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Ed “Too Tall” Jones faced two main obstacles during his 15-year career with the Dallas Cowboys. One was playing his entire career when the chop block was legal (it was finally outlawed the year after Jones retired). The other was the “America’s Team” label that forever changed the Cowboys’ franchise.
Jones, a former All-Pro defensive end, said the nickname created an unnecessary obstacle for himself and his teammates.
“That America’s Team thing made us bulletin board material,” Jones said in a recent interview with CBS Sports. “We didn’t start that as players. The media started that because the Cowboys sell more memorabilia than any other team in the league, even to this day even though they haven’t won anything in 20-some years. They’re still No. 1.
“We were a target every time we stepped on the field. We got teams’ best. I remember players saying coaches told them, ‘If you don’t beat nobody else, beat Dallas.’ Now picture having to deal with that every Sunday. That’s not easy.”
History certainly supports Jones’ claim that, while the nickname was surely well intended and undoubtedly increased their popularity and marketability, it may have contributed to the Cowboys’ shortcomings during the second half of Tom Landry’s legendary coaching tenure in Dallas.
NFL Films gave the Cowboys the “America’s Team” nickname in 1979, when Dallas was fresh off its fifth Super Bowl appearance in nine years. Legend has it the Cowboys were given the nickname after the Steelers — who had just defeated the Cowboys in the Super Bowl — declined it.
With their new nickname in tow, the Cowboys were still a very good team. But they were not able to duplicate the same level of success that they had enjoyed in prior years.
Starting in 1979, the Cowboys suffered five consecutive gut-wrenching, season-ending losses in the playoffs. Especially painful was three consecutive NFC…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/cowboys-legend-ed-too-tall-jones-explains-why-americas-team-label-created-big-disadvantage-for-dallas/
Author : Bryan DeArdo
Publish date : 2024-08-17 15:39:08
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