Troy Aikman: Cowboys aren’t entitled but ‘there’s a lot of distractions’

Troy Aikman has seen himself become awfully candid in the booth, especially since heading over to ESPN to be the voice of Monday Night Football alongside Joe Buck. A lot of that candidness has come when discussing his Dallas Cowboys. And as Aikman met with reporters in Dallas during an event celebrating the city being named the No. 1 sports business city by the Sports Business Journal, it was only fitting that the Hall of Famer was asked about “America’s Team.”

Particularly, the one question that stood out was the 57-year-old Aikman being asked about what one could perceive as a sense of entitlement around the franchise.

He didn’t mince words.

“I don’t know about a sense of entitlement,” he said. “I think that when you play for the Cowboys, every national show leads off with the Cowboys. And there’s a lot of perks to playing for the Dallas Cowboys. There’s a lot of benefits to playing for the Dallas Cowboys. So I think the challenge for the organization and for the head coach is to be able to still keep the players with their edge. And so I think that’s the challenge of this job.

“In a lot of ways, there’s so many other things that are happening within the organization, it’s easy to get caught up in it. There’s tours going around the building and there’s a lot of distractions, if you will, and I think it creates another layer that a head coach and a staff and players have to try to compartmentalize so that they can go and be the best football players they can be.”

This comment from Troy Aikman and whether the Cowboys have a sense of entitlement is interesting. pic.twitter.com/vwpqxfG9jN

— Calvin Watkins (@calvinwatkins) January 24, 2024

Aikman was asked point black how much Jerry Jones was responsible for “a lot of distractions.”

“I mean, he’s the boss,” Aikman said. “So whatever is done, it’s because he’s OK with it. It just is what it is. I mean, it’s been that way. It’s always been that way. And whether or not that ultimately keeps this team from doing what they hope to do, I don’t know. Does it just rear its head in January? I mean, why wasn’t it a problem during the regular season? So it’s a hard thing to kind of (wrap) your head around when you see the number of wins that they’ve had. And yet, so much disappointment in the postseason.”

Aikman’s words highlight the delicate dance the Cowboys must perform: harnessing the benefits of their brand while keeping their edge. Can they reconcile these seemingly conflicting forces and finally break through the January barrier?

[Calvin Watkins, The Athletic]