Rowdy
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- Mar 18, 2019
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Jimmy Johnson made a point when he named some of the people he has heard from since being elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2020.
“Oh, I’ve gotten so many it’s hard to say [who was most special to hear from],” Johnson said Tuesday during the Fox Sports news conference. “Jeffery Lurie from the Eagles. Dean Spanos from the LA Chargers. Several owners. Of course, former players. Michael Irvin, Emmitt [Smith], on and on. It’s been great.”
The obvious name he didn’t mention was Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
“No, I haven’t heard anything,” Johnson said, not elaborating.
Jones released a statement through the team congratulating his former teammate, coach and friend the day of the announcement and now faces pressure to put Johnson in the Cowboys’ Ring of Honor.
Jones and Johnson are the team’s only Hall of Famers not in the Cowboys’ Ring of Honor.
Johnson’s tenure in Dallas, of course, ended badly. After back-to-back Super Bowls, Johnson and Jones agreed to disagree . . . and to part ways.
“It was the right thing because I was ready to move on,” Johnson said. “I’ve never second-guessed myself on the ending. For me, it was never a bad thing. I was happy to move on with my life.”
Johnson, though, revealed that he later found out some of his former Cowboys players were not happy with him over his departure. The Cowboys didn’t three-peat and won only one other championship before the team of the 1990s fell apart, and many believe they should have become the dynasty the Patriots now are.
“Troy [Aikman] had dinner with me many years ago, and I didn’t realize how angry some of the players were,” Johnson said. “I thought they would have understood, but they didn’t understand. It hit me one night at dinner at my house that, geez, the players that I love are angry that I left. I said, ‘If they only knew.’ I was ready to move on. I felt bad about that, and I feel bad about that to this day for them. I don’t feel bad for me.”