Tag: Troy Aikman

Super Bowl 54 schedule: Game time, location, broadcast info and more

All the information you need to know about Super Bowl LIV between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers.

The Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers are set for what appears to be an exciting battle in Super Bowl LIV on Feb. 2. The Chiefs advanced to their first Super Bowl since 1970 with a thrashing of the Tennessee Titans behind star quarterback Patrick Mahomes. The 49ers, meanwhile, manhandled the Green Bay Packers for the second time this season.

Here’s the information you need to know about Super Bowl LIV:

Date: Feb. 2, 2020

Venue: Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens (FL) This will be the 11th time the Miami metropolitan area will play host to a Super Bowl.

Home team: AFC is home on even years, NFC on odd. That means the Chiefs will be the home team.

How much are tickets? The least expensive tickets on Stubhub.com are $4,464. The priciest are more than $45,000. The secondary market for this game figures to be a hot one.

Television broadcast: FOX (Joe Buck and Troy Aikman)

Radio broadcast: Westwood One Network

Stream: fuboTV (try for free)

Time: 6:30 p.m. ET

National anthem: Demi Lovato. Christine Sun Kim, internationally renowned sound artist and performer, will sign the National Anthem in American Sign Language.

Halftime: Jennifer Lopez and Shakira

 

Giants to hire Jason Garrett as OC: 9 things to know

The New York Giants are expected to hire Jason Garrett as their offensive coordinator, so here are nine things to know.

The New York Giants are expected to hire former Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett to be their offensive coordinator under new head coach Joe Judge.

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Here are nine quick things you should know:

Brian B

He’s a two-time Super Bowl champion

It’s always good to have a few rings on the coaching staff and Garrett, although he was a backup, earned two with the great Cowboys teams of the 1990s.

Playing behind Troy Aikman, Garrett — coming from a coaching background — got an education from Hall of Fame coaches such as Jimmy Johnson, Barry Switzer. He also played under the highly-regarded Chan Gailey.

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The NFL’s 25 best postseason players from the Super Bowl era

Maybe one day Patrick Mahomes or, who knows who else (Joe Burrows even? Heh. Too soon? Too soon?) might join this list, but for now, let’s go with these 25. Some were clear choices while others you might dispute for someone else, but it’s obviously …

Maybe one day Patrick Mahomes or, who knows who else (Joe Burrows even? Heh. Too soon? Too soon?) might join this list, but for now, let’s go with these 25. Some were clear choices while others you might dispute for someone else, but it’s obviously a list full of Super Bowl MVP QBs, so guessing the top 10 or 12 should be easy. The rest are guys you sometimes forget about. With research, marginal recall and experts’ input, here’s the final call.

(Editor’s note: These are not ranked, although the first few are the ones that quickly became clear.)

Tom Brady

(Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports)

He’s at the top of the list for reasons: He’s guided the Patriots to nine (!) Super Bowls and six titles and he has four Super Bowl MVP trophies, all NFL records.

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Jimmy Johnson receives 2020 Hall of Fame invitation on live TV

The coach who orchestrated the Dallas Cowboys’ dynasty of the 1990s will be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, he learned Sunday.

The Dallas Cowboys had, for a time being, one of the NFL’s most immaculate list of coaches, overshadowing even the Pittsburgh Steelers. Following directly on the heels of the legendary and iconic Tom Landry, Jimmy Johnson arrived in Texas with the most flash and even more substance. He stamped his own legacy in Dallas in immediate fashion, turning the Cowboys from laughing stocks to champions in a few short years and was the first coach to win both a collegiate national championship and a Super Bowl.

Johnson’s Cowboys won back-to-back NFL titles, and his imprint on the organization led to a third ring in four years under a different coach. For a while, his shorter-than-normal tenure seemed to keep him from being officially recognized as one of the game’s best, but no more. On Sunday, during halftime of the NFC divisional round playoff game, Johnson learned that he was finally joining the Pro Football Hall of Fame as its 328th member.

The moment, which played out with Hall of Fame president David Baker personally delivering the news to Johnson on live TV, was riveting to watch.

Few could have imagined that they were looking at a future Hall of Famer when Johnson first arrived in Dallas. Despite having a collegiate national championship under his belt, Johnson inherited a league-worst 3-13 Cowboys squad… and promptly got even worse in his first season on the sideline. The 1-15 season of 1989 remains a low-water mark for the franchise that was most notable for the seemingly-inexplicable midseason trade that sent running back Herschel Walker packing for Minnesota in exchange for a collection of no-name players and future draft picks.

But Johnson was building a dynasty, one that was anchored by quarterback Troy Aikman, whom Johnson selected with the first pick in the 1989 Draft less than two months after being named coach. Aikman, of course, went on to his own stellar 12-year career that earned him a gold jacket and a Hall of Fame bust in 2008.

Aikman, one of the three players most responsible for the team’s meteoric rise under Johnson- was in the broadcast booth at Lambeau Field watching on a monitor as his former coach got his long-overdue invitation in the New York studios.

Of course, Johnson’s job involved a lot more than gameplanning wins and fussing over Xs and Os. The Cowboys of the early 1990s were a legendarily wild and colorful bunch. Johnson’s locker rooms were loaded with undeniable talent but also overflowing with combustible personalities including the likes of Michael Irvin, Emmitt Smith, Nate Newton, Ken Norton Jr., Daryl Johnston, Mark Stepnoski, Erik Williams, Leon Lett, Bill Bates, Jack Del Rio, Russell Maryland, Charles Haley, and Darren Woodson.

Motivating such a diverse band of men and channeling their energies in one direction is perhaps as impressive a feat as taking the Cowboys from the bottom of the heap in 1989 (1-15, worst record in the league) to the top of the mountain in 1992 (13-3, Super Bowl champs).

Several of Johnson’s former players- including the other two-thirds of the famed Triplets- took to social media to congratulate their former coach after Sunday’s news.

Dallas repeated as Super Bowl victors in 1993, putting Johnson in rarified air among NFL coaches. He joins Vince Lombardi, Don Shula, Chuck Noll, Mike Shanahan, and Bill Belichick as the only coaches to win back to-back Super Bowls.

After his second Lombardi Trophy, Johnson and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones famously parted ways in a rather ugly divorce. Johnson went on to coach Miami for four more seasons before retiring with a career coaching record of 80-64 (9-4 postseason) and then segueing into broadcasting.

Johnson, 76, will be enshrined in Canton along with the rest of the Class of 2020 in August.

News: Elliott’s college RB coach in mix, players didn’t fear Garrett

Plus details on Mike McCarthy’s role and his epic job interview, great expectations from Cowboys greats, and more Jason Garrett fallout.

Mike McCarthy is getting to work assembling his coaching staff in Dallas, with one positional assistant headed out the door on Thursday and another new candidate appearing in the wings. Cowboys Nation is still dissecting the nearly-hour-long press conference that introduced McCarthy officially. And new details are surfacing about how things ended with Jason Garrett… and how things had been with his players that only hastened that ending.

There’s more opinion on what’s expected of McCarthy and a bit of insight on how he intends to work (or not) with the Joneses in the front office. All that, plus a ludicrous idea from Terrell Owens- because, hey, it’s been a while. Here’s the News and Notes.

New RB coach to meet with Cowboys :: ESPN

Stan Drayton, the Texas Longhorns’ associate head coach and run game coordinator, was scheduled to meet with the Cowboys on Thursday. Drayton coached Ezekiel Elliott at Ohio State before serving as running backs coach with the Chicago Bears from 2015 to 2016.

Gary Brown, the running backs coach in Dallas since 2013, is reportedly still in the mix to return for 2020.

Players didn’t fear Garrett, thanks to Jerry Jones :: 105.3 The Fan

According to Ed Werder, a team source said this week that the Cowboys lacked the following under Jason Garrett: fear, accountability, and discipline.

NFL Network’s Jane Slater, speaking on the air Thursday with 105.3 The Fan, told a story that seemed to confirm the first item on that list.

Slater’s first-hand account of a text exchange in which a player told Garrett “to [expletive] off” and that owner Jerry Jones had given the player free rein to ignore his coach is a sobering and somewhat shocking anecdote. If true, it speaks volumes about how bad things had truly gotten in Dallas.

WR coach Sanjay Lal won’t return to Cowboys under Mike McCarthy :: Cowboys Wire

Despite leading Pro Bowler Amari Cooper to a career-best season and helping turn Michael Gallup into a breakout star, wide receivers coach Sanjay Lal will be let go from the Cowboys staff.

Lal had been with the team for the past two seasons, after serving in the same capacity for the Colts, Bills, Jets, and Raiders over the previous nine years.

McCarthy wants to coach, ‘not dictate player personnel’ :: The ‘Boys & Girl Podcast

To many, Mike McCarthy was a surprise choice for head coaching duties in Dallas. Why? It was widely assumed that the former Packers skipper was also interested in having a hand in player personnel decisions, and Jerry and Stephen Jones would be loathe to give up that kind of control in any amount.

Andrew Brandt, NFL insider and former Packers vice president, shared with NFL Network’s Bobby Belt and Jane Slater on The ‘Boys & Girl Podcast that in searching for a 2020 opportunity, McCarthy was seeking a job to be purely a coach.

Jerry Jones on Garrett breakup: Wanted a ‘soft landing’ :: NFL.com

The week-long goodbye between Jerry Jones and Jason Garrett was about more than just dismissing an underachieving coach or finalizing exit interviews. For owner Jerry Jones, it was bringing down the curtain on an era. During the introduction of new coach Mike McCarthy, Jones spoke of all the years he has employed members of the Garrett family and said that longstanding relationship was a real factor in how the coach’s release was handled by the team.

“I will tell you that I had a great 30 years around the Garrett family, and it’s wonderful. It’s a good feeling, and it is one of the best parts of my life,” Jones said.

“We all wanted this to have a very nice- if possible, under the circumstances- soft landing.”

Terrell Owens says Cowboys should dump Dak Prescott… for Tom Brady :: TMZ

In an interview this week with San Francisco radio station 95.7 The Game, former Cowboys wideout Terrell Owens revealed that he thinks his former club is just one missing ingredient away from a Super Bowl title.

“They have a quarterback that’s a free agent in Tom Brady,” Owens said. “That’s the next move.”

By Owens’s logic, the fact that current quarterback Dak Prescott hasn’t been given a new contract extension signals a tangible degree of uncertainty within the Dallas front office.

McCarthy won the job in 12-hour interview :: The Mothership

It was the interview that turned into a sleepover that turned into a job offer neither party could consummate fast enough, to hear social media tell it as it unfolded over the weekend.

Using bits of the story as shared in Mike McCarthy’s introductory press conference, Star Magazine contributor Jonny Auping dives into the epic 12-hour discussion that won Jerry and Stephen Jones over. Find out what caused McCarthy to jump out of his chair and bear-hug his new boss, and what personal remembrance led Jerry to utter the sure-to-be-famous quip about finding his new coach: “The bottom line is… I heard bells.”

Aikman, Irvin, and the lofty expectations for Mike McCarthy :: Cowboys Wire

In introducing the team’s new head coach, owner Jerry Jones likened the timing of Mike McCarthy’s availability to 1989, when a directionless Dallas club owned the first pick in the NFL Draft and future Hall of Famer Troy Aikman sat atop the war room big board.

Those great expectations are shared by team legend Michael Irvin, who compared McCarthy’s arrival to Steve Kerr taking command of the talented roster of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors and swiftly winning a league title.

Aikman had an interesting perspective on the way his friend Jason Garrett’s time with the Cowboys came to an end, as well as how McCarthy was unceremoniously dumped in Green Bay with games still to play in 2018.

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Joe Burrow and 23 other college stars who transferred

Joe Burrow transferred from Ohio State to LSU. He joins many other great players who switched colleges.

The coaching carousel may get busy but the transfer portal is like Grand Central Station it seems with players shifting schools more and more. A look at some of the best to switch schools during their college years, including LSU’s Joe Burrow, who became the third straight transfer to win the Heisman Trophy

Troy Aikman

Allsport

In 1985, Troy Aikman was named starting quarterback for Barry Switzer’s new passing attack and led the Oklahoma to a 3-0 start. In the fourth game, Aikman broke his ankle when he was sacked by Miami’s Jerome Brown. With Aikman out for the season, Switzer went back to the wishbone with Jamelle Holieway and the Sooners went on to win the national championship that season. Aikman transferred to UCLA. And after sitting out in 1986, he led the Bruins to back-to-back 10-win seasons.

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Aikman, Irvin and the lofty expectations for Mike McCarthy

There were bars set high and surprising comparisons galore as two Cowboys legends weigh in on the team’s new head coach.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones could not have set the bar for his new head coach any higher. And he couldn’t have done it much earlier than he did. Less than three minutes into Wednesday’s press conference that introduced Mike McCarthy as the ninth head coach in team history- before McCarthy had even said a word- Jones was invoking the name of the most decorated quarterback to have ever worn the star.

He’s still figuring out where the bathrooms are at the team’s headquarters, but McCarthy is already being mentioned in the same breath as the franchise’s greatest champions. Several of those champions, including Hall of Famers Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin, think he just may prove to be worthy of the lofty comparison.

“When I first got in the NFL,” Jones recalled to begin the press conference, after reading a list of highlights off McCarthy’s impressive resume, “I looked real smart- very smart- because right as we walked through the door, Troy Aikman was the first pick in the draft. And the Dallas Cowboys had the first pick in the draft. And the Dallas Cowboys needed a great quarterback to start. Those combinations of things can make you look real smart when that timing comes together. That’s the analogy that I’m alluding to here. Yes. We. Needed. Mike. We needed a coach, but to have his availability, and to have his track record and ability to check all the boxes that I just talked about was fortuitous for this franchise.”

Likening McCarthy’s arrival to taking Aikman with the first overall pick in 1989 makes the 56-year-old coach’s mandate in Dallas crystal-clear. His joining the organization may not necessarily kickstart a dynasty per se, but it had better add a sixth Lombardi Trophy to the case in pretty short order.

For what it’s worth, Aikman himself thinks McCarthy’s hiring is an encouraging step in that direction.

“I do think that the guy that they hired is outstanding,” Aikman told The Musers on 96.7 FM/1310 AM The Ticket [KTCK-AM] on Wednesday. “I’ve known him a long time; I’ve gotten to know him very well. And I think he’ll come in and do a great job.”

Former coach Jason Garrett served as Aikman’s backup for the team’s remarkable run during the mid- to late-1990s and was there for the Cowboys’ two most recent championships in Super Bowls XXVIII and XXX. Aikman has spoken recently about the way his friend’s tenure in Dallas came to an end under the Jones regime, reminding fans that the NFL is, first and foremost, a business for those who are in it, and that even successful coaches often find themselves looking for new employment.

Aikman remarked that McCarthy knows something of that as well after his sudden dismissal from the Packers in early December of 2018.

“The way that it ended in Green Bay? I think he deserved better,” Aikman explained. “I don’t feel that, after all those years of success, that he deserved to be fired before the season ended. And I thought that he handled all of that exceptionally well, but I wasn’t certain that… I didn’t anticipate that the Cowboys would be of interest, that he would be of interest to the Cowboys. And so when I heard that it was possible that he might be named the head coach, that the interview went well, he stayed over, I thought that was a really good thing.

“I think of the guys that are available- and even if you looked at guys who aren’t available- I think that Mike McCarthy would certainly be on that short list. I think it was an outstanding hire. I think he’ll come in; it’ll be a different voice- of course it always is with a new head coach- and he’ll have a different approach, and I think for some people, that’ll be really refreshing. And we’ll see where it goes.”

Aikman’s primary receiver from the glory days thinks it may go right to the top of the NFL mountain. Michael Irvin drew a recent pro basketball analogy in speaking with TMZ about what he expects from the Cowboys’ new skipper.

While Irvin admitted that he was “mourning” the end of Garrett’s time in Dallas, he believes his friend and former teammate should get another opportunity to lead an NFL team.

“You look at the greatest of all time, and that’s Bill Belichick,” Irvin said. “You know, if he stopped at Cleveland, what would we have? But he got another opportunity in New England, and he ultimately became the greatest of all time.”

Comparing Jason Garrett to Bill Belichick may be more of a leap than many Cowboys fans can make right now. They’re still wrapping their heads around the idea that hiring Mike McCarthy might be akin to drafting Troy Aikman.

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With McCarthy officially in, Garrett era ends to mixed reactions from players

Several Dallas Cowboys who played wither with or for Jason Garrett reacted to news that he had been let go by the team Sunday night.

On Wednesday, Jerry Jones ushered in a new era of Cowboys head coaching, introducing Mike McCarthy as the ninth leader in Dallas franchise history. During the press conference, he referenced his reverence for the man leaving the post, Jason Garrett, and how found he was of the man and his family.

Jones noted that since he’s owned the team, starting in 1989, there’s only been two seasons where a Garrett wasn’t under his employ, starting with John Garrett, a long-time member of the scouting department and then with Jason’s playing career. Jones hasn’t been the only one waxing poetic about Garrett’s tenure ending, as his players – past and present – chimed in as well.

Word came down during the NFC Wild Card game- the one Dallas had hoped to be playing in- that the Cowboys had officially moved on from Garrett. After nine and a half roller-coaster seasons and one supremely bizarre week, the man in charge on the sidelines was no longer with the team.

In the hours that followed, many of the men who played for and with him were quick to share their support, gratitude, and- in some cases- other general reaction to the news.

Defensive tackle Antwaun Woods wasn’t able to stick on the roster in Tennessee, but found a home in Dallas under Garrett’s watch. He has seen action in 25 games over his two seasons as a Cowboy.

Fifth-year journeyman Justin March bounced around from Kansas City to Miami to Seattle before landing on the Cowboys linebacker corps early in the 2017 season. Garrett often praised players who showed “relentless spirit;” March reflected on that same quality in his former coach on Sunday night.

Special teams assistant Phillip Tanner spent time under Garrett as a running back and special teams player from 2011 through the 2013 season. In 2019, Garrett welcomed him back to Dallas, naming Tanner to the coaching staff as a special teams assistant.

Garrett’s release wasn’t a surprise, of course. Some players were asked about the seemingly-inevitable change in the moments that immediately followed the Week 17 game against Washington that ended their 8-8 season.

“It’s going to be hard,” running back Ezekiel Elliott told reporters on December 29. “Change is always hard. But we have a great group of men in this locker room. Not too worried. We’ve got a lot of vets, a lot of great players. I think we’ll be all right.”

Even though Elliott’s remarks reinforce the notion that the writing had been on the wall in Dallas for some time, it took another full week for ownership to officially sever ties with Garrett. Whether that seven-day standoff was more about owner Jerry Jones doing some true soul searching or just masterful news-cycle manipulating is up for debate.

Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman worked closely with Garrett during his playing days in Dallas and still considers him a friend. In the matter of how Garrett’s release was handled by his ex-employer during a week that started with vague speculation and mixed messages about showing Garrett “respect” yet ended with new coaching candidates being interviewed while Garrett was still in the building, Aikman sided with his former backup.

“He committed everything he had to the organization and to doing the best job that he could,” Aikman said of Garrett in an interview with Mike Doocy of Fox 4 in Dallas. “He made it a priority, and he committed himself. Breakups are always hard- we all understand that, at whatever level they occur- but I don’t know that after all that he gave and committed to this organization, that he received the same in return. When the organization was unwilling for whatever reasons- and I don’t know the backstories to it all- but when the organization was unwilling to come out publicly and say that, ‘We are seeking a new coach,’ and yet at the same time, reports are coming out that they’re interviewing potential new candidates for the head coaching position, that’s disappointing. I think, in a lot of ways, it shines a light on some of the dysfunction, if you will, within the organization and kind of how they got to the point that they’re in now.”

Former NFL lineman Uche Nwaneri had a similarly bold take on the culture in Dallas, as laid out in a Reddit thread in which he blasts the “alternate universe” that Garrett helped the front office sell to players “in which the Cowboys were defending Super Bowl champs.”

Not everyone connected to Garrett during his time with the franchise was sympathetic to how his tenure finally ended. Wideout Dez Bryant has been a vocal critic of the 53-year-old coach ever since he was released by the Cowboys in 2018 after eight seasons.

Bryant and Garrett had a tumultuous relationship, so his comments are not exactly surprising. How prescient he is about the Cowboys automatically becoming “real contenders” simply by breaking up with Jason Garrett remains to be seen.

That onus now falls on McCarthy to take the baton and get the franchise across the finish line.

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Former QB Troy Aikman recalls nearly signing with Dolphins in 2003

Troy Aikman finished playing with the Dallas Cowboys in 2000 but recalls nearly coming back to play with the Dolphins in 2003.

Life after Dan Marino has been largely miserable for the Miami Dolphins. There were a fair share of talented players on the Dolphins teams of the early 2000s, but one variable on those competitive teams was always missing — a quarterback who had it. No disrespect to Jay Fiedler, but one can’t help but wonder what those early years of the new millennium would have looked like with a more accomplished quarterback at the held for Dave Wannstedt and company.

Troy Aikman definitely qualifies as a more qualified quarterback — and believe it or not, he was a realistic option for the Miami Dolphins, as the Hall of Fame quarterback recalled to Sam Farmer of the LA Times.

The year was 2003. The Dolphins were coming off of a 9-7 season and their first missed trip to the postseason since 1996 — but this was a team that possessed an elite defense and the fresh legs of running back Ricky Williams, who had led the NFL in rushing in his first year as a Dolphin in 2002. And the Dolphins, according to Aikman, were interested in entertaining a comeback bid for the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback, who hadn’t played in the league since 2000.

With his old offensive coordinator Norv Turner in Miami, Aikman recalled committing himself to a comeback.

“I decided I wanted to do it,” said Aikman via Farmer. “I reached out to Dave and told him. He said, ‘Well, we couldn’t sign you now even if we wanted to because free agency hasn’t started yet.’ So I told him I was going to start training as though I were going to come back and play. He said that was great.

“But then nothing ever happened. I called Norv and asked what was going on. He said, ‘I think they’re a little nervous about signing you. They’re worried they’re going to sign you, and you’re going to get a concussion, this and that.'”

Mark this down as yet another time the Dolphins missed a chance at upgrading at quarterback due to fear of injury. Aikman in 2003 is hardly as troublesome a decision as the Drew Brees debacle in 2005, make no mistake about that. But it’s definitely fun to wonder “what if” about a 2003 season that still saw the Dolphins go 10-6 with Fiedler at the helm — although the team missed the playoffs due to a tiebreaker to the Denver Broncos. That Miami defense could’ve made some noise in the postseason — the team gave the 14-2 Patriots fits in both matchups but lost 19-13 in overtime and 12-0 in December to the eventual Super Bowl champions.

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