After the bye week in Dallas, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones announced Wednesday that the team would be inducting DeMarcus Ware into its Ring of Honor on Sunday. The ceremony will take place during halftime of Dallas’ matchup with the Los Angeles Rams and caps off an exciting few months in which Ware was also inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in August.
Both honors were earned and well deserved by the Super Bowl champion, nine-time Pro Bowl selection, and four-time All-Pro. While most of those accomplishments were achieved in Dallas, Ware fled to Denver to capture his Super Bowl ring. Make no mistake about it, Ware is a Cowboys legend and the franchise’s all-time sack leader. But at this point, it’s rather apparent that Jerry Jones is hellbent on keeping former head coach Jimmy Johnson away from that ring despite what he says publicly.
Nothing against Ware, who was phenomenal, but it wasn’t that long ago when Jones made it sound like there were plans to induct Johnson soon. The two-time Super Bowl & NCAA National Championship-winning coach was enshrined with the class of 2020, yet three years later, he’s still waiting on Jones to green-light his Ring of Honor ceremony.
Fans, players, analysts, reporters, and pretty much anyone aware of the situation continue to wonder when it’ll happen for Jimmy. The simple answer is likely, not while Jones still roams the planet. Jones has been asked about it more than once over the years, and more recently, he’s been open to the idea but still hasn’t set anything in motion.
Jones and Johnson were spotted together on the field at AT&T Stadium less than two weeks ago, and of course, this led to speculation about what they could have been discussing. But when the announcement came out Wednesday about the Ring of Honor, it should have been no surprise that Johnson’s name was not included. It seems they’ve buried the hatchet from their falling out nearly 30 years ago.
On the surface, they play nicely and are fine interacting with each other now, but it’s obvious Jones still holds a bit of a grudge toward Johnson. It’s almost like he’s holding out on inducting Jimmy until he can prove to the world that his organization can win it all with a team that wasn’t built by Johnson. Dallas won a third Super Bowl in the 90s after Johnson departed, but that team still had Johnson’s fingerprints all over it.
That’s something Jones probably still can’t stomach to this day. Dallas hasn’t sniffed the big game since the last time they hoisted the Vince Lombardi trophy in January ’96. It’s time for Jones to let it go. As much talent as the Cowboys have accumulated over the years, they haven’t been able to make it back to the mountaintop.
Ware is as deserving of this honor as any member already in the Cowboys ring. But Johnson also needs to be inducted, which should happen while he’s still here to enjoy it. Jones might not have had any Super Bowl victories to cherish without Johnson. Jerry needs to push his colossal ego aside and give the thumbs up on Johnson’s long overdue ceremony.
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