Quote:
Originally Posted by mcsluggo
Without Aikman's super line, he likely would've been a middle of the road QB.
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I have to take exception to this....Aikman would have been a top tier quarterback in the 90's behind any offensive line.
I see this argument in many forms -- E. Smith was only E. Smith because he ran behind such a great line, Aikman was only a Aikman because he had Smith and Irvin, Irvin was only Irvin because everybody else on the team was so very good, etc., etc...
The thing is.....the ca 92-96 Cowboys were an all-time great team. They're right up there with any other team from any other era. When you're talking about this team, you're talking about all-time greatness.
The reason the 92-96 Cowboys were all-time greatness is because they had a great offensive line, and a great running back, and a very very very good defense with a great pass rusher, and very sharp special teams play, and a great quarterback. If you took the great offensive line and the great running back off those teams, they wouldn't have won three superbowls but nonetheless they would have had a great quarterback.
If you look back at the playoffs during that stretch, you'll see that the cowboys were almost always ahead going into the second half.* The same is largely true during those regular seasons. The reason they were always ahead was in very large part because Aikman was that good. He was an amazingly accurate passer who knew when to stand in the pocket and take the hit and who knew when to get rid of the ball. He made plays, time and time again. Those teams threw the ball to get a lead, and then Emmitt and the o-line took over, not the other way around.
Once Aikman crossed 30, he started slipping a bit and it was more than just the team around him. The concussions, the trophies, the crack smoking shenanigans on the team all took its toll on him, but for a significant stretch he was far better than anything Mark Rypien ever thought about being.
*Two exceptions were the second Buffalo Super Bowl when Aikman was playing with a concussion that should have kept him out of the game and the '94 NFC Championship game where a series of freak occurences had the Cowboys down by 21 a few minutes into the first quarter.