FRISCO, Texas -- Chatting with Daryl "Moose" Johnston Friday night, it's obvious that the former Cowboys fullback doesn't expect the current group of Cowboys to be like his 1992 Super Bowl-winning team any time soon.
The salary cap and the offseason rules set forth by the most recent collective bargaining agreement make it difficult for any current team to reach the dominance of the Cowboys teams that won three Super Bowls in four seasons.
"I think they're on a slippery slope right now with all this talk about reducing the time in the offseason," said Johnston, who was attending Emmitt Smith's celebrity dinner to honor the 1992 Super Bowl champs. "That's when we got stronger. That's when we got in better shape. You saw last year, all the hamstring [injuries] with no work being done in the offseason. That wasn't a coincidence.
"You got to push and you got to work and you got to do things. I think the way the system's functioning today really challenges not only the Dallas Cowboys to be like our [1992] team, but any team to be like a team from pre-1994."
But Johnston, an NFL analyst with FOX Sports, says the current bunch of Cowboys are headed in the right direction. According to Johnston, one of the reasons the Cowboys haven't found recent postseason success is because when they've had good teams -- like in 2007 - they ran into a "hot team" like the New York Giants, who went on to win the Super Bowl that season.
"It's just been a tough go for them," Johnston said. "They've got the talent. They've got the coaching. Everything's in place. They just got to keep working, stay focused."
He added: "I had them picked to win the East last year. I think they have themselves in a good position again this year. The Giants are the defending champions so you have to give them their respect as defending champions, but I think Dallas is a team with an offseason, with Mike Woicik, I think this is a team that's going to surprise some people this year."
Asked to elaborate on his former teammate, Jason Garrett, being the right head coach for the current Cowboys, Johnston rattled off six reasons in this order:
1.) "His meticulous attention to detail."
2.) "He's been around great minds."
3.) "He's not afraid to go out and seek other people's opinions."
4.) "He has no ego."
5.) "He creates an environment where success is possible."
6.) "Guys want to play for him."
Finally, Johnston said: "There's certain things you can do as a coach because you've learned and there's certain things that you have to do because that's who you are as a person. You can't fake it. [Garrett's] got a lot of qualities that you would look for -- as a player -- to be in your head coach."
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