The week of the Super Bowl is upon us, as the 2024 NFL season will come to a close on Sunday in New Orleans with the Philadelphia Eagles facing the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX.
While the Cowboys won't be participating, they're tied with the San Francisco 49ers for the most Super Bowls in NFL history with five, capping off back-to-back Lombardi trophies in 1993 by defeating the Buffalo Bills 30-13 in Super Bowl XXVIII.
Let's take a trip down memory lane and dive into what made each of Dallas' five Super Bowl teams unique and examine some aspects of each team that the Cowboys need now in order to return to their championship ways.
Today, we continue the series with the 1993 team, that won back-to-back Super Bowls by defeating the Bills for a second straight year. Emmitt Smith ended his contract dispute after two games and had an MVP season, both in the regular season and the Super Bowl.
3 things the Cowboys had then, that they need now
A Robin to WR1 Batman - CeeDee Lamb shouldered a massive majority of the Cowboys' receiving workload in 2024, hauling in 101 receptions for 1,194 yards and six touchdowns in 15 games. Dallas' next leading receiver was Jalen Tolbert, who had half the amount of receptions (49) and nearly half the amount of yardage (610). In 1993, Michael Irvin was the Cowboys' leading receiver and Alvin Harper was his Robin, putting up 777 yards on 36 receptions to go along with five touchdowns. Jalen Tolbert has proven himself worthy of being in the Cowboys' receiver rotation, but Dallas can still upgrade in the receiving room
Continuity across the board - A large part of the reason why the Cowboys were able to win back-to-back championships was because of continuity both on the roster and the coaching staff. The age old saying of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" worked wonders in the 1993 season, and while some would argue the 1992 team was still better, they both came away with a Lombardi trophy at the end of the season. Going into 2025, the Cowboys front office has been clear that their approach to the season is a mixture of continuity and change, which was evident in the hiring of Brian Schottenheimer. Will that approach work? Only time will tell.
Overcoming a slow start - The Cowboys started off the 1993 season losing their first two games, in part because of Emmitt Smith's contract holdout that frustrated a majority of the Cowboys locker room. In the following 14 weeks, the Cowboys would go on to win 12 games and would cruise in all three playoff games, winning each of their three games by at least 10 points. The Cowboys went 1-2 to start 2025, and couldn't really overcome it as the year went with thanks to a mixture of injuries and unfortunate sequences to close out games. Smith became the sixth player to win NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP in the same season.
