{"id":575167,"date":"2026-02-08T12:36:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T12:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/575167\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T12:36:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T12:36:13","slug":"one-of-super-bowl-lxs-most-pivotal-matchups-shines-spotlight-on-dallas-area-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/575167\/","title":{"rendered":"One of Super Bowl LX\u2019s most pivotal matchups shines spotlight on Dallas-area football"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 What transpired Thursday night at the Palace of Fine Arts would suggest dominance. At a celebration for the best of the best in the NFL<\/a>, there was a common through line. <\/p>\n

Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, a Highland Park alumnus, was named the league\u2019s Most Valuable Player. Browns defensive end Myles Garrett, a phenom at Arlington Martin, was named the league\u2019s Defensive Player of the Year<\/a>. Seattle wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, a walking highlight reel at Rockwall<\/a>, took home the league\u2019s Offensive Player of the Year honors. <\/p>\n

Welcome to Dallas-Fort Worth, where gas prices are low and future NFL stars grow on trees \u2014 at least that\u2019s what this week might indicate. <\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks should further that reputation. <\/p>\n

Cowboys<\/p>\n

Be the smartest Cowboys fan. Get the latest news.<\/p>\n

By signing up, you agree to our\u00a0Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n

One of the most intriguing \u2014 and one of the most pivotal \u2014 matchups Sunday will be between two players from the Dallas area: the aforementioned Smith-Njigba and New England cornerback Christian Gonzalez of The Colony. They graduated from high schools on different sides of the Dallas-Fort Worth area in 2020. Both left college early and were first-round picks in 2023. Now, they\u2019re Pro Bowl players and key factors in their teams\u2019 run to the Super Bowl. <\/p>\n

\"Rockwall<\/p>\n

Rockwall wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba (11) catches a pass in the end zone for a touchdown ahead of Allen defensive back Zayteak McGhee (23) during the first quarter of a Class 6A Division I area-round high school football playoff game between Allen and Rockwall on Friday, November 22, 2019 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. (Ashley Landis\/The Dallas Morning News)<\/p>\n

Ashley Landis \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

The Patriots\u2019 increased use of man coverage over their playoff run would suggest that Gonzalez \u2014 a quick-footed, athletic eraser \u2014 and Smith-Njigba \u2014 a technician who makes the spectacular look common \u2014 face each other often in a matchup that could be a deciding factor in Sunday\u2019s Super Bowl. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s awesome,\u201d Smith-Njigba said when asked by The Dallas Morning News about potentially facing Gonzalez. \u201cI preach that Dallas football, Texas football, is the best in the country. … A testament to how we\u2019re raised, how we\u2019re brought up. I give credit to a lot of coaching and development of the schools and weight rooms and all the stuff like that. I think it\u2019s a special time for Dallas players.\u201d<\/p>\n

On paper, this matchup would seem like it was written in the stars. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty cool that we got to meet here,\u201d Gonzalez told The News earlier this week. <\/p>\n

But the truth is, even in an area where NFL stars grow on trees, they aren\u2019t as bountiful or as identifiable as one would expect. <\/p>\n

Rudy Rangel, the head coach at The Colony and a longtime Texas high school coach, has seen a lot of high school talent in D-FW. He remembered watching Stafford at Highland Park. He faced Jarrett Stidham, the starter for the Broncos in the AFC Championship Game, at Stephenville. <\/p>\n

\u201c[Frisco] Lone Star has them all<\/a>,\u201d he said, pointing to a close, local opponent. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s hard to comprehend if they\u2019re ever going to actually make it.\u201d<\/p>\n

And when Rangel first met Gonzalez, he also struggled to comprehend something. Gonzalez transferred to The Colony after spending his first two years at Carrollton Creekview. After two years, many star players in Texas have already established themselves as the next big thing. Gonzalez didn\u2019t even make it to varsity at Creekview \u2014 a team that went 0-10 that year \u2014 and instead played quarterback on the junior varsity team, Rangel remembered.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Colony wide receiver Christian Gonzalez raced away from Lancaster defensive back Lorando Johnson Jr (4) for a fourth quarter touchdown in their Class 5A Division I
\nfirst-round playoff game at Tiger Stadium in Lancaster, Thursday, November 14, 2019. Lancaster won, 44-29. (Tom Fox\/The Dallas Morning News)<\/p>\n

Tom Fox \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

Which is why Rangel was so confused when Gonzalez arrived at The Colony and did everything, in Rangel\u2019s words, perfectly. Rangel found himself at a rare juncture, caught at the intersection of two opposing feelings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a believer but an unbeliever at first,\u201d Rangel said. <\/p>\n

\u201cSomething\u2019s up, but what? And nothing ever came up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eventually, colleges started to believe in Gonzalez, too. He starred at wide receiver and corner for The Colony. He started at Colorado before transferring to Oregon, where he became one of the best defensive backs in the country. The Patriots selected him 17th overall. <\/p>\n

Smith-Njigba was selected by the Seahawks three picks later \u2014 a life-changing moment that uniquely matched his football story to that point. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing about Jaxon is that he\u2019s always going to give you a little bit more than you think he\u2019s capable of,\u201d said Rodney Webb, his coach at Rockwall. \u201cAs high as his ceiling is, he\u2019s always been undervalued when he\u2019s gone somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because even though Smith-Njigba was a five-star recruit, a multiple representative on SportsCenter\u2019s Top 10 plays, and a top-three receiver \u2014 in terms of yards \u2014 in Texas high school history, he still wasn\u2019t offered by some schools, including Texas. And even though he starred at Ohio State, he still had to wait until the 20th pick. When he arrived in Seattle, he did so as the team\u2019s No. 3 wide receiver before he slid into the No. 1 receiver role this year. <\/p>\n

The reason might be his lack of height at 6-foot, or his lack of explosive, straight-line speed. The first sentence on his NFL.com scouting report coming out of Ohio State, for example, read like this: \u201cSmith-Njigba is a possession slot receiver who lacks the shake to separate underneath and the speed to run past defenses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Webb remembers some schools not recruiting Smith-Njigba for that reason. Instead of looking at that, Webb believes people who doubted Smith-Njigba should\u2019ve looked at the things that made him special. Like his quickness, as evidenced by a 3.93 20-yard shuttle he ran at the combine in 2023. In the last decade, only Justin Simmons and Kevin King have run faster shuttles. Webb also points to his ability to track balls \u2014 as he\u2019s shown in the one-handed catches he\u2019s made look common from Rockwall, to Ohio State, now in the NFL \u2014 and his inherent knack for finding space. <\/p>\n

Webb said his abilities mesh together like a 30-ingredient stew \u2014 a recipe that\u2019s resulted in his immense success at every level. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe really does it all,\u201d Patriots linebacker Robert Spillane said about facing Smith-Njigba. \u201cWe\u2019re going to have to put our best players on him and schematically make sure we account for where he\u2019s at all times.\u201d<\/p>\n

Football, ultimately, is a combination of many games within the game. That\u2019s what has Rangel so excited about Sunday when it comes to watching Gonzalez versus Smith-Njigba. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think Seattle\u2019s gameplan is, \u2018What do I do to keep [Smith-Njigba] off of Christian?\u2019\u201d Rangel said, citing the creative ways Seattle moves Smith-Njigba around. \u201cAnd then on the other end, it\u2019s New England saying, \u2018What do I have to do to get him on Jaxon?\u2019 What a game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a football coach\u2019s scheme [dream], and I can\u2019t wait.\u201d<\/p>\n

D-FW ties in Super Bowl LXSeattle Seahawks<\/p>\n

Elijah Arroyo, TE, Frisco Independence (injured)<\/p>\n

Byron Murphy II, DT, DeSoto<\/p>\n

Jaxon Smith-Njigba, WR, Rockwall<\/p>\n

Riq Woolen, CB, Fort Worth Arlington Heights<\/p>\n

New England Patriots<\/p>\n

Christian Gonzalez, CB, The Colony, Carrollton Creekview<\/p>\n

Kobee Minor, DB, Lake Dallas<\/p>\n

Milton Williams, DT, Crowley<\/p>\n

Charles Woods, DB, Kimball<\/p>\n

Craig Woodson, S, South Grand Prairie<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/a>Dallas Cowboys are expected to use franchise tag on WR George Pickens<\/a><\/p>\n

The Cowboys tagging Pickens wouldn\u2019t come as a surprise with the two sides yet to talk and the franchise tag window approaching quickly.<\/p>\n

\"Colorado<\/a>Deion Sanders relives some iconic memories from his Super Bowl run with Cowboys<\/a><\/p>\n

The Hall of Famer looked back at his performance in Super Bowl XXX for the Cowboys.<\/p>\n

\"Former<\/a>Emmitt Smith: These former Cowboys players deserve Pro Football HOF consideration<\/a><\/p>\n

The NFL\u2019s all-time leading rusher also shared his thoughts on Bill Belichick\u2019s Hall of Fame snub.<\/p>\n

Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/b><\/a>.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 What transpired Thursday night at the Palace of Fine Arts would suggest dominance. At a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":575168,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,7311,1596,8998,10858,1232,13416,13417,358,13434,13435,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-575167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-america","tag-cowboys","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-cowboys","tag-high-schools","tag-nfl","tag-rockwall","tag-rockwall-school","tag-texas","tag-the-colony","tag-the-colony-school","tag-tx","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116035045742666453","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=575167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/575168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=575167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=575167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=575167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}