The 2016 Dallas Cowboys are nothing short of an NFL phenomenon; the perfect combination of time, place, luck, talent, scheduling and opposition strength.
And while it might not be wise to compare contemporary phenomena with phenomena of the past, Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott were asked about the great Dallas teams of the 1990s, which featured Michael Irvin, Emmitt Smith and Troy Aikman.
"We want to live up to those expectations I guess, filling those shoes you could say," Dak Prescottsaid in an interview before Monday night's win over the Detroit Lions. "We want to be great, we want to be the new triplets, the Cowboys of the '90s, winning Super Bowls and doing all of that. But we just have to stay focused, take it one day at a time one year at a time. That's a long time away -- we're talking at the end of our careers."
While the reflex is there to compare one good era to the last, I think even Cowboys fans can agree that it is a little early. The 1992 and 1993 Dallas Cowboys thrived in an uncapped NFL economy and may have put together one of the greatest collections of stars in modern NFL history.
The 2016 Dallas Cowboys are also excellent, but in their own way. They have also not yet won a playoff game.
As I've said before, the thing about Prescott and Elliott that bodes well for the future is the way they are handling this moment. There is no more reactionary element in all of sports than football media and both of these players went from over-drafted or under-talented to the reincarnation of the legendary Dallas Cowboys in a matter of four months.
They're smart enough and good enough to carve their own legacy.
