Troy Aikman’s commentary on the Dallas Cowboys rings true, even if you don’t like it

Of the many men who played for the Dallas Cowboys and now make a living talking about them, none are as fearlessly candid as Troy Aikman.

His candor often times draws the nastiest of comments from Cowboy fans who reserve the right to rip their favorite team, but do not want to hear anyone else do it. This includes observations from those who won three Super Bowls with the team, and is a member of the Pro Football of Fame.

On Thursday afternoon at the Katy Ice House in Dallas, as he works like a traveling salesman to promote his now two-year-old beer, Eight, Aikman is quite content with all of it. This includes the part where you may angrily disagree with his latest thoughts on the state of the Cowboys.

“Well, it’s my job. I don’t set out to be critical. I try to be honest and try to be fair,” he said. “I’ve never viewed myself as a controversial figure. I have felt that if you ask my opinion on something I am going to give you an answer, and it may not always be agreeable to everybody and I understand that.”

His current observation of the team won’t break the Internet, but it is candid.

“They are really good, and they’ve got really good players,” he said. “The organization has done a fantastic job. I think the coaches have done a great job. The players. All of it. They have won a lot of games. The problem for them, and they don’t need me to tell them this, they just have not played their best football when the games have mattered the most.”

Aikman has never been accused of being a Rowdy-esque homer.

During multiple stretches since the beginning of the 2014 season, the Dallas Cowboys have been a top three team in the NFL. At times, the best team in the NFL.

Their timing is awful.

In the 2014 season, without a top defense, they had Tony Romo-DeMarco Murray-Dez Bryant and were a “catch?” away from defeating Green Bay in the NFC Divisional Round.

(BTW: Murray’s second-half fumble never gets the “credit” it deserves in the outcome of this game).

In 2016, with rookies Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott, the Cowboys finished 13-3. For much of the second half of the season they were the best team in the NFL.

Aaron Rodgers and the Packers got ‘em in the NFC Divisional round on a last-second field goal.

In 2021, from Weeks 2 through 8, Prescott was playing like an NFL MVP and the team was 6-1. Dak hurt his ankle in New England, and neither he nor the Cowboys were quite the same.

The San Francisco 49ers’ defense exposed the Cowboys’ offensive line in the wild card round, and the season ended.

In 2022, from Week 7 through 17, the Cowboys had the defense and the offense rolling. They won 8 of 10 times, and even the kicker was nailing his extra points.

In the NFC divisional round, Dak picked the worst time to play his worst game and the season ended again, with a loss to the 49ers.

Those are four prolonged periods of time in a season where a case could be made the Cowboys had a team good enough to win a Super Bowl. They have never timed their best play to happen in January.

“You say, ‘How do you change that?’ No one has the answer to that,” Aikman said. “I don’t have the answer to that. For our teams (in the ‘90s), the reason we succeeded and did what we were able to do, the reason teams all win Super Bowls, is they play their best football in the biggest games.

“That’s the challenge for each and everyone of those players.”

Aikman’s commentary of his former team is sometimes critical, usually because they earn it. He also sounds like most of his former teammates, and coaches, who enjoyed their greatest professional moments with the Cowboys.

Everyone from Jimmy Johnson to Michael Irvin to Troy and the rest is ready for this Super Bowl drought to end, for the fans as much as for the players, coaches themselves.

“Hopefully this will be the year they get over the hump. I’m pulling for them,” Aikman said. “I’ve said it many times, I’m a big fan of Dak and I’d like to see him bring a world championship back to Dallas. It’s been a long time.”

That would be the 1995 season, and everyone is counting.