Brent Jones: Why I Have “A Unique Perspective” On Cowboys-49ers’ Rivalry

But when it didn’t? Dallas always seemed to be the impediment. In three successive years (1992-94), the two met in conference championship games – with the winner each time advancing … and winning … the Super Bowl. Then, in 1995, the Cowboys were there again, this time minus the 49ers, and won their third Lombardi Trophy in four years.

So do the math: From 1981-95, either San Francisco or Dallas won eight Super Bowls. 

“That was usually the final barrier between you and another Super Bowl ring,”: said former 49ers’ tight end Brent ones on the latest “Eye Test for Two” podcast.

Jones has what he called “a unique perspective” on the rivalry. He grew up in San Jose, was a sports star at Leland High School and attended Santa Clara University where, as a tight end, he was a three-time all conference choice. But he wasn’t a 49ers’ fan. He was a Dallas fan.

You heard me. He adored the Cowboys. The reason: Simple: The Cowboys were good; the 49ers were not.

“The 49ers last year of being respectable was that ’72 playoff game (vs. Dallas),” he said, “and then they went into the tank for the next seven or eight years (where) they were miserable. So being a Cowboys’ fan was kinda fun.

“All my friends were 49ers’ fans, and the 49ers stunk. In fact, so much so that my Mom got my little brother a 49ers’ jacket for Christmas. In back of the old Sears catalogue for a 49ers’ jacket – you could only get your local team, the 49ers or Raiders, back in those days, and my brother opened it and kind of threw it down.

“A few days later, she made him wear it to school, and he cried. She couldn’t figure out why he cried, and he said, “Because the 49ers are losers.” And that was true. They were. You didn’t want to be associated with a bad team in our family. They were horrible, they were losers, right up to the time Eddie (DeBartolo) bought the team, had a few good draft choices and, all of a sudden, brought in Bill Walsh. (Then) everything changed.”

That’s when The Catch happened, and the universe shifted for Brent Jones.

“I was crushed when Dwight Clark made The Catch,” he said. “And, six years later, I was in the huddle with him … which was kind of a strange phenomenon. I wore number 84 because Doug Cosbie of the Cowboys was my hero.  Then, all of a sudden, once I was with the 49ers I was on the opposite side of the coin and grew to despise – on the field – the Dallas Cowboys.

“I had predicted in my lifetime the 49ers would never win a Super Bowl, and when they beat the Cowboys that year (1981 season) I thought, ‘Hoy crap, they’re going to actually do it.’  “It sounds weird, (but) it was a devastating loss for me. Of course, I had no ties to the Cowboys other than being my favorite team, but I took it personally.”

Jones didn’t join the 49ers until 1987 when they signed him after he was released by Pittsburgh. The rest you know. He became one of the league’s top tight ends, three times named All-Pro, four times a Pro Bowler, a three-time Super Bowl champion … and a Cowboys’ hater.

“Once I was with the 49ers,” he said, “was on the opposite side of the coin and grew to despise – on the field – the Dallas Cowboys … I certainly respected them, which probably added to the hate. Because that was usually the final barrier between you and another Super Bowl ring, and they probably felt the same way about us.

“It was great playing them early in my career because they weren’t very good. So we used to slam them. But then, obviously, the fantastic trade they had with Herschel Walker and getting all the picks from the Vikings … to bringing in Jimmy Johnson, Emmitt and Troy (and) Michael … in all those matchups, quite honestly I felt like we were playing a mirror image of our team. So there was always consternation when we played the Cowboys.

“I was 100 percent confident with every team that we played that we were going to come out on top. When we played the Cowboys, it was 50-50. You could play great. You could do well. But you knew they had the horsepower to overcome even our best at times.

“It was truly a fantastic era for the NFL for the rivalry. I grew up around the rivalry, and to be able to participate was spectacular.”