FRISCO, Texas – 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 and captured their second in 1977 in Super Bowl XII in a 27-10 win over the Denver Broncos.
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, let's continue the series with a look at the 1992 Cowboys:
Super Bowl XXVII:
The Cowboys hadn't lifted the Lombardi Trophy in 15 years and with new ownership and a head coach, the Jerry Jones/Jimmy Johnson climbed the mountain in their fourth year together in 1992.
Despite being one of the youngest teams in the league, talent prevailed as the Cowboys had the Triplets on offense with Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin, surrounded by a strong supporting cast on offense, defense and special teams.
The Cowboys went 13-3 in the regular season and then prevailed in the playoffs, including a franchise-building NFC Championship win in San Francisco that many would say is the biggest win of the 1990s. The Cowboys then went to the Super Bowl and dominated the Bills in the first of three championships in a four-year span.
3 things the Cowboys had in 1992 but need now:
Consistency at the tight end position - Jake Ferguson had a Pro Bowl season in 2023 and looked poised for a promising season in 2024. That was not the case, as Ferguson caught 59 passes for just 494 yards and no touchdowns. Part of that was due in part with missing some games and playing without Dak Prescott for a majority of the season, but Ferguson also dealt with some drop issues throughout the year. That was not the case for Jay Novacek in 1992, who came into the season off his first Pro Bowl and played even better, earning first-team All-Pro honors and a second straight Pro Bowl nod. Ferguson has proven he can be a weapon in the Cowboys offense but needs to get back on track.
Winning with a young defense - The Cowboys were forced to play with a long of young, depth pieces defensive in 2024 because of a plethora of injuries. That led to a roller coaster of a season that saw first and second year players like Marist Liufau and Marshawn Kneeland get an uptick in snaps. While Liufau and Kneeland made steps and played better as the season when on, the Cowboys as a whole did not have the same success as their counterparts from 1992. With the average age of their starters sitting at 25 ½ years of age, the Cowboys ranked first in the NFL in yards allowed, and fifth in points allowed that season.
A blockbuster trade? - Coming into the 1992 season, the Cowboys traded a second and third round draft pick to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for defensive end Charles Haley. Haley was instrumental in helping the 49ers win two Super Bowls, and the deal helped Dallas get over a playoff hump, winning three Super Bowls in the next four seasons after the addition of Haley. The Cowboys haven't made a blockbuster trade in quite some time, but could one similar to that of the Haley deal be the missing piece for Dallas?
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