NBCDFW: Aikman: Deion Was A Crummy Tackler

[WoodysGirl]

BY Drew Magary // Monday, Nov 23, 2009 at 09:45 CST

I swear, Troy Aikman has announced every Cowboys game this year. It’s like FOX is begging Cowboy haters to cry out favoritism. However, as announcers ago, I find Aikman to be a rather impartial fellow, if a touch bland. Best of all, he’s not obnoxious about recalling his playing days even chance he gets, which is nice of him. This is why it was so surprising, during Sunday’s brutally lackluster 7-6 Cowboys win over the Skins, to hear Aikman goof on old teammate Deion Sanders for being a poor tackler. Aikman, and I’m paraphrasing here, said it was nice to see cover corners who also went in for tackles in the league today, unlike Deion back in the day.

Joe Buck: Are you saying Deion didn’t like tackling?

Troy Aikman: He used to call them “business decisions.”

Aikman, of course, isn’t telling you anything you didn’t already know. Deion Sanders liked contact about as much as I like the “Twilight” films. He was notorious for avoiding contact during his career. But he was so good at covering receivers that he could get away with it. That’s what will always astound me about Deion Sanders, he was so good at playing defense that he didn’t even need to TACKLE, which you would think is a necessary skill for any great defensive player. In fact, I watched the NFL Network’s postgame show to see if Sanders had a reaction to Aikman’s comments, and indeed he did. This is what Deion said:

“Hey, these shoulders are made for suits, not Brandon Jacobs.”

Fair point, Deion. My shoulders are made the exact same way.

http://www.nbcdfw.com/blogs/blue-star/Aikman-Deion-Was-A-Crummy-Tackler-71584022.html

 

[dogunwo]

I know alot of people don't like Deion, but I find him pretty entertaining

 

[cowboys#1]

i think troy messed up his status with all cowboy fans because of his negative comments about the cowboys. even though it is his job to be fair on tv.

 

[2much2soon]

Aikman never liked Deion, going back to their college days.

Of course, a lot of people didn't like him, and that is understandable due to both his personality and the fact that he was really, really good and not afraid to remind people of that fact.

But the whole "Deion can't tackle" thing was hugely overblown due to people's dislike for him.

When it really counted, he could tackle fine. It was just when he was disinterested in the game he made those "business decisions". It was hard to find flaws in his game, so his detractors jumped on that.

I haven't missed a lot of Dallas games in the last 30 years and I have seen Deion make his share of good, textbook tackles when he had to. That includes when he was in college, too.

As far as being a fan, I could take him or leave him. He was a brilliant talent, but he was also a selfish, self-promoting mercenary.

 

[BourbonBalz]

Deion did not like to tackle, admitted as much, and was not very good at it.

 

[JackMagist]

The problem was never that Deion "couldn't" tackle. The problem was that he "Didn't Like" to tackle. He would avoid a direct full contact tackle whenever possible prefering to go for the force-out or tackle from behind.

Yes, I am one of the ones who did not (does not) like Deion. I didn't want him on our team but it was better to have him here than to have him in San Francisco because he really was a talented player. He could cover, he got a lot of INTs, he was a great return man...just didn't tackle for crap.

 

[Jay]

I loved Deion Sanders. I have no problems if you're gonna act cocky if you play as the best cover corner of all time.

And honestly.. I don't think that can be debated either. There was no one like him, and I'm not sure we'll ever see anyone like him.

 

[sago1]

Don't know anything about Aikman-Deion relationship going back to their college days, but do remember Aikman had a real problem with Deion once he came to the Cowboys. Aikman held Deion responsible for stirring up appearance of racial problems on the team re how often Aikman threw to black WRs vs white WRs. Don't seem to recall that Michael had a problem with Aikman's throwing to him.

 

[Arch Stanton]

Samuel has a similar mindset as DeIon.