DALLAS — Troy Aikman said Thursday that a Week 1 loss is not the end of the world.

In 1993, the season after Aikman and the Dallas Cowboys won Super Bowl XXVII, Dallas started 0-2 and won Super Bowl XXVIII anyway.

Aikman made the comments on his weekly visit with The Musers on Sportsradio 96.7 FM/1310 The Ticket.

The appearance came four days after the New York Giants beat Dallas 28-20 in the opener at MetLife Stadium, and three days before the Washington Commanders visit AT&T Stadium for the Cowboys’ home opener.

Emmitt Smith held out the first two games of the 1993 season in a contract dispute.

Dallas lost the opener to Washington and then lost to the Buffalo Bills.

The Cowboys finished 12-4 and beat Buffalo 30-13 in the Super Bowl.

The question Aikman got the week before the third game that year was whether he was concerned that no team starting 0-2 had ever reached the Super Bowl.

But it’s not the end of the world either if you don’t,” Aikman said.

“I take, for instance, last year, Denver got off to a tough start.

… I mean, even if you look at Sean Payton and what he’s done throughout his career going back to New Orleans, his record over the month of September is not very good.” “I know Belichick,” Aikman continued, “when I would visit with him, especially when the offseason rules changed and you weren’t able to spend as much time with the players and in training camp with the two-a-days, he really felt that September was an extension of the preseason.

And so there was no real panic there.

And there were a number of years where they got off to a 2-2 start in New England and then would just roll through the rest of their year.” “But, yeah, it’s real.

I know back in ’93, after we came off our Super Bowl, [we] were 0-2,” Aikman added.

“And I was asked the week leading up to our third game, ‘Are you concerned that no team that’s ever started 0-2 has made it to the Super Bowl?’ And I said, I mean, Super Bowl was the furthest thing from my mind.

I said, ‘No, my bigger concern is if you tell me that no 0-2 team has ever gone on to be 1-2.’ I mean, that would be a concern.” “So you just take them one week at a time,” Aikman noted.

“And with 17 games, it gives you more of an opportunity.

It’s not as big a deal as it once was.” The NFL played a 16-game schedule in 1993.

Dallas was the first team to win a Super Bowl after an 0-2 start.

Before Sunday, the Cowboys had won 11 of their 12 season openers against the Giants.

New York played Sunday under first-year coach John Harbaugh, and Aikman said Dallas’ recent success against the Giants was something the team knew going in.

“I think for Dallas, because they had so much success against the Giants here in the number of years when they’ve played,” Aikman explained, “that there’s no question that the team knew that going in, that none of them are easy, especially within the division.

A new head coach, that brings real optimism and....