Troy Aikman provides advice to rookie quarterbacks in NFL
Troy Aikman, as a winner of multiple Super Bowls, has a good bit of knowledge about football and quarterbacking to dispense. And he offered up some of this wisdom while on the “Dan Patrick Show” recently.
In short, Aikman advised the rookie quarterbacks to not let any success or failures sway them much. With the first preseason games in August and the regular season ending around the turn of the calendar, there will be months of football to learn and grow.
“But, don’t get too high when things are going well and don’t get too low when things are going poorly. Because it is such a long — it’s a rollercoaster,” Aikman said.
Further, some of the quarterbacks taken at the top of the draft have done very little losing in college.
Bryce Young, now with the Carolina Panthers, was on the Alabama roster for 41 games. The Crimson Tide lost just four of those games.
It’s a similar story for Houston Texans rookie C.J. Stroud. Playing for Ohio State from 2020-2022, Stroud was on the Buckeyes roster for 34 games and lost five.
Barring immediate star production from either of them, it’s likely they’ll lose more games in 2023 as rookies than they did in their entire college careers. (Anthony Richardson and Will Levis are a little more seasoned at being on the wrong end of an outcome.)
“And in college, when you’re on a good team, as I was, every week’s a good week. And you have very few losses when you come from some of these great programs. And they’re going to go through a lot of ebbs and flows of a season. And I thought that was really good advice,” Aikman said. “And I think the coaches that are able to navigate that and maintain some consistency, I think they give their teams the best chance, too.”
Aikman also shared that he thinks one of his former teammate’s records is untouchable
Two seasons after Troy Aikman retired, the future NFL Hall of Famer watched as former Cowboys teammate Emmitt Smith broke one of the most significant records in all of sports.
On Oct. 27, 2002, in a home game against the Seahawks, Smith took down Walter Payton’s career rushing record. (You can check out the play here). At that point, Smith was in his 13th season. He played two more seasons, changing teams from the Cowboys to the Cardinals. And Smith retired with 18,355 yards.
No running back since then has come close to threatening the record. And Troy Aikman says it’s safe to predict that no back ever will break the Emmitt Smith standard.
“I think it’s pretty safe,” Aikman said of the record. “I can’t imagine in my lifetime that I’ll see anyone really threaten that record. The game’s going to have to change dramatically.”