Aikman: We can be a better team this year than
last Aikman: We can be a better team this year than
lastAUSTIN - It was less than two weeks after the Cowboys had dispatched
Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XXX when Troy Aikman got a quick reminder that
nothing is forever.
"I was walking down the street one day and some fans were congratulating
me when one guy asked me if I thought we could do it again this season,"
Aikman said Thursday after the first day of training camp. "That just
reminded me really quickly that what we did last season - and what we've
done over the last four seasons - doesn't matter."
So Aikman's focus - as well as the focus of his teammates _ is now on the
upcoming 1996 season, which most prognosticators think will end with the
Cowboys and 49ers battling again to determine the NFC's Super Bowl representative.
And, despite some off-the-field turmoil, Aikman said he feels the same way.
"I really feel like we can be a better team this season than we were
in '95," he said. "Now, whether or not that translates into another
Super Bowl win remains to be seen. But I think we have the talent here to
win another championship."
The Cowboys might well have to do without the services of Aikman's favorite
target - Michael Irvin - for a period of time while he serves an expected
suspension by the NFL. It will be just another in a long line of distractions
this team has faced over the course of the last four seasons.
Last year the club was forced to play through the ongoing Deion Sanders
negotiations, as well as the drug suspensions of Leon Lett and Clayton Holmes,
the controversy over Barry Switzer's fourth-down call in Philadelphia, Jerry
Jones vs. the NFL and racism charges leveled against Aikman by a former
assistant coach during Super Bowl week. It's enough to make any other team
crumble under the pressure.
"But I don't think of them as distractions," Aikman said. "It
happens week in and week out around here. There's always something that
happens that people on the outside might view as distractions.
"But this football team is mentally tough," he said, "and
the majority of us have been through this before."
If the Cowboys are able to waltz out of New Orleans in late January with
the Super Bowl XXXI title under their belts, it will be their fourth in
the past five seasons, an unprecedented feat in NFL annals. It would also
be Aikman's fourth championship, meaning he would join Terry Bradshaw (Pittsburgh)
and Joe Montana (San Francisco) as the only quarterbacks in league history
to lead their teams to four Super Bowl victories.
All this from a guy who still hasn't thrown for 100 career touchdowns or
20,000 career yards.
But ask Dan Marino - the NFL's all-time leader in passing yards and TD passes
- if he'd trade his records for one Super Bowl championship and the answer
would be a resounding, "Yes."
And the championships are why fans never hear Aikman complaining about how
he doesn't have the big 400-yard passing days.
"I don't set many personal goals, because the most important thing
for me is to win
championships," Aikman said. 'I don't play in an offense where I throw
the ball 40 to 45 times a game. I would love to do that, because it would
be a lot of fun. But that's now how this team is going to win.
"My legacy will always be championships and how many we win while I'm
here," he said. "And I'm very comfortable with that."
As usual, Aikman will enter this is his eighth season coming off a season
that saw him endure various injuries. A calf injury during the season hampered
him, and he had surgery on his right elbow after the season to remove some
"loose bodies" from the joint.
Add those ailments to the concussions and knee, shoulder and back problems
that Aikman has endured in the past, and one begins to wonder just how long
he will play the game.
"I always try to answer that question honestly, but I don't really
know how long I'll play," he said. "If I'm fortunate to play into
my late 30s (he'll turn 30 on Nov. 21), that would be great. But I don't
think from a physical standpoint I'll make it that far. I'd like to fulfill
this contract, which would put me at 13 years in the league. If I could
make it that far, I'd be happy with that.
"But I've always been amazed at the athlete who retires and then says
that he has nothing left to prove," Aikman said. "Last year our
goal was to win Super Bowl No. 3. This year it's to win No. 4, and if we
do that we'll start worrying about No. 5."
And he won't need any reminders that that's what's expected of the Cowboys.