Troy Aikman says Lions remind him of Super Bowl-winning Cowboys. Is he onto something?
Troy Aikman once compared the Detroit Lions to his Dallas Cowboys. He’s done it more than once. For the first time he did it, he’ll need to be forgiven.
That was in 2011, when the football analyst and former Cowboys’ quarterback told a national audience that year’s Lions reminded him of his Cowboys ... the same Cowboys who won three Super Bowls in four years.
Hey, the 2011 Lions’ team had youth and talent, too, including Calvin Johnson, Matthew Stafford and Ndamukong Suh. And though they made the playoffs – they lost to New Orleans in the wild-card round – the franchise didn’t return to the postseason until three years later.
The 2014 team also ended its season in the wild-card round. This time to the Cowboys, the infamous pass interference game. That season also happened to be the last time the Lions won double digit games.
Until last year, when Aikman made the comparison again while calling the Lions’ Monday night game against the Raiders. Whether you buy the comparison, the point he made that night remains: young teams that lose then start winning, create a unique kind of magic, and there are few things in sport like it.
Yes, Aikman was wrong back in 2011. The comparison was a stretch. The dynasty never budded.
Could he finally be right?
Last week’s Pro Bowl announcements got me thinking that this season’s team is much closer in talent and temperament to those iconic Dallas teams than the 2011 version of the Lions ever was. Aikman got dewy-eyed by the trio of young stars on that squad: Johnson, Suh and Stafford. And hey, who can blame him? Lots of us did.
Yet the 1993 Cowboys, for example, had 11 Pro Bowlers, spread all over the field. The current Lions have seven Pro Bowlers. But that’s only part of the story.
First, let’s jump back in time for a moment and see how many standouts you can remember from those Cowboys teams. I’ll help by starting with the aforementioned Aikman.
A good-to-great quarterback who wasn’t as good at his job as several of his teammates were at theirs. Not that this matters. But it speaks to how stacked those Jimmy Johnson-led rosters were.
After Aikman, you’d start with Emmitt Smith, the running back who should be extra familiar to Lions fans of a certain age because he was sometimes erroneously regarded as the best back in the game, and he wasn’t even close.
Why?
He had little style, for one. And offered less thrill, unless you loved Dallas. But also, he ran behind tackle Erik Williams, center Mark Stepnoski and guard Nate Newton, all of them Pro Bowlers in that 1993 season.
And in 1995, when the Cowboys won their third Super Bowl? Smith was running behind Larry Allen, as well, a second-year – and first-team All-Pro – phenom at guard.
Let's stick with the 1993 Super Bowl team, though, and those 11 Pro Bowlers. We’ve mentioned five: Aikman, Smith and the three linemen.
The other six pro bowlers were receiver Michael Irvin (obviously), linebacker Ken Norton Jr., tight end Jay Novacek, defensive tackle Russell Maryland, fullback Daryl Johnston and free safety Thomas Everett.
What’s absurd is that the team kept drafting or adding Pro Bowlers. Allen, as mentioned, but also safety Darren Woodson and defensive tackle Leon Lett and eventually Deion Sanders. (Do we need to mention that he played cornerback?)
This is the roster Aikman had in mind when he mentioned the 2011 Lions. In hindsight, the comparison was, well, kinda silly. It’s not so silly to think of this season’s Lions though, which takes us back to their seven Pro Bowlers.
They are center Frank Ragnow, punter Jack Fox, safety Brian Branch, running back Jahmyr Gibbs, tackle Penei Sewell, receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and, of course, quarterback Jared Goff.
Seven doesn’t do justice to the talent on the Lions roster. For starters, if Aidan Hutchinson and Alim McNeill were healthy, they would almost certainly be Pro Bowlers. That’s nine.
Safety Kerby Joseph, the NFL interceptions leader, had a pretty good case. I’ll accept it. That’s 10.
Sam LaPorta, meanwhile, didn’t get quite enough targets and will have to figure how to find the seams as teams adjust their defenses toward him. Still, he was a Pro Bowler a year ago. He didn’t lose his talent.
That’s 11.
At some point, Jameson Williams will have a chance at the Pro Bowl, as will Jack Campbell. So, too, will Terrion Arnold. Do the math and that is 14 Pro-Bowl level players, more or less, and that’s why Aikman made the comparison once again.
It’s a good one, and a reasonable one, and even if these Lions don’t win like those Cowboys teams won, the talent level is similar as long as the Lions are healthy.
That’s a crazy thought. But not as crazy as it once was.
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