”America’s Team”. A moniker that has been used to describe the Dallas Cowboys for the past three decades now belongs to the Kansas City Chiefs, according to Hall of Fame offensive lineman Willie Roaf.
On Wednesday, Roaf told Fansided’s Mark Carman in an interview that the Chiefs are playing better than ever before, and returning to the Super Bowl as well as appearing in three consecutive AFC Championships is more than enough to dub Kansas City as “America’s Team”.
“This is a level that Kansas City has never been at,” Roaf said. “Kansas City is now America’s team. Kansas City went from being a small-market team to being America’s team right now with Patrick Mahomes, Tyreek [Hill], [Travis] Kelce, and all those guys. I’m excited for them,” he raved.
“I’m excited they have another opportunity to go out and play [in the Super Bowl]. They’re the young guns,” Roaf continued. “I think the pressure is more on [Tom] Brady because Brady wants to win another one and he made it in his first year in Tampa.”
Dallas was first dubbed America’s Team in a 1978 highlight film when the narrator compared the Cowboys’ television appearance to being almost as much as any Hollywood actor or U.S. President. That, coupled with the team’s success with quarterback Roger Staubach was fitting at the time.
The moniker resurfaced once again in the 1990s when the club won three Super Bowls in four seasons. However, the Cowboys have not made a Super Bowl since 1995 and haven’t even made it to the NFC Championship Game.
With that being said, perhaps it’s time for a new team to put the moniker to good use. Kansas City, Missouri is in the heart of America after all, there isn’t a squad in the NFL that is quite as exciting as the Chiefs, and there isn’t a place where you’ll see more talent in one spot than Arrowhead Stadium.
So maybe Roaf is onto something.
Willie Roaf first entered the league in 1993 as a first-round draft pick of the New Orleans Saints, where he played for eight seasons before getting traded to Kansas City in 2002. As a Chief, Roaf became part of a dynamic offense under coach Dick Vermeil and was a member of one of the best offensive lines ever assembled.
Roaf played four seasons in K.C. before finally retiring in July 2006.
