Romo vs Staubach and Aikman

[mattjames2010]

Ironically, I don't think Aikman ever threw over 30 TDs in a season.

30? Heck, he only cracked throwing more than 20 once.

 

[jnday]

I think the comparison of Merideth, White and Romo is more fair at this point t in Romos career.

Exactly.

 

[rynochop]

I'm not so sure about that Romo has too much of that Favre gunslinger in him. Too many impulse throws in his game. Aikman didn't make the big mistakes in critical situations that's marred Romo's career. Aikman didn't suffer the meltdowns and was more poised after committing a mistake. Romo's always had the problem of compounding one mistake with another until his game comes apart we saw that vs Carolina last season.

Romo wouldn't have had to be the gunslinger on those teams. And you may have forgotten troys really bad ints later in his career. Never mind the brutal pic six in the nfc championship game..and that wasn't on bad coaching by Switzer or being unprepared

 

[coogrfan]

Yeah, the watered down, finesse game of today fits this younger soft generation. The Boston Celtics if the 80's was more physical than the NFL of today.

 

[erod]

For those that say Troy plays in an entirely different era with different rules that help the passing game, go check out the numbers of Moon, Young, Kelly, Farve, Montana, etc.

Yes, the game has gone to a passing league, but the 90s had a lot of passing, too.

It is true that Romo has to throw more than Aikman did, which is good because Troy couldn't avoid a trash can full of dirt.

Aikman was an accurate pocket-only passer. He had supreme protection, which allowed him to shred teams.

 

[percyhoward]

I think the comparison of Meredith, White and Romo is more fair at this point in Romo's career.

There is clearly a Top 3, and White and Meredith aren't in it.

Passer rating
Avg rank in 5 best seasons
Staubach 1st
Aikman 4th
Romo 5th
White 7th
Meredith 10th

in 8 best seasons
Staubach 5th
Romo 6th
Aikman 7th
White 11th
Meredith 16th

 

[mattjames2010]

For those that say Troy plays in an entirely different era with different rules that help the passing game, go check out the numbers of Moon, Young, Kelly, Farve, Montana, etc.

Yes, the game has gone to a passing league, but the 90s had a lot of passing, too.

It is true that Romo has to throw more than Aikman did, which is good because Troy couldn't avoid a trash can full of dirt.

Aikman was an accurate pocket-only passer. He had supreme protection, which allowed him to shred teams.

Kelly, in a year where he threw similar pass attempts as Aikman

1991 - 33 TDs, 17 INTs, average 8.1, 97.6 rating
1990 - 24 TDs, 9 INTs, average 8.2, 101.2 rating

I don't get it, what is so wrong with saying Aikman was simply just a good QB on a loaded team who had a few fantastic post-season runs? Doesn't this fan base say that about Eli Manning every time the topic comes up?

 

[KJJ]

Romo wouldn't have had to be the gunslinger on those teams. And you may have forgotten troys really bad ints later in his career. Never mind the brutal pic six in the nfc championship game..and that wasn't on bad coaching by Switzer or being unprepared

Romo is a gunslinger that's part of who he is and will always be he's a playmaker. Impulse throws have been apart of his career. He didn't need to be a gunslinger up 24-3 against Detroit a few years ago but that's who he is. So Aikman threw a pick-six in the NFC title game that was the only NFC title game in three appearances where he tossed a pick. It was one bad game it happens and I wouldn't be talking about INT's with all the INT's Romo has committed in do or die games.

 

[mattjames2010]

The year Aikman had to be a "gunslinger"

518 pass attempts, 56.4 completion rating, 6.3 average, 19 TDs, 12 INTs, 78.0 rating.

He still had Smith and Irvin. Trash numbers.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

You understand that I can easily find nearly every game from the 90s Cowboys right? I'm actually looking at a torrent right now of 4 of the Cowboys' major seasons, and I'm sure the others are out there.

In NO ERA is stats that Aikman put up in 89-91 and 96-2000 good. We can go on all day about how it was in the 90s, he looked awful.

If this is true and you have watched them all, then there really should be no misconception as to why Troy's stats are what they are from his early years and his later years.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

For those that say Troy plays in an entirely different era with different rules that help the passing game, go check out the numbers of Moon, Young, Kelly, Farve, Montana, etc.

Yes, the game has gone to a passing league, but the 90s had a lot of passing, too.

It is true that Romo has to throw more than Aikman did, which is good because Troy couldn't avoid a trash can full of dirt.

Aikman was an accurate pocket-only passer. He had supreme protection, which allowed him to shred teams.

West Cost, Red Gun and West Cost. Moon might be the only exception but even still, Moon threw the ball a lot more then the Cowboys of that era ever did.

 

[mattjames2010]

If this is true and you have watched them all, then there really should be no misconception as to why Troy's stats are what they are from his early years and his later years.

So your excuse: He didn't have the team around him. Okay, so, he didn't play well when the game was on his shoulders, he needed a lot of help? Maybe you think it was inexperience, that doesn't explain his horrible play from 96-2000. Injuries, rapid decline in play? He still had weapons around him, he still had a great RB carrying the load. So what the hell changed? Coaching staff? Should we put the success more on Jimmy then?

Where are the excuses going to end? How about just saying this: Aikman was a great QB for a short time period before hitting a decline.

 

[PA Cowboy Fan]

It's no use debating with people who never saw when the Cowboys were great. All they know is mediocrity. Sad really.

 

[Jstopper]

It's no use debating with people who never saw when the Cowboys were great. All they know is mediocrity. Sad really.

As it has been repeated multiple times in this thread we do have a weapon called the internet. It's this fancy doohickey that allows people to rewatch things that happened in the past. Fancy that huh?

 

[big dog cowboy]

Different era and yet the exact same game. Era matters when you talk about hair styles pants fit. Nothing has changed about how you throw a football.

To suggest the game of football hasn't changed in the last 20 years is unbelievable.

 

[CowboyRoy]

Brees isn't today. Ben never was. The Steelers have had tremendous teams around him, and he's certainly a good QB.

There is no arguing with a homer like you. So I wont even bother.

 

[CowboyRoy]

Garrett didn't get pass happy. The Cowboys simply couldn't run. One good year from Barber, and then the push from the o-line vanished. 3rd-and-1 became impossible to convert.

Like I said, Im not going to bother arguing with you.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

So your excuse: He didn't have the team around him. Okay, so, he didn't play well when the game was on his shoulders, he needed a lot of help? Maybe you think it was inexperience, that doesn't explain his horrible play from 96-2000. Injuries, rapid decline in play? He still had weapons around him, he still had a great RB carrying the load. So what the hell changed? Coaching staff? Should we put the success more on Jimmy then?

Where are the excuses going to end? How about just saying this: Aikman was a great QB for a short time period before hitting a decline.

My excuse? I have no excuses, I was not on the field so no, I don't have an excuse. I didn't play, we are fans. We have no excuses because we are not part of the game. We just watch.

If you watched, as you say and if you actually understand what you are seeing, then this should not need to be explained to you. If you understand how Norv Turner's timing offense works, then this really should not be anything that is difficult to understand. The Cowboys, in 1996, were starting to deteriorate. We were losing players to FA and we had already lost several key coaches. Under Zampese, the Offense started to change. Zampese ran a vertical Offense like Dan Coryell's in San Diego. The problem with that was that the team didn't have the personnel to run that kind of Offense. Irvin, while a great, great WR wasn't really a great deep threat guy. Add to that the fact that he was arrested in 96 on Cocain Charges and who else was left? Novacek was gone, Alvin Harper was gone. Still in all, the Cowboys won 10 games in that season. Look at Aikmans numbers without Irvin on the field. 59.53 Completion Percentage, 5 TD, 4 INTs and really, it was one game. The game against Buffalo in Buffalo. We lost that game 7 to 10 and Buffalo was still very good defensively. Emmitt Smith had 25 yards on 15 attempts in that game. Troy had 3 ints in that game and threw for 48% completion percentage. The rest of the season was actually pretty good for Aikman except that we had a terrible time getting receivers on track in the passing game. That lead to games where Michael was doubled and taken out of the game. There are a couple of games in 96 where Michael only caught a single pass or just a couple. That Offense was really very limited in 96. The problem was not Troy or accuracy. The problem was personnel and the changes going on at the time. This is why you can't just look at stats. If you watched the games, you would understand all of this.

1997 was more of the same but the wheels really started coming off with the team. Look at how many players were signed in FA as opposed to lost in FA earlier in the decade, look at the personnel we had to work with at the time. Switzer's gun debacle, just age catching up with the Cowboys and the situation in the locker room between Aikman and Switzer. All of it was just bad. There were times, according to reports at the time, that Troy would walk off the practice field in frustration at how poorly practices were run. Imagine going from a team who worked tirelessly to perfect their craft in the early 90s to a team who had problems just running a practice. Filled with mistakes etc. Watch the games, see how many mistakes, dropped passes, stupid penalties were made at the time. All of it contributed and I think that at this time, Aikman seriously considered retiring.

The remainder of Aikman's career was pretty much written at this point. The team was never as good and the poor personnel decisions, the fact that we had aging stars with huge contracts, FA come into the league and a Salary cap that we managed badly all contributed.

I don't think it's fair to say that Troy had only 4 good years. I think he had 6 really good years, 2 years where he was learning to be a great QB and 4 years at the end where the team was not very good and his health was failing.

I do think it's fair to say that a lot of the success Troy enjoyed was, in no small part, due to Jimmy and the coaching staff. Clearly, after Jimmy's departure, things were never the same. That is fair IMO.

 

[JIMMYBUFFETT]

To suggest the game of football hasn't changed in the last 20 years is unbelievable.

11 players on the field, 6 points for TD, 3 points for a FG, must tackle well, must block well, must not turn the ball over, must create turn overs and the goal has always been to outscore your opponent. TV coverage has changed, players have changed, fans have changed, but football has really stayed the same.

 

[Jenky]

11 players on the field, 6 points for TD, 3 points for a FG, must tackle well, must block well, must not turn the ball over, must create turn overs and the goal has always been to outscore your opponent. TV coverage has changed, players have changed, fans have changed, but football has really stayed the same.

You're forgetting the rule changes which is huge IMO.