Dallas Cowboys End Former NFL QB Troy Aikman’s Over-Confidence After He Didn’t Book His Off-Season Trip
Troy Aikman, the ESPN pundit and former quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys, was so sure that the team would win its first conference championship since 1996 that he decided to forego his vacation this week in favor of attending the NFC Championship game in San Francisco.
Even though Dallas was the No. 2 seed in the NFC, Aikman told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that he was “shocked, yeah.”
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“I really anticipated Dallas would be playing in the championship game and figured that it would be in San Francisco, so I was planning on going to the game. Didn’t book a vacation after my season. And so I really liked this team all year long. I thought they were really talented. It’s just the same old story, and I don’t mean that as a criticism.
“It’s just when I’m asked about the Cowboys as to why they have struggled: They’ve put together some really great regular seasons, and they just have not, for whatever reasons, played their best football when the games matter most. That’s what you have to do. And that’s the key to winning in the postseason and then getting to the Super Bowl.
“So what the answer to that is I’m not sure.”
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As the Super Bowl will air on CBS, and the championship games on CBS and Fox, respectively, Troy Aikman, who is in his second season hosting ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” booth, will have no more NFL games to call.
After the Ravens defeated the Texans in Baltimore this past Saturday, he and his colleague Joe were free to call their final game on Sunday.
Although it’s unknown where Aikman intended to travel this year, his girlfriend Haley Clark posted pictures of the two from Italy during the previous offseason.
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With him as their quarterback, Aikman was certain the Cowboys would easily defeat the third-seeded Lions and the seventh-seeded Packers to make their first NFC title game since his tenure.
However, as is usually the case at this time of year, the Cowboys collapsed.
In a game that wasn’t as close as the final score may suggest on January 14, they lost 48–32 to Jordan Love and the Packers because they ran out of solutions.
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Dak Prescott, the quarterback for Dallas, had a difficult game and threw two interceptions. There are increasing doubts about his ability to take the team to the Super Bowl.
Still, despite Prescott’s increasing lack of success in the postseason, Troy Aikman has faith in him.
“I do know that we all draw on our past experiences, and when we don’t have great experiences, those then become hard to overcome,” Aikman told the outlet. “And I think that’s the challenge for Dak. The question for him and the team isn’t so much what happens in the regular season now. It’s how are they going to play and how is he going to play once you get into the postseason? That makes for a long year when that’s the way it works.
“But I still believe in Dak. Until you do it, there’s always those criticisms.”
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Jerry Jones’ decision to stay with head coach Mike McCarthy for a fifth season was also supported by Aikman.
