NFL Films: Wizard - The Jimmy Johnson Story (1994)

jimmy johnson once said that he might not be a good man but he was a pretty good wizard indeed only a wizard could have accomplished what he did between a pair of press conferences five years apart i'm proud to be the head football coach for the dallas cowboys and i'm excited to be the head football coach of the dallas cowboys i know that there could have been better circumstances as far as me coming into this position but i would hope that people would be as excited about this organization about this football team is what i am we have mutually decided that i would no longer be the head football coach with the dallas cowboys he inherited a program in its darkest hour but he knew in time his time would come he was a man who reached for the stars make that cowboy stars and discovered a galaxy bursting with them from worst to first in just four years wasn't enough he wanted to do what only three other coaches in nfl history had done win back-to-back super bowls [Music] his legacy won't be what he did but how passionately he did it how do you turn it around like that replacing the only head coach in dallas cowboys history was no doubt a thankless task tom landry and cowboy fans were accustomed to winning but so too was jimmy johnson he left the university of miami with the national championship 44 wins in his last four years and a keen eye for talent here actually it had a like a nine yard average on punt returns uh really martin luther right from boston had a good year but should be really a good receiver in our offense the only problem was that dallas had so little talent at which to look except herschel walker walker rushed for over 1500 yards in 1988 five games into johnson's first season he was traded i don't think that anybody could ever imagine what it ended up being for the franchise when the trade first was made public everybody thought that we were trading herschel walker our only pro bowl player for half a dozen players that were somewhat either mediocre or whose career was about over with with the vikings they really didn't anticipate us getting all the draft picks that we got after we finalized the trade but that trade wouldn't be finalized for some time and in 89 a circus act was on display in dallas with all eyes fixed on the new ringleader johnson's cowboys were victims of cheap shots nick lowry kicks off for the chiefs his legs gonna get tired and tough shots and they victimized themselves by playing a laughable brand of football finally nine games into the season jimmy johnson won his first nfl game three tight end second and goal jennings motion right walsh handoff palmer diving up top touchdown cowboys here's euro and 16. the ball game is over and jimmy johnson is one happy man [Music] the happiness was short-lived as johnson continued to take beatings both on and off the field oh i would have said something to buddy but he wouldn't stand on the field long enough he put his big fat rear end into the dressing room i resent that i've been on a diet i lost a couple of pounds and i thought i was looking good it got to the point where he needed police protection troy aikman and company only could have wished for the same it was extremely difficult and i think that there was a very small nucleus of players that really continue to play throughout that whole season and then go into 90 and it was a very frustrating year i don't know that anybody got through that season unscathed the first year or so was like a revolving door people run in and run out and we'd have different guys on the team that we didn't even know we had like tryouts on our off days here and it was a kind of an unsettling feeling kind of not too much security going around around here at the time i know in one instance we brought in a player on monday and we worked him out and we signed him on tuesday and he was in the team pitcher on thursday played in the game on suddenly we cut him on monday he was just feeling his way through the whole season as well as we were feeling our way through what he wanted and that was probably as tough on him as it was on us also because he couldn't quite figure it out why it wasn't coming together as quickly as it was when he was in college i was more influenced than what i should have been when i first came into pro football that this is quote the way to do it this is the pro way the professional way i realized that i needed to do it not just my way but do what i believed in for an entire year he was haunted by the cowboys past despite all the losses though he never compromised his passion for the way he felt football should be played and because of that he knew how different the future would be i'll never forget i said jimmy you just gone one in 15. i said obviously you're a tremendously confident person but you have to have a few questions about yourself and your ability to do this after last year what a humbling experience and he looked me in the eye and he said i have no doubt in my mind that we'll win here and we'll win big write it down after the season was over i'll never forget it he came january we had a big team meeting and he came in he just said i apologize for uh the way the season went last year was much my fault as it was your fault and he said that we're starting the team now [Music] the first big dividend from the walker trade arrived in 1990 johnson's second season in dallas but these still were a young bunch of cowboys who had a lot of growing up to do they made many of the same mistakes they had the previous season but at times they showed potential but in the nfl there's a big difference between potential and wins it comes down to this what a great win this would be for the cowboys here it is first and goal straight drop back cunningham pulls it down pumps throws it in the end zone it's caught for a touchdown ten games into his second season johnson's cowboys were going nowhere when you got a team that's three and seven and looking at hey just you know let's just pack it in the season is over everybody start looking forward towards next year you know this man comes in and he keeps you focused on the next game at three and seven when you're like you know we're just here they were there but now they were there together they began to cultivate a personality which seemed suspiciously similar to that of johnson's miami teams they still were stepped on by the big dogs but at least now they bit back and like a playful puppy with oversized paws they stumbled and fumbled but never sat smith coming left fall down gets back up you gotta be kidding me i thought he was down to the one to the goal line touchdown evan smith [Applause] in late november they embarked on their first winning streak under johnson aikman back to throw plenty of time deep ball got irvine down the left sideline he caught it at the 20 right to the 15 to 10 michael irvin cowboys touchdown first and ten eighth hand off emmitt smith breaks it to the 40 the 35 35-30 they'll never meet green there's the 20 the 15 the 10 the five touchdown evan smith [Applause] victories over the rams and playoff bound redskins and saints had dallas thinking playoffs and aikman five steps throwing for urban left corner of the end zone he caught it for a touchdown a 41-10 thrashing of the cardinals improved the cowboys to seven and seven but when they went after win number eight they got behind the eight ball they lost troy aikman to an injury in philadelphia and then fell in the season finale to atlanta but this team did a lot of growing up in 1990 johnson's wind-filled future seemed to be arriving way ahead of schedule and his confidence level was soaring if you went through the year virtually injury-free and did not make the playoffs would that be a crushing blow it won't happen we'll be in the playoffs anytime i think about the cowboys in the last five years i just think about the bravado and sheer confidence of jimmy johnson while in college jimmy johnson aspired to become an industrial psychologist which in a sense he did his industry is football and he's a firm believer in the power of positive thinking everybody's into it started off right his biggest role is is that he creates such a tremendous positive attitude everybody's into it there are guys that literally believe because of jimmy's attitude the way he sets the tempo for each week that there's no way that they cannot win and succeed this is an attitude that he instills in all the guys nice job there troy nice job good job an attitude um that makes us go out there and figure that we can't be beat 47 guys believing 47 guys hanging in there for four quarters hey super super job because you could have gotten down you know when they got on top of you and you could have said oh here it goes again but if those days are over with it's not gonna be here it goes again four quarters of football anything can happen four quarters now four quarters to it four quarters he comes in and say hey we will do this and we will do that this is what we will do period what did i say i said we'd beat the redskins but let me tell you something and just like i said last week when i tell you last week last week last week i said you know that once you show up on wednesday we don't want to hear another word about washington enjoy the thing tonight but we don't want another thing about washington all i want to hear about wednesday is the new york giants hey if you hear that enough if you hear it enough you'll be like yeah we will do this and we will do that coach johnson talks about controlling your mind all the time let the mind control the body not the body controlling the mind if you can control your mind and get those negative thoughts out of there we're gonna be fine we'll get it right back think positively that this is another day to get better then um gosh you're gonna have success whatever you're doing yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah looking good feeling good let the mind control the body not the body control the mind fatigue makes cowards of us all look jimmy was a psych major at arkansas he's got 149 iq knew exactly what he was doing and i think he handled the team pretty well let's go let's go beautiful day in austin all right all right russ how are you doing today romp and stomp and raring to go stretch them out stretch them out i like it i like it a lot how about it darren did some nice things yesterday like a well-oiled machine here we go here we go here we go i got you there i got you there boom all right you know i'll let you do that i don't want to embarrass you in front of the home crowd nice catch jimmy nice catch jimmy that's nice adjustment good job alvin finney pretty oh oh michael two-hand don't be cute don't be pretty be good that's right two hands counts the same as one hand the best thing about coach johnson is you know you gotta respect and trust a man that tells you exactly what he wants all he wants is everything you got every day in practice in the game in the funeral hey i can deal with that oh okay michael that's ready to go get it [Music] that's way to go get it my goal that's basically what he said you give me everything and i'll back you 100 no matter what you do i think if you're sincere uh i think if you you really come across with how you feel i think you motivate people i i don't believe in motivating in a phony way i don't believe in a lot of cliches i don't believe in going out there and have a lot of phrases and reading uh quotes from other people but i do believe in being sincere with your players all right let's go man let's go man let's get geared up get ready to go sharp sharp good right there back side all right good job next there you go good job rich again let's go reggie that's right all right reggie that's going to be squaring up in a home like your play all the way he's taught me a lot he's taught me a lot about football he's taught me a lot about life just uh with the way he approaches it and being positive and being upbeat hi john john come on judd hold on that damn football god dawg it come on judd get the handoff now you got to protect that damn football i'm gonna judge come on judd bear down concentration concentration take it on bob there we go there's a nice tackle there you go dickson there you go dixon that's your way to whoop stick it in there nice job of wrapping them up all right all right that's right protect the ball judd run through it now i really believe that players can respond to things if you put the pressure on them and and you have that expectation yourself 14 13 10 seconds to go we're behind the redskins rfk all right let's go then we got to have it we got to have it got a little wind behind you got a little wind to the left you got to be concerned about it let's go lynn focus in can you make it here we go it's all on the line that's where they hit it good job lynn perfect right down the middle perfect glenn cowboys win as always it's a psychology of high expectations uh it's the self-fulfilling prophecy we'll be in the playoffs in johnson's third season dallas welcomed more dividends from the walker deal and a host of other successful players via the draft russell maryland and alvin harper were chosen in the first round linebacker dixon edwards was a second round pick tackle eric williams was a steal in the third round as was leon lett in the seventh in the 12th round dallas found starting cornerback larry brown these rookies grew into solid players in 91 while teammates emmitt smith and michael urban matured into nfl superstars double two and double eight meant double trouble for opponents smith and durbin became the first teammates to lead the league in rushing and receiving yards in the same season [Music] [Applause] or michelangelo handoff thank you very much [Music] the cowboys had some of football's biggest stars now they had to prove they could beat the big boys of the nfl i think a year ago our guys were kind of crossing their fingers and hoping that they could win some games i think the attitude now is that they expect to win games expectation and determination were written all over johnson's face as his team met the defending super bowl champion giants play fake throws it out to jared bunch the rookie at the 20. fumble picks it up [Applause] straight drop throws right [Music] the cowboys had beaten one beast from the nfc east but a more meaningful win over a more intimidating monster would tell them that they had arrived i think if there's one win that not only made them believe but made the rest of the league believe it's probably the november win against the redskins at rfk when the redskins were clearly the best team in football the thing that was great about that game is that jimmy johnson goes up to his players on wednesday of that week and he just keeps harping on we're facing the big gorilla this week and that was kind of his theme of the week how do you beat a big girl i said you can't just hit him lightly i said you've got to hit him with all you've got [Applause] [Music] now the willis kick to irv oh it's an onside kick and it's loose the cowboys the cowboys have recovered an onside kick oh man they are letting out all the stops today and three receivers go right maybe they're gonna go big ben no rush and they are big bending into the end zone this will be a prayer up [Applause] [Music] i think it's the biggest and the best cowboys win since they beat the giants in 1985 to win the nfc [Music] i think the thing that johnson convinced his players that day is that when i'm telling you that you're as good as the best team in football believe it because you are after that game you know we just say hey you know we could play with anybody we really can't play with anybody super job of working a super job of believing just like what we talked about at practice hey you know when you ever go after a big gorilla you don't ever hit him lightly you hit him with everything you got two beasts down one more to go [Music] in five tries jimmy johnson had never beaten eagles his teams had been overmatched physically but a victory in philadelphia would put the cowboys in the playoffs any time you're able to beat the big bully uh it uh it's satisfying and without question uh philadelphia had bullied us the first couple years that we were in the league [Music] at the 15-yard line avoids a rush up the middle 25-30 uncut right at the 40 still going at [Applause] midfield even with troy aikman out with an injury the cowboys prevailed rolling white wants to throw chase throws it on the road he's caught it's a touchdown and that sends everybody at the vet home and is going to send the dallas cowboys to the playoffs [Applause] a pre-season prediction had become reality the prophecy was fulfilled in their first playoff game in six years the young cowboys won a defensive struggle with the bears fourth down and short toss right neal anderson they lost a lot of yards harbaugh with a minute 12 in the game back to throw a little pressure now hit as he throws over the middle intercepted by bill bates at the 30-yard line bill bates saves the day and the cowboys now just kill the last minute four a week later the cowboys would lose in detroit but in just two years they had improved from one win to a dozen they were among the nfl's best only one goal remained for 1992 to win it all when bill parcells giants dominated the nfl in 1990 and went on to win super bowl 25 they did it by playing power football see some power jumbo [Music] in 1991 joe gibbs redskins ruled the league they too played old fashioned down in the dirt power football and won super bowl 26. [Music] jimmy johnson didn't care he didn't try to imitate the giants or the redskins he tried to make a dallas cowboys team that was very similar to his university of miami teams tremendously quick good good quickness there good quickness i was saying you know what the rest of the division saying about you jimmy you can't outrun somebody to a division championship this game is one with braun he looked at me and he says peter he says do you think i give a bleepity bleep what people think i know we're gonna win doing this say that's so fun a little more quick it's got to make that cut derrick we don't accept that just because others have done it before us in a certain way that that's the way we're going to do it we might research how the winners have done it in the past but we're still looking for the edge of maybe a different way in a unique way to get it done that way we might be better than those that have come before us the cowboys opened the 92 season against the redskins and giants the goal was to beat the last two super bowl champs with speed and quickness back takes it at his 21 comes left 25 there's a block 30 there's a block 40. there it goes [Applause] [Music] safety [Applause] the balance of power in the nfc east had shifted power football had been replaced by speed football after three years of intelligent drafts and trades jimmy johnson had the team he wanted no longer were the dallas cowboys team now they were jimmy's team so tightly [Music] tremendously quick [Music] oh oh look at this tremendously quick do you think i give a bleepity bleep what people [Music] think tremendously quick [Music] the thing that i've always said about our players is i wanted them to be playmakers [Applause] i wanted them to have the quickness you know to make a play whether it be the quickness of a running back like emmitt smith to avoid a tackling [Music] he's going to score our the quickness of a russell maryland to avoid a blocker and make a tackle he has got the greatest ability to put players in the right situations to give them opportunities to become playmakers he has the greatest knack of understanding personnel when you uh tell someone that he's a playmaker when you have someone like michael irvin who's got it on his license plate the playmaker just made a major league play it's an expectation that he has it's something that is almost ingrained in them that they feel like that when the time comes they will make the player the guy is the best coach to come into the nfl probably since i've been alive he's got a knack for getting every player to play at his peak [Music] we know if it's a 60 minute ball game in time our play makers will come through for us playmakers littered the field for dallas in 92 on both sides of the ball johnson and his staff made defensive situation substitution a science they sent fresh troops in constantly and ordered them to attack [Applause] [Music] [Applause] that number one defense led the 13-3 cowboys to the playoffs where once again they met their nemesis [Music] philadelphia was no match for the nfl's fastest and youngest team super super job you are one game away from the super bowl [Music] not exactly a beautiful day but hopefully it will be here in about four hours a rite of passage a passing of the torch a beheading of an old king in favor of a new one the team of the 80s was meeting the team of the 90s and youth was being served a pair of emmett smith scores helped dallas to a four point four quarter lead with a little over four minutes remaining most coaches would have been conservative trying to beat the niners by beating the clock but jimmy johnson isn't like most coaches ability to take a risk gave us an opportunity to win a super bowl you can't be afraid to fail i think it's a bigger sin not to at least take an advantage of an opportunity or take a chance and to go out there and and maybe come up a little bit short but at least try with the cowboys gambler of the past overlooking the gambler of the present dallas went for the win [Music] [Applause] in probably 12 years this one is going to throw deep flat caught 35. harper's breaking away harper's got midfield harper's got the 30. harper's got the 20. harper's got the 10-yard line wow oh jimmy johnson you're a gambling fool sometime he gambled by trading herschel walker he gambled by making 46 trades in four years he gambled by opting for speed over power but is it gambling if you know you're going to win everybody just did one hell of a job and the only thing else i got to say is how about them [Applause] okay how about them cowboys it might be more colorful to tell you that i was consumed with tense suspenseful thoughts but there were none oh i was excited and happy and anxious to get started but as for the sort of feeling the commander has as a great battle looms no that had come two weeks earlier at san francisco it must have been a more tense time for the bills than for us because they've been to two straight super bowls without a win it would be three when this day was done i knew that and in his fourth season with the cowboys head coach jimmy johnson i just wanted to lay that royal flush on the table and rake in all the chips you know coach johnson comes in he would tell you in the super bowl difference in the game will be turnovers you know i studied and i studied and i studied and this would be the difference we will have the turnover we will win the ball game he didn't say if we make them make the turnovers we'll win the ball game he said we will get the turnovers and we will win the ball game and you could go into that game and boo they started turning it over and turning over and we started going up and we're like man you know this is kind of wild you know he preaches about a lot of things but you better believe what he preaches about is usually true jimmy johnson thought for 10 days about the importance of turnovers [Music] [Applause] [Music] you know we were just laying down the cards on the table one by one ten apart going for the end zone [Applause] turning one billion people watching on television weren't certain we held the rest of the cards but we were wow what a ride it's been jimmy johnson's taking his team from the absolute worst to the absolute best [Music] hey i gotta get a new ring everybody's coming out here i figured it's as hard as we work for that why take it off just for a football game he had one title now the long drive for another was about to begin where are you headed super bowl get in hey it's nice jack thanks nice shoes i think we've got a great chance of of going all the way again this year the simple fact that jimmy's not going to let us let down i told the team uh just in the offseason i said hey uh we had a great team last year we won the super bowl but we will be a better football team next year and we will be repeat might be the scariest word for a football team it means expectations have already been set and anything less than last year means failure dallas began to learn that lesson in week one more than anything else i was frustrated because i knew we had a great football team and we were missing a big part of that team i probably hurt our team somewhat and that i had it in the back of my mind that emmett was going to show up even a day or two before the opener against the redskins and everything was going to be all right knowing the talent on our football team and knowing the opportunity that we had in front of us i saw the opportunity slipped through our fingers oh boy now it's emmett smith time once emmett came to town everybody was positive that we were going to go out and win ball games how you doing sorry i got in the season a little bit late but i think we put this thing together despite a two-game hold out emmett was on his way to a third straight rushing title what he wanted was a second straight super bowl [Music] [Applause] but just when johnson's finely tuned machine seemed to be racing towards another super bowl the wheels started to fall off aikman and smith both went down with injuries and thanksgiving day the nation watched the cowboys woes snowball into another letdown it's a 41-yard it's a first down kick and it's blocked and rolled around at the 10-yard line the once ultra confident johnson was now hoping for wins i just want an ugly win somehow someway with five weeks to go in the season johnson watched the seven and four cowboys return to their winning ways thanks in large part to the development of more young fast talents at the 27th mission three steps throws to his right intercepts kevin smith the team's top pick in the 92 draft was yet another dividend from the walker deal and 93's number one pick kevin williams helped beat the redskins and set up a division title showdown in the season finale in new york [Music] [Applause] touchdown all right good luck in playoffs a severe shoulder separation stalled emmett smith but it couldn't stop him his heroic performance gave the cowboys a chance for a win here we go [Applause] [Music] after thanksgiving and we said this if you lay it on the line and you went out you'll win the division second year in a row and it'll give us a hell of a shot to get to where we want to go you've been under the gun you've been under the pressure you had to do it on the road one hell of a job the cowboys opened the 93 playoffs with a dominant performance over the packers they had won six in a row and seemed to be rolling along comfortably with the cruise control set but jimmy johnson wanted them to shift to a higher gear we will win the ball game and you can put it in three inch headlines we will win the ball game when you have things going smoothly uh you sometimes need to create a crisis i think that if you're not careful when things are going really good you can look around and all of a sudden you're going backward instead of forward i felt like that our team was a little bit uptight i felt like our team needed something to get a spark against a great san francisco team and and so i made a very bold statement but it's a situation where i wrote the check and the players uh they cashed it back to throw short slams dallas is going to win the nfc championship again and we'll never know thank heaven [Music] jimmy said we would win the game didn't we three inches hey [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] and one thing this week i'm not gonna say a word you know how i feel but i'm not going to say a word but i will say one thing right now how about this [Applause] dallas cowboys are going to win it all walk the walk talk to talk you know it so here we are again same time next year the dallas cowboys and the buffalo bills and this time in super bowl 28 at the georgia dome in downtown atlanta super bowl 28 began in much the same way the 93 season did itself for the cowboys but jimmy johnson wouldn't allow the sub-par play to continue he was too driven to go to a super bowl and lose two things motivate me as far as you know my job the absolute uh fear of of losing uh the absolute misery that you go through when you lose a ball game [Music] and the biggest thing that drives me is to see players work and and work as hard as any group that you've ever been around and to see them achieve that success that's what's always driven me in typical cowboy style playmakers appeared and johnson gave them their chances to excel hold your breath everybody fourth and goal at the one blitz hitch left to smith block from johnston touchdown emmitt smith the ecstasy of those players after they've won a ball game to see their emotions after winning a super bowl you know that's a feeling that very few people ever ever experience and and that's what's driven me more than anything else he was a wizard at winning but his true wizardry was that he loved becoming a winner even more we don't ever live our lives right down the middle we're either here or we're there and and let me just say to all of you when my day comes i'd like for people to say he had a passion for living [Music] you

Channel: TNFJ

Views: 113,236

Keywords: NFL, NFL Films, Jimmy Johnson, Dallas Cowboys, Super Bowl, American football, Coaching, Football coaching, Pro Football Hall of Fame, The U, Miami Hurricanes, Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, Michael Irvin

Id: m9L_wTVJFHc

Length: 45min 47sec (2747 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 18 2021