*What the current Cowboys team is missing

FRISCO -- Almost everywhere they go inside the team's headquarters at Valley Ranch, the current crop of Cowboys players are reminded of what they're not. Outside the locker room, they see poster boards commemorating teams that have won the franchise's Super Bowls, knowing full well that they have claimed only one playoff victory in the last 15 seasons.

On the practice field, they receive instruction from head coach Jason Garrett, defensive line assistant Leon Lett and occasionally Charles Haley -- former players who have all savored the glory they have yet to taste.

In the weight room, they bump into Mike Woicik, the strength and conditioning coach charged with molding the Cowboys into championship material like he once did in the 1990s.

The vestiges of a bygone era remain in bits and pieces at the Cowboys' home base. And because the past has intersected with the present, the natural inclination is to wonder why these Cowboys haven't been able to measure up to their forebears. Is there some tangible reason they have they been unable to achieve the same success experienced by past champions? It's a question that seemed particularly pertinent as select members of the 1992 Cowboys, including Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin, Darren Woodson, Larry Brown and Jay Novacek gathered to celebrate their Super Bowl XXVII triumph at the Emmitt Smith Celebrity Invitational on Friday.

"It's hard for me to say what ingredients we had that they may not have," Smith said. "I don't want to compare the two because this team is unique in its own right. This team is talented in its own right. They need to make more plays and not make a ton of mistakes.

You can't afford to make a ton of mistakes. And they need to have guys stay healthy for a complete season. Then, let's see where this team stacks up."

Smith, for one, doesn't think the current Cowboys are deprived of good players. In fact, on offense, he said, "they have a lot more weapons than what we did."

Smith, however, will have a hard time convincing others that's the case. Even Cowboys owner Jerry Jones wouldn't make such a bold proclamation.

"I'm not going to say we've got an Emmitt Smith at running back and I'm not going to say we've got a Troy Aikman or Michael Irvin," Jones said. "They were Hall of Fame players, but we've got some good players and I think we have them in the right spots."

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