Cowboys Niners is just five days away.
The eighth playoff meeting all time between
the two best NFC franchises. All time.
Both with five Super Bowl championships
and the man who led the Cowboys in
those three NFC title games in the 90s,
Troy Aikman joins us now.
Troy, I know you and Joe Buck will enjoy
Philly and Tampa on Sunday and Jim Nantz
and Tony Roma will do a great job for sure.
But honestly, does it feel a little
bit wrong that it's not you and
Joe doing Cowboys, Niners? Well,
it just seems a little odd.
I I don't know I I last I knew
Fox had the NFC package so
it seemed a little strange.
At one time I thought that ESPN may
get the Cowboys or NBC or somebody.
Besides never imagined that
it would be a CBS game.
And I, you know,
it's it's going to be a great game.
So from that standpoint it would
have been awesome to call it.
But then I also feel that with the
history that the Cowboys have with
San Francisco and me having been a
part of some of those games that.
I, I guess it hurts even a little bit more.
When you think Cowboys Niners
where does your mind first go?
Championships the championship
games that we played against
each other such a great rivalry.
We knew when we played each
other in the regular season.
Whoever won that game was going to
be hosting the game in the in the
playoffs in the championship game.
And then whoever won the championship game
was going to go on to win the Superbowl.
So two really great teams.
It's almost like Laker Celtics
back in the day and it was a
really great rivalry for the three
or four years that we had it.
Those games really were the
Super Bowl those years because of
the caliber of those two teams.
How head and shoulders above
the rest really were those
Dallas and San Francisco teams?
Well, there was probably
there were five teams
or so each year that we thought
had a chance to go all the way.
There wasn't there wasn't as many outliers
as there is this year that that would,
or in recent years anyway,
that would come out of nowhere and
win the division and then make a
run in the postseason. And you know,
the Giants were really good team.
Washington was a good team,
Philadelphia was.
But for that matchup with San Francisco,
especially the first championship
game that we had against them.
There were a veteran team,
a lot of players that had not
only been in the postseason,
but it also played in Super Bowls and
we were the youngest team in football.
And so when we went to candle stick we
thought we were a pretty good team.
We came out of candle stick knowing
we were a really good team and and
that's when kind of the the balance
of power got shifted a little bit
and we were we were every bit the
equal of San Francisco and up until
that point not many teams had been
your three games in the 90s.
Obviously the catching 82
three games in the 70s.
Is there a better playoff rivalry
in the history of the NFL?
Probably not, I mean not off hand
that I can think of.
I, I think there because it goes it.
It goes through multiple generations
and it started of course with the
catch in the history of that play and
what it meant to both franchises.
And then when we then played San
Francisco and what was at stake and
then that continued for several years.
So I think that when we look at
this match up, neither team has
done what the other had done.
For instance San Francisco when we played.
They had already kind of established
themselves as the big kids on the block.
We were the up and comers and
neither Dallas or San Francisco in
this matchup has has really proven
what they're capable of doing.
It'll be interesting because I do think
both of these teams are really good,
and I think both these teams
are capable of going all the way
and winning it all this year.
But when we look back,
will this be a defining game?
That kind of sets the course for one of
these franchises or the winner of this game?
When I talked with Charles
Haley yesterday, he described
it as a hate hate relationship.
How would you describe it?
Well, he he he he he played it from both
sides. So I understand that I didn't think
it was a hate hate relationship,
primarily because of my
relationship with Steve Young.
We were really close friends and
I had a enormous respect for the
players that I played against as
well as their coaching staff.
I thought they were a
really well coached team.
I thought we were a well coached team.
I I think that Charles comes at it from
a little bit of a different perspective,
but I think overall it was two
organizations that had great admiration
and respect for one another.
This year's Niners finished the
year on a seven and two run.
Cowboys finished five and one but I
don't know that anyone really thinks
of them as a hot team right now.
How do you handicap the match up? Well,
I think you know Dallas. Can only play
who you play, but their their wins
at the end of the season weren't
against real competitive teams.
SF kind of dug themselves a hole.
They did it the reverse.
They dug themselves a hole to
begin the season and then played
really strong and had beaten some
good teams including the win last
week against the Los Angeles Rams.
I I think it's going to be a great game.
I do think this is going to be a
real challenge when you're talking
about in the wild card round against
a team that's already that won
the division with Dallas that I
don't know that they could have.
Picked maybe a less fortunate
opponent for them because I think San
Francisco is really tough minded.
They play a different style of football
than most teams in the NFL right now.
They they remind me a lot of
the teams that I was apart of,
just very physical and they run
the football and then you know
there play action game off of that.
But with that said,
I've said it many times this year.
I do think that this is a Dallas team
that has the best chance that they've
had in a long time of doing the
things that they went into the year,
hoping that they could.
And that is to take home a Super Bowl title.
What do you think a win would mean
for Dallas, especially within that
pursuit of finally being the team that
Cowboys fans have wanted for so long?
Well, I don't I. This is a this is a team
that is expected to win this game and
and it's expected to win the next game.
Whoever that is that they may play.
I, I think the frustration for the
Cowboys as well as Cowboys fans is
that they haven't gotten out of the
divisional round in quite some time.
So there's high expectations for this team.
I think anything.
Short of a championship game,
appearance will be a big disappointment for
this football team and I'm sure that I can
speak for those within the organization.
I'm sure in their minds anything short
of making it to the Super Bowl is going
to be a big disappointment to them.
You mentioned the game in candle
stick in 92 in talking with
Darrell Johnston yesterday,
he talked about how important
that game was and how impressive
that performance was for you guys.
He said he feels that's the best
performance you guys ever put on
the field as a group and he said
that moment postgame when Jimmy
Johnson first utters how about them?
Cowboys, he said that was kind of proof
positive that you guys had arrived,
that you guys had finally
brought it all to fruition.
Is that how you
feel about it? Yeah,
I think that throughout that
92 season we we.
Knew we were having a Goodyear,
we knew we were a pretty good team
but it was that day that afternoon
in Candle Stick Park that we knew
that our path was never going to
be the same and that we were kind
of the big kids on the block.
We were no longer sitting at the
kids table if you will that we
had arrived and we knocked off
Goliath and and we had a chance
then to go play the Buffalo Bills
and and win a world championship.
And so the way we viewed ourselves
and and maybe in a lot of ways.
The way anyone else viewed us in
the football world forever changed.
Your three games will always
mean the most to you, obviously,
but the earlier games, the 70s game,
the catching 82, do you have
significant memories of those games?
How much of that resonates for you?
Not a lot, not a lot. I was. I
was living in California for
a good part of my childhood.
Growing up, I was a I was a Rams fan as as
a kid so I remember a lot of those games,
but for the Dallas Games I certainly
was aware of it once I came to Dallas
I knew of the catch and it wasn't
until I got ready for that game.
Once the match up came that we
were going to be playing the
49ers in the championship game.
That's that's when I think we all got
a real education on exactly what the.
What those matchups had meant back with
Montana and Danny White and Tom Landry
and all of those that were involved?
Yeah, I imagined a good bit of that is
going on right now with the current
group getting that education about
just how much this really means.
Yeah, you know what you realize
is when you get out of the game,
you've been out.
As long as I have now 21 years
that it's it's these games.
It's the success of the organization
that that then makes people kind of
remember your accomplishments as a player.
This is the first time.
In a couple of seasons that I've been
asked to do an interview and and reflect
back on my playing days against a
particular opponent because that's who
the Cowboys are matched up against.
So I I think the the NFL got a great
match up here in the Wild Card
game between 2 storied franchises
with a lot of history together,
and the fact that people are
reliving some of the great moments
between these organizations is
is pretty cool for all of us.
Yeah, we, we talked with
Everson Walls yesterday too.
He said something similar
that the success of Trevon
Diggs is kind of bringing him.
Back to the forefront a little bit.
I guess that's why I keep pulling for
decks so no one will forget who I am.
That's awesome Cowboys legend Troy Aikman,
Troy. Thanks so much for the time.
Enjoy the games this weekend. You
got it. Thanks so much.