In Troy Aikman’s first season the Dallas Cowboys went 1-15 and were the worst team in the league. By his third season, 1991, the Cowboys began a run of six straight years in the playoffs, with three Super Bowl titles.
Twenty years later, there’s a current team that reminds Aikman of his Cowboys: The Detroit Lions.
Aikman discussed the Lions at SportingNews.com and said he sees a lot of similarities between what his Cowboys teams did and the way the Lions have gone from the worst team in the league to a team that’s currently 3-0.
“I really do,” Aikman said. “They’re not quite as young as we were, as far as the skill players are concerned -- Calvin Johnson’s been there a little bit -- but Matthew Stafford, now in his third year, even though he’s been injured, we’ve certainly seen his development.”
Aikman said the way the Lions finished last season gave a clue to what kind of team they’re becoming.
“They ended last season on a four-game winning streak and one of those wins was against the Green Bay Packers,” Aikman said. “They went into the offseason with some real momentum and confidence, feeling pretty good about their club, now they’ve come back with a big win last week at Minnesota. I think a young team that is talented like them is a dangerous team.”
It’s obviously extremely premature to compare these Lions to the Cowboys of the 90s. But Aikman is dead on with one thing he said: “This is not the same old Detroit Lions.”