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Ed “Too Tall” Jones knows what a championship-caliber lineup looks like. 1977 cowboyJones defeated in Dallas Broncos exist Super Bowl twelve.
Jones, a former All-Pro defensive end who had 106 sacks in his 15-year career with the Cowboys, believes several teams, including Dallas, haven’t been able to replicate their regular-season success in the playoffs because they’re missing one thing.
“If you look at the teams that are in the playoffs right now, Buffalo, Baltimore, all these teams, none of them have ever won a Super Bowl In the locker room,” Jones said recently in a one-on-one interview with CBS Sports. “The regular season is the regular season. This is the regular season. To be a champion, you have to be able to reach another level.”
“The difference between a good player and a good team is having players on the team who can step up in big games. Every general manager in the league should be trying to take a player who was cut or played in a Super Bowl and put him in the locker room. It makes a huge difference.”
Is the lack of enough players with championship experience one of the main reasons holding the Cowboys back at this point?
“That’s definitely one of the reasons,” Jones said. “The team plays really well every year. They win 12 games every year and they’re a different breed in the playoffs. Let me defend (Mike McCarthy) for a second. The coach can’t do it all and make you stand out. You have to have internal leadership. I’m not just talking about the captain. I’m talking about the guys in the locker room who have experience, who have done it, who know what they’re talking about and the players listen to them.”
“Who are they going after? Dallas didn’t. A couple teams didn’t. It’s just one of those things. They’re also missing a couple horses at key positions, but a lot of times when you have the right leadership and the right chemistry, you can make up for that.”
Jones is right. The Cowboys, while talented, lack players who have reached the pinnacle of professional football. A big reason for this is that the team itself cannot reach the pinnacle. As of this writing, the Cowboys last played in a Super Bowl in January 1996, before most of the team’s current players were even born.
Speaking of the ’90s Cowboys, their dynasty was largely due to then-head coach Jimmy Johnson’s decision to trade Charles Haley, a talented defensive lineman who had fallen out of favor in San Francisco. But beyond his enigmatic personality, Haley brought championship experience to Dallas after winning two rings with the Cowboys. 49ers.That experience paid off immediately for the Cowboys, who won the first of three Super Bowl titles in four years the year Haley was acquired.
To further emphasize his point, Jones said experience is a major difference between his Cowboys and the Cowboys of the 1970s Steelerstwice beating Dallas in the Super Bowl.
“That Pittsburgh team had nothing but veterans on both sides of the ball,” Jones said. “It was nothing but veterans. We were a very young team both times, and they beat us in 1975 and they beat us in 1978, even though we only lost by four points in both games and (Roger) Staubach controlled the ball down the stretch in those games.
“I’m proud of the way we held up against the veteran teams because experience in the big games is so important. So important.”
The Cowboys also currently face another unique challenge, one Jones is well aware of.
“America’s Team got us on the Billboard Billboard,” Jones said of the Cowboys’ nickname. NFL film after the 1978 season. “We didn’t start it as players. The media started it because the Cowboys sold more memorabilia than any other team in the league, even to this day, and they hadn’t won a championship in over 20 years. Well, we were the target every time we stepped on the field. … We had the best performance on the team. Imagine having to deal with that every Sunday. It wasn’t easy.”
In addition to following his former team, Jones recently worked with Sportcane, a new walking aid developed by leading engineers and orthopedic surgeons. Sportcane has greatly improved Jones’ quality of life, allowing him to continue living the way he wants, and Jones is eager to promote the product.
“Without Sportcane I don’t know how I would move around and I won’t let anything get in the way of my life.”
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