Troy Aikman: Hall of Fame Worthy?
This has always been something that has bugged me a little bit. I have nothing against Troy Aikman, but is he really a Hall of Fame worthy candidate? I am not trying to troll or bait or anything, I think this is a debateable topic.
Let's look at what's concrete first, the stats:
Troy was the QB of one of the most prolific franchises in pro sports. Here were his stats:
-He threw at least 20 TD's in a season ONCE (23; 1992)...totaling 165 TD's in 154 games, barely more than 1/game.
-141 Interceptions during this time span, meaning, he almost threw 1 pick for every TD
-Career completion percentage of 61.5%
-Career QB rating of 81.6...surpassing 90 for a season just twice
-Troy never had a 4000 yard season, in fact, never had a 3500 yard season. He had 5 seasons over 3000 yards
-He averaged 30 attempts throwing per game, meaning he was throwing at a decent rate, but not putting up big stats.
Now, look at who he played with.
-He had arguably the best offensive line of All-Time in front of him for a good chunk of his career. This is a huge advantage for a pocket passer like Troy.
-Emmitt Smith was his RB, which takes a huge load of pressure of Troy, yet he failed to become more than just average statistically, even with defenses focusing on Emmitt.
-Had Michael Irvin and Alvin Harper...Michael being one of the more underrated WR's of all-time, yet is still a HOFer.
Troy did win three Super Bowls, but if you look at the facts, it didn't appear to be because Troy was a Hall of Fame QB. Troy WAS a good QB, but is he great enough to be in the Hall of Fame?
Also, some of you will mention that the way the game was played at that time was very different from today. Yes, I know. However, by NFL standards even at that time, he still wasn't that prolific. Kelly, Marino, Elway, Young, and Favre all managed to put up much better numbers than Aikman did, despite being on worse teams many times. Certainly none were as complete as the Cowboys were much of the time.
So, is Aikman's 3 Super Bowl victories enough to be Hall of Fame worthy? Or, is he one of the more overrated QB's of all-time?