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Ed "Too Tall" Jones knows what a championship-caliber roster looks like. A key member of the 1977 Cowboys, Jones experienced pro football's greatest triumph when Dallas defeated the Broncos in Super Bowl XII. 

Jones, a former All-Pro defensive end who racked up 106 sacks during his 15-year career with the Cowboys, feels that several teams -- Dallas included -- that haven't been able to duplicate their regular-season success in the postseason are missing one specific thing. 

"If you look at these teams now that make the playoffs, like Buffalo, Baltimore, all those teams, they don't have anybody on those teams that won a Super Bowl in that locker room," Jones recently said during a one-on-one interview with CBS Sports. "The regular season is the regular season. It is what it is. To be a champion, you've got to be able to get to another level. 

"What separates good players and good teams is teams who have players who can go to another level in big games. Every general manager in the league should be out trying to pick up a guy that gets cut or something that's been to a Super Bowl and put him in that locker room. It makes a big difference." 

Is not having enough players with championship experience one of the main things holding the current Cowboys back? 

"That is definitely one of the things," Jones said. "The team plays too well every year. They win 12 games every year and they're a different animal in the playoffs. And let me say this in [Mike McCarthy's] defense. Coaches can't do it all to put you over the top. You must have internal leadership. I'm not just talking about captains. I'm talking about a guy in that locker room that's been there, done that, knows what he's talking about, and players will follow. 

"Who will they follow? Dallas don't have it. Several teams don't have it. That's just one of the things. They're missing a few horses in key positions, too, but oftentimes, when you have the right leadership and the right chemistry, you make up for it."

Jones is right. While talented, the Cowboys' roster is devoid of players who have reached pro football's mountaintop. A big reason for that is the team's own inability to reach the summit. As of this writing, the Cowboys' last trip to the Super Bowl occurred in January of 1996, before most of the team's current players were born. 

Speaking of the '90s Cowboys, a lot of credit for their dynasty has been attributed to then-coach Jimmy Johnson's decision to trade for Charles Haley, a talented defensive end who had fallen out of favor in San Francisco. But along with his enigmatic personality, Haley brought championship experience with him to Dallas after winning two rings with the 49ers. That experience paid instant dividends for the Cowboys, who won their first of three Super Bowls over a four-year span the year they acquired Haley. 

To further emphasize his point, Jones said that experience was the one major difference between his Cowboys and the '70s Steelers, who managed to edge Dallas in two Super Bowls. 

"That Pittsburgh team had nothing but veterans on both sides of the ball," Jones said. "Nothing but veterans. We were a very young team both times, when they beat us in '75 and when they beat us in '78, even though we only lost by four points both games and [Roger] Staubach had the ball driving [late] in those games. 

"I was proud of the way we hung in there against a veteran team because experience in big games is very important. Very important." 

There's also another unique challenge the current Cowboys face that Jones knows all too well. 

"That America's Team thing made us bulletin board material," Jones said of the Cowboys' nickname that was coined by NFL Films after the 1978 season. "We didn't start that as players. The media started that because the Cowboys sell more memorabilia than any other team in the league, even to this day and haven't won anything in 20-something years. Well, we were a target every time we stepped on the field. … We got a team's best. Picture having to deal with that every Sunday. That's not easy." 

Along with following his former team, Jones recently partnered with Sportcane, a newly imagined walking aid developed by leading engineers and orthopedic surgeons. Jones is eager to promote Sportcane after it exponentially improved his quality of life by allowing him to continue to live life on his terms. 

"Just my daily activities, it makes all the difference in the world," Jones said. "I don't know what I would do if it wasn't for the Sportcane as far as being able to get around and still not letting anything hinder what I do in life."