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Troy Aikman: The Cowboys are as talented as any team in the NFL, but they need to prove it on the field

Aikman: “There are very few coaches, I believe, that wouldn’t want to swap teams with the Cowboys.”

Former Cowboys quarterback and current Fox broadcaster Troy Aikman recently appeared on The Doomsday Podcast with ESPN’s Matt Mosley and Ed Werder recently. Here are some of the highlights:

How will NFL holding attendance at smaller capacity affect broadcasting and player performances?

Aikman: "Just as long as we play I guess is how I approach it initially. And whatever takes place from that point on I guess would be deemed as something we kind of work around... I do think that the networks would be able to find a solution that doesn’t take away from the experience at home.

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“I think for those teams that are playing and the players, that, obviously, is a very unique situation and very different. It’s one thing if you’re going to the Meadowlands and playing at Giants Stadium and there’s no fans in the stands. For those road teams it’s not nearly as daunting. And then there’s the owners’ perspective. What does it look like if there are no fans in the stands from their perspective? Does it make having a season worthwhile? I mean, those are all economic decisions that the league has to make, the owners have to make. So it takes on a life of its own. From our perspective, and I think from most fans, we’re just hopeful that there’s football and if there is, we’ll feel pretty happy about it.”

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On the expectations for Cowboys next season...

Aikman: "Even though there’s a lot of players that are the same, I think a new head coach, the messaging being a little bit different, can players feel differently about themselves and go in and play well in some of those games? I think that’s the important thing. How do you get over the hump?

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"That’s the challenge for Mike McCarthy and this staff. I think as a team, because of Jerry [Jones]'s visibility as an owner and the Cowboys’ popularity, there is a belief or a feeling that this team has probably accomplished a lot more than it really has. It’s understandable why some teams around the NFL who have done more in recent years, but aren’t regarded the same, they don’t lead off the various sports shows like the Cowboys do, there’s some animosity that comes with that.

"This is a team that really needs to go prove it out on the field — and they’re talented enough. As I said earlier, comparing the Cowboys with the other teams that we cover across the league — and I saw virtually all of them doing the Thursday-night package as well as the Sunday package on Fox, the Cowboys are as talented as any team in the NFL. There are very few coaches, I believe, that wouldn’t want to swap teams with the Cowboys because of how talented they are. Now they’ve got to live up to that and it’s hard.

On the level of difficulty for Dak Prescott to go from Jason Garrett to Mike McCarthy’s offense...

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Aikman: “I do think there’s continuity for Dak because of the fact Kellen Moore is back as the offensive coordinator. If my memory serves me correctly, when McCarthy took the job, what came as a bit of a surprise to me is that one, he retained Kellen Moore. It’s [Mike McCarthy’s] offense and it’s an area of expertise I think that he’s very good at. But I think that there were some good things that came from keeping Kellen Moore. He’s a guy who Dak has a good relationship with, he served as his backup his rookie year and moved into coaching, Dak was a strong proponent of his to take over as the offensive coordinator last year, he put up good numbers, the offense moved the football. There’s a lot of things for Dak to like. There’s no doubt that Mike’s going to come in and put in some different concepts. But if the terminology is pretty much the same, then that’s a much less daunting offseason for not only Dak Prescott, but for the entire group...

“Being there in person, being in the meeting room, being able to communicate much more freely than you can when everybody’s stepping on each other on these Zoom calls, it’s just not the same. It’s not the same for coaches to know what players are really paying attention. Are you connecting with them? Are they diving into the playbook? All those things...

"When you have someone coming in who’s going to influence that side of the ball, there will inevitably be some changes and being there in person is obviously better. But that’s why I think, going back to what we were talking about a little bit earlier, I think for those teams that have more continuity with less change, I think they’re going to have an advantage earlier in the season this year.”

On Mike McCarthy as Dallas’ new head coach...

Aikman: “I’ve had as good a relationship with Mike McCarthy as any other coach in the NFL. So I had a chance to have some really good conversations with him about offensive philosophy and things of that nature. I think he has a real gameplan in terms of how he wants to bring along quarterbacks. He really prides himself, having worked with Paul Hackett, Joe Montana when Joe went to Kansas City, been around some other really good quarterbacks and kind of the belief in what’s important in that position, how you play that position. Everything kind of works its way around that guy, nobody understands that better than Mike McCarthy does. So I think he’s going to be a really great fit for Dak.”

On the potential behind Dallas’ new WR corps of CeeDee Lamb, Amari Cooper and Michael Gallup...

Aikman: "I’ve always felt your receiving corps is only as good as your third receiver because defenses can definitely do things against a number one guy. Although you look around at some of these top receivers, the Michael Thomas, the Julio Jones of the world and the Michael Irvins and Jerry Rices of years past and everyone knows you’re trying to get them the ball and they continuously come up with ways to get them the ball, which is a credit to those play-callers and those players as well.

"But I think the third guy, particularly the inside third guy, the slot receiver more today than even back when I was playing is critical. Maybe even now you’ve got to go to the fourth receiver because you saw very little, not as much anyway, on early downs as the three-wide receiver sets like you see almost predominantly in today’s game.

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"But CeeDee Lamb, obviously a great pick. To fall to where he fell, a guy who virtually everyone felt that he was a top 10 talent at receiver by a lot of people’s boards in the NFL. Quarterback, to me, is the toughest position to step in and play right away as a rookie. I think the next toughest is wide receiver. These guys do not face, at the college level, the skill of the corners in the NFL. Not just their ability to run and to do those types of things, but they’re stronger, they’re older, they’ve been in the weight room. A lot of these receivers struggle getting off the line of scrimmage.

"The inside slot receiver is an important position because he has to be smart enough to know what is happening around them. The inside guy can totally screw up an entire play if he gets too much depth, if he doesn’t get the landmarks he’s supposed to get within the route to clear things up. So he’ll be a real key. I don’t know him, but having watched him play and then hearing from a lot of different people, this guy’s a real gym rat, smart guy. So I believe he’ll be able to step in. He’s got some explosiveness, of course. I believe he’ll step in and have a solid rookie year and I like Michael Gallup.

"When I saw him early in his rookie year and felt that he was going to have a great year last year, and he did. He’s going to continue to get better. And then of course with Amari Cooper, it’s a good group. The one area where they haven’t really taken advantage yet is Ezekiel Elliott and his ability. Now, they’ve got [Tony] Pollard who brings a little bit of that, so he’s obviously a weapon. But with Ezekiel Elliott, he’s able to do some things in the passing game that they haven’t utilized yet. I would expect to maybe see him a little bit more involved with things designed specifically in the passing game for him.

"But yeah, there’s a lot of weapons on the offensive side of the ball, a good offensive line. It’s a quarterback’s dream. I know Dak is very excited about the group that he has.

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On the challenge for Aldon Smith coming back after time off...

Aikman: “I think it will be a monumental challenge for him... He was a really good player when he first came into the league, had a really good impact for those teams. But to be out of the game as long as he has, to think that you just step in and pick up where he left off, I don’t know that that necessarily happens.”

On presenting Jimmy Johnson for the Hall of Fame...

Aikman: “It is hard for me to fathom how far we’ve come. I’ve known Jimmy since I was probably 14-15 years old... To go from periods to where we weren’t even really speaking to now he could ask anybody on the planet to present him and he asked me to do it, it’s hard for me to put into words, it really is... I think it’s even a bigger honor for that individual who is asked to present the inductee... It means a lot.”

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Click here to listen to the full interview.

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