Jerry Jones, Jimmy Johnson explain how dynamic changed throughout years

For at least one glorious Saturday evening, Jimmy Johnson and Jerry Jones are again the Dallas Cowboys power tandem. Together they won two Super Bowls. And fans still yearn for those halcyon days three decades ago.

Johnson, the former Dallas coach, finally is getting inducted into the Cowboys Ring of Honor. The ceremony happens Saturday night at halftime of the Cowboys-Lions game at AT&T Stadium. But before the game, Johnson and Jones appeared at a joint press conference to talk about their golden, olden days. What they described was a terrific relationship, although it ended abruptly after the 1993 season.

A reporter asked Jones, who hired Johnson back in 1989, why it was so difficult to give the head coach credit for what he accomplished with the Cowboys. And Johnson, the native Texan who now works as an NFL analyst for Fox Sports, asked permission from Jones to answer the question.

“I think we’re past on who gets credit,” Johnson told reporters. “The two of us working together made history… We talked every single day and I don’t ever recall, ever, us having a difference of opinion. I can’t ever remember an argument. We were always on the same page. So the credit needs to go to a lot of people. To Jerry, Jimmy, a bunch of assistant coaches, some great players… A lot of people take credit.”

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was asked why it was so difficult to give Jimmy Johnson credit. Johnson cut him off. “I think we’re past on who gets credit. The two of us working together made history. When I say working together, we talked every single day. I don’t remember us, ever,… pic.twitter.com/fVrRYLkzsx

— Michael Gehlken (@GehlkenNFL) December 30, 2023

Johnson jumped from the Hurricanes to the Cowboys in 1989

The Cowboys and Lions kick off at 7:15 Texas time. The ceremony will be at halftime, but why wait to celebrate the induction that should have happened years ago? Johnson made it to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2020. Three years after he abruptly left the Cowboys, Johnson took his second NFL head coaching job when it took over the Dolphins. But it took years and years for Jones to give him this highly-coveted team honor.

A month ago, Jones informed Johnson that he’d be added to the Ring of Honor. The long-time Cowboys owner did this while appearing live for an interview on Fox Sports.

And on Saturday, Jones finally answered the question after Johnson finished his response. He emphasized that placing Johnson in the Ring is the “right thing to do.”

“That’s not a difficulty of credit, it’s just the right thing to do,” Jones said at the press conference. “Now you say ‘why has it lasted so long?’ As it turns out, when you go in, that means you were there all along, in that sense… Somebody could’ve said ‘Jerry, shouldn’t Jimmy have been in 15 years ago, 20 years ago?’ … I say this today, he’s there because it’s the right thing to do. He was always going in the Ring of Honor. Whether I put him in or one of my kids put him in.”

Johnson is the 24th person picked for the Cowboys Ring of Honor. He’s the second head coach to earn the distinction. Tom Landry, the first-ever Cowboys coach, joined the Ring in 1993. That was four years after Jones bought the team, fired Landry and hired Johnson, who was then the head coach of the Miami Hurricanes.