After years of acrimony between Jerry Jones and Jimmy Johnson, the Dallas Cowboys owner seemed to acknowledge Wednesday that it was his fault that things went wrong between the pair.
Jones and Johnson were former Arkansas teammates and longtime friends when Jones lured Johnson away from Miami to coach the Cowboys in 1989. Johnson went on to win the Super Bowl in 1992 and 1993, but left the Cowboys after the second championship in part due to a power struggle over personnel decisions. The two have not been on great terms since, with Johnson a notable omission from the Cowboys’ Ring of Honor despite coaching the team to back-to-back titles.
On Wednesday, Jones called Johnson a “friend” and seemed to acknowledge that it was his fault that the professional relationship turned sour.
“He’s a great coach and I’m proud to have him as a friend, and proud to have the times that we — we just had a great experience,” Jones said of Johnson, via Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk. “I’ve never been able to know why I f–-ed it up.”
Johnson will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year, though there are still no plans to induct Johnson into the Ring of Honor. The bad blood still seems to be lingering a bit between the pair, but perhaps these remarks by Jones will be seen as something of an olive branch.
