he wanted and Jimmy chose Aikman, a player he heavily recruited in college. And Emmitt was a Jimmy pick. Period. If anyone followed the Cowboys at all during this period there was a reason why Jimmy was focused on D initially. Cowboys had no one on their front 7 in '89. Jeffcoat was old, Noonan was a bust and Norton was a rook still coming off injuries. And that '90 draft was loaded with Jimmy type players - Cortez Kennedy & Junior Seau were no brainers for such a defense poor Cowboys team. Francis and Lathon were LBers that Jimmy wanted to convert to DE. BUT with all those options off the table, Jimmy still traded UP to take Emmitt. Everyone on the Cowboys were ecstatic that he was still available. Even the media lauded the pick because it was BPA instead of need. Cowboys had Emmitt ranked as best RB in draft, ahead of Blair Thomas & his knee injury concerns. Jimmy, Brodsky & Yaworsky all are on record stating how special Emmitt was as a back - in same class as Dorsett & Herschel.

As for Irvin, he was a Schramm/Landry pick obviously, but Mike recently came out and said that Jimmy strongly hinted that he would be in Dallas and told him no shenanigans if Dallas picked him, Irvin had planned to force a trade if he did not like the team that picked him. Jimmy got wind of this and told Irvin not to do that if Cowboys picked him and Irvin listened. Irvin didn't listen to many, but he listened & respected Jimmy.

Jimmy Johnson mediocre??? That's a comment born of ignorance or just plain hate. Jimmy built the U - the championship mentality more importantly than the rings. He brought speed & the 4-3 back in vogue. He has won every level he's coached (and played). Jimmy built the Cowboys dynasty in the 90's, every single one of his players would attest to that, even the ones who hated him.

Jimmy Johnson did not believe in luck, he worked himself and his teams tirelessly to make their own luck.

He was a fantastic coach, and probably my favorite of all time, but if Dallas beats green bay in the last game of 1988 and Jimmy is able to make the trade for James Francis in 1990, then he doesn't have Troy or Emmitt and his record is probably very different. He likely doesn't overcome a strong San Francisco team to win 2 Super Bowls.

Heck, if he didn't get extremely lucky and San Francisco make the dubious decision to trade Charles Haley to Dallas, he might not have overcome them even with Troy and Emmitt.

Call it luck or not, things fell right for Jimmy in acquiring talent.

Coaching, you're right... he made his own luck.

 

[MikeT22]

With the draft over and a thousand different opinions on the DLaw trade. Just wondering how many folks were around in 1990.

I ask because of the Emmitt Smith trade. A team just coming off a 1 win season, a thousand more holes than this current team and yet they give up a "walk in starter" 3rd round pick for what some believed was a slow average RB.

Did the Dallas media and fans threaten to burn the city down? or was there not much coverage because of lack on internet.

Most thought Dallas made a shrewd trade getting a starting caliber RB many projected as a top 10 pick. And since we had made the Walker trade the year before we have a boatload of high round picks coming our way the next couple of years too, so it wasn't a big deal to use one 3rd rounder to move up for this caliber of player.

 

[speedkilz88]

http://www.***BANNED-URL***/incoming/20101126-100125_emmitt07.jpg.ece/BINARY/w620x413/100125_emmitt07.jpg

 

[JonJon]

I was 8 years old, so I was old enough to know that I was rooting for Dallas to win, but not old enough to understand trade implications.

 

[PA Cowboy Fan]

Everyone notice the tone of those articles? They do not call out Jerry or Jimmy or the scouts?

I noticed they kept talking about Jimmy making the trades and not Jerry. Different times.

 

[igtmfo]

Good topic. In 1990 there were 12 rounds. Two Dallas newspapers (for only another year - then one). Only 5 channels and the grainy UHFs.

The draft was a complete mystery, unless you saw Gil Brandt at your barber shop which I did the week before, grilled him and he was sorry (can't blame him) that I showed up for a haircut that day.

Once you got to round 5 or so, it was a very short paragraph about the player in the paper. I'm not even sure they wrote a paragraph about rounds 8 on. You had to read the agate type on the back pages of the paper along with last night's results at Remington Downs or something.

There was Pro Football Weekly, the draft book you had to order by mail, send a check in, by the genius Joel Buchsbaum, in that era when Joel was the only media pundit for draft - and he did it incredibly well, so well, that team after team tried to hire him, but no dice. Joel didn't want to play favorites. He sat in his apartment in NYC with his cats and watched film 24/7 and was a stinking passionate genius about the draft before there were pundits, or fans, or anybody who cared.

My 2 favorite thoughts about those years:

1) A HS coach in my "health" class (ha ha sex education) offered a prize in 1973 (when there were 17 stinking rounds) who could name our 3rd round pick. I said Drane Schrivener (4th round pick). It was Harvey Martin. I lost the prize. In those days the WHOLE draft was back on the agate pages, along with who was fighting Curtis Cokes that weekend at the Sportatorium down on S. Lamar.

2) Hated going to accounting school at UTD - Richardson in fall of 1989.

But every week in the agate pages about page 8 in the sports section (no mention of this stuff in any newspaper story, or on TV either) ...

The famous "Transactions" column, mostly supplied by the Associated Press, small print.

You guys want to talk about "churn" ... There would be about five guys cut every week of the regular season and another five guys signed. I would laugh out loud. Who were these guys? The amazing thing was that Jimmy would play the new guys, off the street with about no practice, that same week in the game. Such entertainment.

 

[Fletch]

I remember playing golf with a good friend of mine in '89 during the preseason and he is also a fellow Cowboys fan and him saying to me 'gee, they have some young guys with talent. I like where they are headed this season.' And I remember agreeing with him and then they went 1-15.

To me, the team had to get rid of Landry. I am big of a Landry supporter as there is, but the game had passed him by. What was surprising is how sudden that happened. My dad used to take me to the newspaper stand that had almost all of the major city newspapers and the DMN was bashing Landry left-and-right. Then he gets fired and they couldn't believe he was fired. It was about the most hypocritical and two-faced thing I've ever read.

Everybody thought the Cowboys were NUTS for trading away Hershel Walker. And then they claimed that Jerry and Jimmy didn't know what they were doing as they wheeled and dealed in the draft.

For me, I was embarrassed by the '89 season. Poor Troy took the worse beating I've ever seen a QB take in a full season. I wasn't overly optimistic heading into 1990, but I also realized that they needed to tear things down and start over again. I wasn't ecstatic about Emmitt, but liked him nonetheless. Never would have imagined he would have turned into the player he did. Still wondered who was going to block for him and whoever was going to play QB (Aikman's status was somewhat in doubt).

The main thing I remember from the media is that Jimmy was considered a 'high school coach' and neither him nor Jerry knew what they were doing. And that the only reason why Jimmy was able to stick around after going 1-15 is that he and Jerry were college buddies.

That's why Jimmy always sticks in my craw a bit. He was very much an ingrate in the end because everybody saw him as a 2-bit college coach that wouldn't hack it in the NFL and that his defensive scheme wouldn't work here. He then goes 1-15 and Jerry still keeps him around. I don't know of any other owner that would have done that. 1-15 is a death sentence for coaches.






YR

Very cool story. Love these kind of posts from a die-hard's personal perspective.

 

[Fletch]

Good topic. In 1990 there were 12 rounds. Two Dallas newspapers (for only another year - then one). Only 5 channels and the grainy UHFs.

The draft was a complete mystery, unless you saw Gil Brandt at your barber shop which I did the week before, grilled him and he was sorry (can't blame him) that I showed up for a haircut that day.

Once you got to round 5 or so, it was a very short paragraph about the player in the paper. I'm not even sure they wrote a paragraph about rounds 8 on. You had to read the agate type on the back pages of the paper along with last night's results at Remington Downs or something.

There was Pro Football Weekly, the draft book you had to order by mail, send a check in, by the genius Joel Buchsbaum, in that era when Joel was the only media pundit for draft - and he did it incredibly well, so well, that team after team tried to hire him, but no dice. Joel didn't want to play favorites. He sat in his apartment in NYC with his cats and watched film 24/7 and was a stinking passionate genius about the draft before there were pundits, or fans, or anybody who cared.

My 2 favorite thoughts about those years:

1) A HS coach in my "health" class (ha ha sex education) offered a prize in 1973 (when there were 17 stinking rounds) who could name our 3rd round pick. I said Drane Schrivener (4th round pick). It was Harvey Martin. I lost the prize. In those days the WHOLE draft was back on the agate pages, along with who was fighting Curtis Cokes that weekend at the Sportatorium down on S. Lamar.

2) Hated going to accounting school at UTD - Richardson in fall of 1989.

But every week in the agate pages about page 8 in the sports section (no mention of this stuff in any newspaper story, or on TV either) ...

The famous "Transactions" column, mostly supplied by the Associated Press, small print.

You guys want to talk about "churn" ... There would be about five guys cut every week of the regular season and another five guys signed. I would laugh out loud. Who were these guys? The amazing thing was that Jimmy would play the new guys, off the street with about no practice, that same week in the game. Such entertainment.

Pure gold in these types of posts. Thank you for sharing.