Green Light with Chris Long - Troy Aikman! Tom Brady's Retirement, Super Bowl Memories & Nearly Signing with the Eagles.

Episode Date: February 3, 2023

(3:14) - Chris & Macon talk about Tom Brady's retirement & his future, Jimmy G's next NFL team & sneaky high school basketball coaches. (17:00) - Troy Aikman on Tom Brady's final season, retirement, move to the booth & Troy being called by Andy Reid to come out of retirement to play for the Eagles. (32:57) - Troy's Super Bowl memories, victory parties, SBLVII predictions, Outlook for the Cowboys & throwing the ball to Deion Sanders. Green Light Spotify Music: https://open.spotify.com/user/951jyryv2nu6l4iqz9p81him9?si=17c560d10ff04a9b   Spotify Layup Line: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1olmCMKGMEyWwOKaT1Aah3?si=675d445ddb824c42   Green Light Tube YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/GreenLightTube1   Green Light with Chris Long:   Subscribe and enjoy weekly content including podcasts, documentaries, live chats, celebrity interviews and more including hot news items, trending discussions from the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, NCAA are just a small part of what we will be sharing with you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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come with a 90-day limited warranty in one year of roadside assistance nationwide, giving you peace of mind while on the road. You can trade in your old car when you buy your new one, or you can even just sell your car to Vroom. When you sell your car on Vroom, you get a price instantly. You can buy a car from Vroom entirely online, so next time you need to buy a car, just grab your phone, go to Vroom.com, and check out thousands of cars. Welcome to the Greenlight podcast. Today, Troy Aikman's going to run us through some NFL topics. He's going to talk a little bit about Tom Brady in the transition to the booth for him. What is like for Troy to have watched

the goat over the last few years? How he thinks a few quarterback free agencies are going to shake out what it's going to be like for Dallas this next season. Dak, is he the guy? What about Jerry Jones and Mike McCarthy? And he'll give us a little preview on the Super Bowl and talk a little from his experience. A good conversation. As for usual, it's a freak show. You have a good time. How's everybody doing?

Right. Joe started. Nine out of ten. That's good, man. Sneaky, quietest retirement. ever Tom Brady but also like the loudest too because we have Super Bowl week coming up you get that like this is the perfect time to retire to get a week long run of Tom Brady handheld video mobile phone windy 9 a.m. Sand dune I woke up I've been up a while I just got done doing a hit class

had a coffee with bulletproof coffee yeah a little butter grass fed butter and I'm reading the newspaper because I do that. Yep. And my son hands me his mobile phone. And he's like, here's Tom Brady, you retired, dad. You knew this guy. And I see, yeah, we were really good friends. You know, I'm not gonna be the guy to post

about Tom Brady this week because I don't feel like I'm, you know, like, where's the Mendoza line for being able to post about a former teammate? I think I'm on the right side of this one. By that, I mean, I'm doing the right thing, not putting up a post like of a picture of me and Tom Brady. Correct. Yes.

It was a year. It was a year, but there was also the, like, the whole. One of Super Bowl. Yeah. Not a key player. Oh, shut the front door. No, kind of key. Yeah.

But, you know, not one that Tom would hang out with. Tom would have one less Super Bowl without my guy, 95. Thank you. And word to Dave Damashek. He loves when I talk about this. But yeah, you're right. Yeah. You're right.

Holding offense. He should have put me in that video. Mm-hmm. And if it weren't for the hold, I would have gone a decade between Super Bowls. Hey man, the guy choreographed this. He said he wanted to play until he's 45. He's 45 and now he's done.

Done for good. You know what? We thought at the end of the year that he didn't look great at times. After that playoff game, I was kind of like, I don't know, like if his market is as robust, is that the word? That's the word?

As you would think. Did he want the headline to be Brady signs with X for, you know, the average, deal. No, I just think he's probably like, dude, I think eventually you come to the realization that we're all gamblers, right? Like whether, you know, it's every year, it's like I'll roll the dice again. Let's see, you know, if he knew the way this year went, he wouldn't have played it. I can bet you that, but you take a chance. And it's in his DNA to try to do more and more. But eventually you got to be like, I got to walk away from the table here. Like the point of diminishing return.

as hit like and maybe part of it was like hey I don't want to be on a third team right like then I'm getting into that like hop around guy late in the career where was he and I think also the way the year ended it was so painful probably for him that he was like I can't imagine doing this again and the risk of doing this again is it's not insignificant so I always tell the story he was a great teammate he introduced himself to me the first I walked in the building I'm like that's you can tell he does that to everybody the thousands of guys like me that came through you know i call it chasing a ring or join in for a year or whatever he he treated everybody with respect and you know that was like down to the last guy in the building and uh i just you know like the duality of doing that

and also being the guy that can chew you the fuck out on the sideline and justifiably because of how great he's been um but i also think like tom brady can't lead like tom brady if he's not feeling I'm that guy, you know. I don't know that that's how he thinks, but he has to be playing great to lead the way he does. And maybe it's just not that time anymore. Seems like it might have been a little different

if Bruce Ariens had been on the sidelines, no disrespect to Todd Bowles, a little disrespect to Todd Bowles. Might have been different if Ryan Jensen were healthy the entire year. If he had that reliable, tight end that he's had his entire career. But he's a lot of if so.

He still put up numbers. He did. No, no, he was fine. No, he was fine. And I don't think, you know, people sort of laugh at the Wizards part of Jordan's career. Yeah. Brady won a Super Bowl in Tampa Bay. I mean, I think there is something to, he's not leaving on top, but he's leaving while he's still doing.

He's not leaving like Matt Ryan. Right. You know, no disrespect to my dog, Matt Ryan. Matt Ryan, it's a tough last couple games, stays at the office. You know, very rarely, we talk about like John Elway or fucking Peyton Manning. that's rare to be able to do that. And so I think Brady was kind of like, okay, I had my chance to do that.

I didn't do it. Time to go be with my family, if I had to guess. Yep. And I'm happy for him because honestly, he's lived like a robot for his entire life. Now he can fuck around and have some ice cream, regular ice cream. Maybe.

Smoke a joint, maybe. Maybe. I feel like he's going to stay true to the brand, even retirement. You think? Yeah, no nightshades. I'd love to see a sun scorched slightly overweight Brady in a short sleeve button down linen shirt all the way open.

Bauderate belly. Boulding. Hineken. No, that's the problem. He can never be balding now. He's in Florida though. You know, like I feel like that's where you head when you're in Florida if you're living right.

So I hope he heads that way and relaxes a little bit. No, I'm not saying he got plugs. Yeah. If you get plugs. Plugs are normal now, man. I know, no, hey, no shaming, but like, can you like shave, like, say like, hey, I'd really like to do the horseshoe thing. I'd really like to have high peaks. No, I don't think you can do that. You can't make a horseshoe. You can't. You always have hair. That's God's work. That's the invisible barber's work. Right. Only the invisible barber has that on the wall. Yeah, these folks have taken God out of the equation. You know, the plugs thing. I was talking to somebody about this. Like, you got to assume everybody in Hollywood has them because nobody's bald in Hollywood. Right. Unless you're like, you know, a stunt man or, you know, a stunt man or, you know,

Vin Diesel. Yeah, or an action hero. How many character guys that are in like romantic comedies are bald? You almost never see it. That's something that needs to change. My guy, Steve Carell, season one, season two, was right back. Speaking of guys with good hair, Jimmy G, not going back to San Francisco. Where's he going?

I don't know. I think he's kind of like one of these guys now with Brady Retire. retiring that just got back from World War II. You know what I mean? He's just got a lot of options. Yeah. Give me a less abrasive way to make that analogy in history. It's like a company when one of their rivals goes out of business,

get an increased market share. He's like a company that one of their rivals goes out of business, they get an increased market share. Fuck, Tom Brady just retired. There's one less seat that it's filled. What an apt analogy. Exactly. Circuit City, see you.

I'm best buy now, bitch. That's what Jimmy G's like right now. Jimmy G for Best Buy. Exactly. Warm it up. Nice. So yeah, anyways, kind of a,

probably a good day for Jimmy G. I think he wants to see what's on the other side. Yeah. I'd like to see him in Tennessee. He's only 10 I see. Does he make sense in Las Vegas? Josh McDaniels? I think he might.

I mean, I think he might. You know, what are they going to do? Derek Carr, he's like the guy, he's like the guy whose wife was thinking about hooking up with another guy who's in his platoon and he got capped in Korea. And he's like, you know, now that the backup option's gone, don't, you know, don't miss me too much. I follow that.

I got an award to give out. Did you hear about the girl on the Churchland Truckers team? No. I don't know if you follow Churchland Truckers sports as close as I do, but it's national news. Okay, this gal who was an assistant coach on JV basketball team, 22 years old, they're missing a player. Girls got club team to Saturday or whatever.

They go to Nansman River. Homegirl puts on the full get-up. out there blocking shots. Celebrating. Celebrating. Mid-range J's. the whole nine yards, 22 years old.

JV. Yeah. And I don't blame her as much I blame Jamal Street, the head coach. Because he orchestrated this deal. It's so bad they had to they halted the season. Well, it is. It's pretty bad.

Yeah, how do you look at this? It's like, ha-ha, or like, the world's fucked up. Like, did they think they were going to get away with it? How did they get caught? Probably because they were like, damn, that girl torched us. It would have been a lot better if you would have just, like, done five, four, and three. But she was out there like 20 and 10, you know?

And she does look young. I did some investigating. In fact, I looked up her Instagram, which is predictably private at this point. And she didn't take the basketball emoji out of her bio, which I love. She's like, I'm sticking to the fact that I love basketball. And I think actually that it'd be cool if we gave her another chance. Now there's a caveat. She has to go play in the NBA for a night.

She has to guard yokeach. That's funny. For a fucking. Breanna Stewart. I'll meet you in the middle. No. New York Liberty. Just signed.

The Illinois Center. I don't know if he's still there. Kofi Kober. She's got to go guard him. And then she can go back and coach the. the church and truckers. I think they've both been fired. I can speak from experience

having coach JV basketball. I used to fantasize about being in that game and dominating. Dude, absolutely. But more from a standpoint of what I know now. You know, what'd you say?

Dominating might be a fantasy. My man can run a club. Yeah. You don't have that mid-range J. No. No, this girl was good. She was a good player. I'm sorry.

There's footage. You've never been wet with it. You know? You know, he's not wet, but neither was I. Nah. You know? Ironically. A couple dry boys.

I'm the wet guy over here. I can't dribble, though. I don't know that you're wet. Can't, well, make a lot of free throws playing 21. That's the fellas. With the little basketball in the hall. Yeah, Nerf. So, yeah, like the Danny Almonte Award.

Perfect. Okay. We're only going to get to give these out on occasion. but step on up. What's her name? Arlisha Boykins. Yep, Alicia Boykins. I can't, does, I'm just getting far away shots.

What are the other girls thinking? They've got to go along with it. They're kids, they don't have any choice. They're going along with it. Yeah, they're probably sick of losing. It's their coach. Cash app. The easy way to send, spend, save, and invest with friends.

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The one big one, Troy, and welcome to the show. It's great to see you, man. Yeah, is Tom Brady. Like, you know, we get the whole media week before the Super Bowl to talk about Tom Brady. Were you surprised by the timing and the kind of finality of it? Because I woke up the other morning and I was like, I thought this was going to go on the whole offseason. Yeah. Yeah, no, I wasn't surprised and I wasn't surprised that he retired.

I guess I didn't realize this, but I guess it was last year, February 1st is when he announced he was retiring a year ago. Oh, yeah. You know, I guess that's, you know, when he was wanting to get it done just to make the announcement and get it over with. But I like the way he did it. I have great respect, of course, for Tom and everything that he's done. Don't need to go through all, you know, his resume, of course. But I was surprised Chris last year when he retired. It threw me off because he'd had a great year.

Team was still competitive. And he had always said he wanted to play until he was 45. So that threw me off a little bit. But as we learned, there was a lot more to that decision than just simply walking away from the game. And then he came back. It made sense. And then I figured all year that this would be his last season, especially the way that the year went. I thought that going into the season, but then the way the year went and then with everything was going on in his personal life, I thought, wow, this has had to have been the toughest year that he's gone through.

But then when we were getting ready for the Cowboys Tampa playoff game, I talked to some people within the organization. and their belief was that he was going to continue to play, whether that was in Tampa or elsewhere. So then I thought, well, heck, maybe you will come back and play. I don't know. But, yeah, I think the fact that I've been watching a lot of these shows and that people are wondering if, in fact, this is it for him or why now, I think that's pretty incredible that those conversations are even taking place for a guy that's 45 years old. everyone who retires at quarterback anyway. People are usually saying, yeah, it's a good time. He's pretty much done.

And yet there's still teams out there that need a quarterback that would take Tom Brady in a heartbeat. And I think that's as much respect as you can give the guy. Yeah, I wonder, you know, you got to probably be with him a couple times this year for production meetings. And I wonder if you got a sense at all running into him or if it was business as usual. It was business as usual. usual for the most part Tom when he when he was in New England we we had one New England game a year so didn't get to see him much and then when he came to Tampa when I was with Fox we were doing a lot of Tampa games so I got to I got to have a lot of

conversation with him got to know him a lot better and there were times when he really opened up I think maybe a little bit more than than he has with others you could tell that he was going through a lot just in trying to to reconcile his ambitions as a quarterback and his professional career and somehow striking a balance in your personal life. And I think we all experience that to some degree. But none of us have done it as long as what he has. But I did ask him going into that playoff game. I said, look, I know you're not going to tell me what you plan to do. But in your own mind, you know what you're thinking you're going to do. And he said he really didn't. And I think that was true.

I'm sure there were days he woke up thinking he wanted to continue to play, but I have a feeling that the overwhelming thoughts on his part throughout this season was that, you know, it's been a hell of a career and it's kind of time. Yeah, and got a nice situation he could walk into $375 million to go work with Pops or Greg Olson or whatever. So, yeah, I mean, like his life is set up pretty good. That's not a bad side hustle for sure. No, you know from experience. And so he can go in a number of different directions, but I wonder, you know, if he does follow through with the media thing, how do you think he'll do? And what advice would you give him because you've made this exact transition? I think he'll be great.

Obviously, Fox does as well. Most people do. It's not a foregone conclusion. But I just feel that there are people that you just bet on. and he's one of those guys. I mean, he's succeeded at everything that he's done. He'll continue to put in the work just like he did as an athlete. And I think that he's wired that way as others are as well.

So he'll do everything that's required to give himself a chance to have success. And I think that he understands that I definitely know that, you know, not a lot of people in the public get a chance to really kind of see behind the curtain. but I think that for him, he has some real opinions. He hasn't always voiced all of those, of course, but now he'll have a platform to where it will be expected, and I think he'll deliver. So I fully expect him to have a really great broadcasting career.

There are some that wonder whether or not he'll actually do it. I don't know about that, but I suspect that he will. My conversations with him, it indicates that that's what he's planning to do. Don't know why he wouldn't, at least give it a shot. But yeah, I think he'll be fantastic. My only advice is just be you, be authentic. Speak your, be honest, speak your mind. And he'll find his niche.

He'll do that respectfully. And I think he'll have a lot to add to the broadcast. What was the biggest challenge for you getting into the booth? Was it being critical of players? I'm sure at times former teammates, was that a hard line to toe? Was it literally the ins and outs of lights and cameras and. this is when you're talking about a replay and this is when we're back to live action. What was the biggest challenge for you?

Yeah, that's a, that's a good question. And I will say that I don't feel like I was asked that when I first got into this. I was asked at a press conference, do you think you can be critical of the players? And I said, well, I mean, I think there's this idea that you're supposed to be critical. I guess you are critical when it warrants be a critical. I've always felt that it's my job. to be fair and to be as honest as I at least whatever my opinion is is to be able to present

that but I have great respect for the players and the coaches that do it and Chris I know you do as well and when you understand that that I don't go into a broadcast feeling like I have all the answers to what's happening on the field and and I don't want to come off as though I do have all the answers because these guys spend an enormous amount of time giving it everything they have. And them winning is, it's more important them to win than it is any fan base or anyone who's watching the games. And so I tend to give the coaches the benefit of the doubt.

Where I get, where I'm critical is just not very smart plays, lack of effort, lack of discipline, you know, those things is when I tend to then react pretty strongly. But as far as what was most difficult, there is a lot going on in a broadcast booth. that it just takes a little bit of time to understand and have things slow down a little bit. And there's this idea that whether you're a player or a former coach, when you go into the broadcast booth, well, I can't wait to be able to really educate the viewer on X and explain this. And there's less time now that there was when I got into the broadcast booth because all these offenses are playing up-tempo. So you have to be done talking before the snap of the next play.

So you really, you just don't have the kind of time to get into a lot of that. So what I learned early on is you start down this road of explaining something, and then you've got to somehow wrap it up to get off, you know, to be done talking before Joe jumps back in. And then you leave something hanging. And it just, you know, then a big play happens. You never get back to it. And it's just so you kind of learn that you got to just someone, it might have been Matt

Millen who said, hey, you know, you kind of give them body blows. You know, it's just body blow, body blow. body blow, body blow, and then when there's more time, then maybe you can come with the big haymaker and make a real, you know, long point. But that's adjusting to all the action and all the activity that's going on in a broadcast booth and the timing of everything is probably the biggest challenge. Do you have, we were talking offline about how much you loved doing the NFC championship. And I was just up there and saw, you know, Jimmy and the guys and everything. Was there a game that you remember that you're like, that was the best game to call?

Oh, man. We had, you know, Chris, we had so many, we had so many great games over the year, so many big moments to have been a part of it. I do think, and I, maybe it's because it's the freshest on my mind. I think one of the best games Joe and I called was last year's championship game.

I remember coming out of that booth saying, you know, I think, you know, there's, and that's not always the case. I think that I'd say probably three or four, times a year do I come out of the booth and say, well, I think we did about all we could do. Normally, I'm pretty tough on myself. I usually come out of the boot just kicking myself saying, this was a dumb comment, this wasn't right, you know, whatever it might be. But I think back to, first of all, we talked about this offline as well, the Super Bowl in Houston. Yes.

With, you know, New England and Atlanta, that was a crazy game, as you know, being a part of it. And, you know, so that was, I remember at halftime, I said to Joe, because we had had a terrible Super Bowl, the three years prior to that, it was a, it was a blowout. And I remember saying to Joe at halftime of that game in Houston, I said, you know, I remember when we used to get great finishes in the Super Bowl. I mean, we got another blowout this year, you know, and those games are hard to do. Yeah. And, uh, and then all of a sudden, there, you know, one of the epic finishes. So that was awesome. The other one I think of as a playoff game in Seattle. with Green Bay, I believe it was in Seattle, Green Bay and the Seahawks. And what a great comeback win that was for Seattle. But there were so many great games. And those, the playoff games, just like as a player, the playoff games, when there's real meaning on the game, the outcome, as a broadcaster, you can feel that in the stadium as well.

And those were always the most fun games to call. So you got the Super Bowl, you got another media question? Yeah, before we get into. He used to be a spotter. Do you have your own spotter, Troy, or is it just Joe? I do now. I do now. His name's David Moulton.

And does he have access to your ears? Because I'm curious, a play ends, and somebody's probably like, hey, Troy, we're about to show a replay of this guard pulling. Be ready. Well, usually the way it works is there are times in the truck where they'll say, hey, they see something and they'll replay. and sometimes they show a replay when it wasn't asked for, but in general, the way it generally works is Joe would call the play. I'm watching the field, and then I see what I see, and if I want to see a replay, whether it's the run, whether it's the right guard who pulled and made a great block, or if it's a pass and they blew coverage or receiver runs a great route,

I'll get in the talkback button to the truck and say, hey, give me a shot of the wide receiver, runs a great route, gets the guy turned, and then they'll give me the shot, or if it's a talk back button. the guard or whatever it might be. And then they tell me, hey, it's coming from whatever angle it might be. But most of the replays, the analyst is usually analyst driven. He's the one asking for those replays is how it works. Moulton, I started using him when we started doing Thursday night games, is when he first came on board.

And it was just to, I feel like when there's more eyes on the game, Madden had a guy, he had different guys. one of them was John Robinson, the former coach at one time. But when you're able to then put the headset down, when you go to commercial and just say, hey, you know, what are you seeing? You know, are we missing something here? And, you know, what do you see from them defensively, offensively? Is there any trends? And it's just if you're sitting around with your buddies on the couch and you're having those conversations, you usually then have a much better feel for everything that's taking place within the game.

And so I always feel like the more eyes on it, the better. And that's all we're hoping to do is present a better product to the audience. His talk back button is like your cough. We got a cough button here this week. I've got a mute button over here on the Zoom side of things. I wouldn't, if they didn't have a cough button on air, I wouldn't be able to work in broadcast. Really? That's what I'm saying.

I just started. I've had this cough all damn winter. And we finally got it in. Shout out to Cowboy Reed. So with Vroom, you can show. Shop thousands of cars right from your phone and have your next ride delivered straight to you. I like to look at the listing on my couch. You know, it's peaceful. I can think.

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And in Michigan, 1-800-270-1-17. Tennessee, y'all too, 1-800-9-9-7-89. The big game coming up, you know, I was reading something about your career that I had no idea happened or almost happened. Andy Reed called you at one point, tried to get you to play for the Eagles? Yeah, we were doing a game in old Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego, for those that remember that stadium. And we were at, well, we'd gone, I was still working with Chris Collinsworth. It was me and Chris Collinsworth and Joe Buck. And I've been out of, I guess maybe my third year, out of,

out and we went to a game break and announced that Donovan McNabb had just broken his leg. And he was going to be out like six weeks. And so at halftime, my producer, Richie Zion, says to me, hey, I've got a number. He'd never done this, of course, but he says, I've got a number for you to call at halftime. And so I said, all right, I had no idea who I was calling, but I figured it must be important. And so I called, I had no reception in this old stadium in the broadcast. booth. I had to go out on the concourse, which was, it's far different than the stadiums

now. I'm out amongst the fans leaning over this concrete rail. And it's Andy Reid. He goes, hey, it's Andy Reid. They go, hey, Andy, he goes, you know why I'm calling, don't you? And I said, well, I mean, I think I do, but I said, Andy, I'm in the middle of a broadcast. It's halftime. And he says, no, I know

I'm watching the game. And I said, I'll call you when the game ends. And meanwhile, fans are going by, you know how it goes, Chris. You're going, hey, Cowboys Blow. You know, hey, screw you. You know, and I was in a conversation. But yeah, I called Andy, and we talked about it. And I thought, I was on my way up to Santa Barbara.

I've got a place there where I spent a lot of time. And I was thinking I could either go continue up to Santa Barbara and enjoy a nice week or I can be on a flight to Philadelphia. And I was expected to play the following Monday night at Candlestick Park. and I hadn't played in a few years. I don't see this being a good ending, you know. So I obviously declined it. We almost had Troy Aitman the Eagle.

That's right. I mean, what a surreal experience that would have been. Which way do you lean in this game? You know, I will say this. I tend, I think because of my background at Fox and then also my career, in the NFC East. I tend to always lean to the NFC side because that's the conference that I had always known the best,

but now doing Thursday nights and, of course, Monday night, I get a lot of AFC games. We had Philadelphia, Chris, back in week two or three, and they played the Vikings. Oh, yeah. I remember getting ready for that game and thinking, because we had the Eagles last year in the playoff game against Tampa Bay when they lost that game.

And to see the improvement of Jalen Hertz and really that entire, they were the most complete team we saw all year. I just thought, wow, this team's for real. And Jalen Hertz, his progress over the offseason, and it's obvious he put in a lot of time. I have so much admiration for his work because you just, you can't fake that. And for his improvement from where he was a year ago, it's obvious he worked his tail off. And so I'm really happy for him. love what I've seen from Andy Reid and Mahomes and all them

I would probably if I was betting the game I'm not but if I was betting the game and having to pick who do I think will win I probably like Philadelphia in this game to win it. Yeah, it would be a lot of fun and you've got to block Chris Jones. That's Yeah, well yeah 100%. That guy's

he's a total beast for sure I mean what a great player. What'd you guys do when you're going in a Super Bowl and you got Bruce Smith or I don't know who that guy would have been for you probably Bruce. Yeah, no, it's Bruce. How much attention's paid to that one player? Yeah, I think the great offensive coaches, I think most of them do this, but I know back when I was playing, maybe not as many that they should have. Our number one priority every week with Norv Turner and Ernie Zampezi was, you know, how are we going to block these guys?

There was always some alpha on the other side that just could be a total game record. You know, of course, in the NFC East, during that stretch, we had Carl Banks, Lawrence Taylor, Reggie White, you know, shoot, Wilbur Marshall. You know, we had, there was some, there was some, obviously, Charles Mann, there were some great players that. So we were, you know, every team kind of gets accustomed to that, but the whole game plan started with how are we going to block Bruce Smith and keep him from just wrecking the game. And fortunately, we had, we had some pretty, pretty big horses up front ourselves that we could usually, we could usually neutralize them a little bit.

You know, you played against some great defensive players. You just name some of with regularity. I know you weren't afraid of anybody, but was there one guy that you were like, damn, I just remember the way he hit me and that just stuck in my head. Or was there one hit from a great player that you can remember not so fondly?

Yeah, I will say that when I came into the league, when I was in college, as was every football fan in America, was acutely aware of Lawrence Taylor. And, you know, and he was just a different kind of player, transcendent player. So when I came into the NFL, the idea of having to play against Lawrence Taylor was a little frightening because we weren't very good. We couldn't block anybody in the early years. And so that was something I always remember is when we went to play Lawrence for the first time.

And I just thought, holy smokes. I mean, this guy's, you know, you just get your attention as soon as you break the huddle. and start going to the line. But the guy who really got my attention was my first year in 89 to play against him. It was on Thanksgiving Day. It was against the Eagles. And Reggie White got through the middle of the offensive line.

And in college, you could always, as a quarterback, I could outrun. I mean, nobody caught me from behind. I wasn't, you know, Lamar Jackson. But, I mean, I could outrun people. I ran like a 4-6-5, 4-7. And I remember he came, and I just took off scrambling in my run.

and he caught me from behind and I'll never forget that feeling I just thought man this guy's this guy's 300 pounds and he and he can outrun me too I mean this is this is a different league yeah he was a beast you got to play against all of them I mean like I was going through the Super Bowls the first one 27 you know reading about kind of the talk going into the game was hey y'all are new kids on the block at this point which is really hard for me to imagine being 37 years old. Like you guys were dominant from the outset, but there was a time where y'all didn't have the experience. How much does experience matter going into a Super Bowl or into a playoff game? And did you guys feel that going into that situation?

My position on it, Chris, is because of our experience, as you just laid out, that we were the youngest team in football. We had very little playoff experience. We'd gone the year before. We won the first game against Chicago. We lost it in the divisional round. And then we get into the following year and make the postseason and then you're going into the Super Bowl. And we're playing a Bill's team that had

played in the two prior Super Bowls. And, you know, yet we obviously handled it very well and we played exceptionally well. So I've always felt that playoff experience is a bit overrated. I never have felt that you play in

enough Super Bowl games. This is what I always said anyway. I never felt that anyone played in enough Super Bowl games to where you could get accustomed to what playing in the Super Bowl is like. But Tom Brady might be the exception to that for as many as he played in. But the one thing I do think, and you can answer this as well, that for me, going into the first one, knowing how much importance is placed on that game, knowing how legacy defining that game is and how you want to just make sure you play your best, I wasn't sure how my body would react to the emotion and the urgency of that game. And so I was very aware, I was constantly kind of monitoring where am I at? Am I too high, too low? You know, am I getting,

you know, how am I going to manage the emotion? It was a struggle early in that game, But then where I'm going with this is that when I did go into my second Super Bowl the following year, I at least had a point of reference. I knew what the day would be like. I knew what the moment going out for pregame warmups and the introductions. And I knew how – and I felt like I could manage that better. So I think from that standpoint, there is a benefit to those players that have been in a Super Bowl. They at least kind of can anticipate, I guess the better way of saying it,

how their bodies may react to that emotion. I mean, you went through that. I think you're right. I mean, like, I had never sniffed the playoffs, but once I got there, I was like, okay, the teams are good. You know, there's a lot of pressure, but it's football.

You know, then you get to the Super Bowl, and it's everything but the football. That's right. Media day. It's, you know, tickets. It's, you know, your family getting there. It's the long halftime. By the way, Pasadena, right?

Your first one. You remember who the halftime show was. I do. I do. Yeah. Michael Jackson and Garth Brooks sing the national anthem. Oh, dude, you guys got, first off, we love the Rose Bowl. And OJ Simpson did the coin toss.

He did the coin toss. Yeah. Rose Bowl, like just playing a Super Bowl in the Rose Bowl, it's unheard of now because of the way you got to have it laid out. But, I mean, just to get that Michael Jackson, Garth Brooks, and then the second one, do you remember some of the country stars who played at that one? Because I think this was one in Atlanta, right? It was. I do know that Clint Black was there.

and probably Travis Tritt. Travis Tritt, yep. Yeah, Clint Black. What I learned from the Super Bowls more than anything is the very first Super Bowl, there were no cell phones then. Nobody had cell phones. And so I was at the stadium late. By the time I got to the hotel, I'm trying to figure out, where are my buddies?

You know, where are my teammates? Where are my guys? And I went to the team party. It was a sponsor fest, so I never saw anyone. I did the same thing. I went back to my hotel, and I'm just trying to, I went to the lobby bar. and I wound up having beers with the media. I couldn't find any of my teammates.

Holy shit, Troy, that's the same thing that happened to me with you and Joe after the New England Super Bowl. I went to the team party. It's all fans and sponsors. And then I was like, I'm going to the hotel bar and it's with you guys. Okay. So that's why we saw it within the next year, I decided, hey, I'm going to get out ahead of this. I mean, so I had my own party.

Yeah, okay. And so I told my teammates, I said, hey, I'm not going to the sponsors, party. I mean, that thing's, it's a mess. So I had my own party back of the hotel opposite of wherever the team function was going on. And Clint Black and a bunch of those artists, they came to my party. So that's why they had performed. Yeah. That is so cool. And that second Super Bowl, I didn't, I forgot this because I was a kid. But you guys were down at the half. 13, 13, 6. You end up 24 nothing in the second half. What the hell did Jimmy say?

Yeah, you know, first of all, you're right. The halftime length of a halftime for a Super Bowl, it's hard on the players. I mean, you just don't even know what to do with yourself. It's a long time. I think, you know, what we did, we came out in the third quarter, we ran Emmett. I think we threw one pass on that drive. It was about a 12-play drive.

We just ran counter-trap basically to Emmett left and right. and we went right down the field. And I think Jimmy had seen enough of some of the aerial shenanigans in the first half and said we're going to give back the run of the ball. You guys had a great relationship, it seemed like, because I saw a clip of you this week and you were giving Jimmy the business. It was on Instagram. You might have seen the same clip.

And I was like, that's, I want to play with Troy Aikman. Like I wish my quarterback would get on the fucking O line and the head coach like that. Like that's leadership. but you also have to have a coach that can take it and give it back to you. How did you and Jimmy resolve conflict? I will clarify that, though, Chris. First of all, I ran pretty hot as a quarterback. I wasn't very forgiving of a lot of things.

But that particular year, Jimmy had already, he was already working at Fox when that took place. Okay, okay. That was the coach that replaced him. Was it Switzerland? Was it Switzerland? sir? That would be affirmative. Yeah, okay, got it, got it. Did you and Jimmy get into it? Never. Never. Not long. Well, I will say, Jimmy and I had a tough stretch early in my career where we didn't get along particularly well, but there was never, you know, Jimmy, Jimmy, he was a tyrant. And I mean, he ran a pretty tight ship. And then we did. We did, however, we got really close at the end. And I hated to see him leave. But what was great about it, Chris, was that Jimmy didn't tolerate any miscues during a practice. And so whenever there, whenever he wasn't,

satisfied, he would call the team up, he'd start the whole practice over, he'd let guys have it. And then players, as you can imagine, would get upset about it. And I would be the guy then, I'd be the good cop. I'd go in and say, hey, look, forget about him. Let's just do our thing. Don't worry about it. But I believed in everything Jimmy was doing. So it was great. And it was like, I've always said this. And you were there that people always ask, who benefited more from who in New England? Was it Bill Belichick benefiting more? more from Tom or Tom from Bill. And you can debate that either way. But I say, you know what, what I feel like Bill Belichick allowed Tom to do, it allowed Tom just to go play, just to go play

the position of quarterback and be the best teammate he could be. Yeah. Because the rest of that stuff was being handled. You know, Bill was handling the organization and kind of how we do things. And when Jimmy was in Dallas, I got to just play quarterback and try to be the best teammate I could be. And when he walked out the door, that changed. And then I then had to take on an added role of kind of being the hard ass as well. And that was a role that was exhausting to me. I bet it was actually. I was like every now and again, that's cool. But like, yeah, if it's regular, yeah, that's a pain in the ass. Last question for you, what do the Cowboys need to do in the offseason? Like with Mike drawing up, hey, this is how we're going to roll things out for

deck next year. thing they can do better to be more DAC friendly in that offense to get him to hone in and be consistent. Yeah, fair question. I think it's what we're going to see. I know that from my experience with Mike and Green Bay, now, he didn't always stick to this because when you've got Aaron Rogers as your quarterback, it's hard not to put the ball in his hand. But I know that Mike would always talk about what he what he looked at most was rush attempts. It wasn't yards per carry average. It wasn't total yards, but if you're running the ball 25, 30 times, those are usually pretty good outcomes of games, whether you ran it for four and a half yards of carry or three and a half yards of

carry. And I think the running game, I think getting back to what this team has been about in their best years of running the ball, I think we'll see more of that. They also, however, need, they never filled the position of Amari Cooper. And I've always thought that, and I've said this before. When I was playing, I always felt your receiving core was as good as your third wide receiver. Or your third receiver. These days it's a tight end or whoever it might be. But I think today it's probably more, you're only as good as your fourth

threat in the passing game. And the Cowboys just, they didn't have the weapons on the outside to really threaten a lot of people consistently each week. And I think they've got to address that from a personnel standpoint. And then I think we'll see the running game. Now, what that looks like, I'm not exactly sure because I don't know about Zeke Elliott and his status. And then Tony Pollard, of course, he'll be coming off that injury. But I believe we'll see them be a little bit more balanced than maybe we've seen in the last couple of years.

All right. Well, here's to that. He's got to go. He's got to go. Troy's fourth target in the Super Bowl 30. Dionne Sanders. Were you throwing it no matter what, 47-yard? Because I didn't see a whole lot of separation there.

It looked like you just chucked it. Yeah, you were like, yeah, fuck it. He's down there somewhere. That's pretty much true. I mean, when Dion only gets a handful of offensive snaps at that time, and if he's in the game, you can bet, you know, he kind of wanted to give it one of these. He wanted to go high stepping. Yeah, well, that was awesome to watch, man, growing up.

So, Troy, thank you so much for your time. We'll hope to have you on again and get some rest of this offseason, man. Appreciate you guys. Thanks, man. Thanks, see you, buddy. Thanks for the time.