Cowboys & Chiefs: Viral 'Aikman Vs. Mahomes' Reaction Misses Troy's True Point

There Is A Real and Important Point To Ex Cowboys QB Troy Aikman’s So-Called ‘Anti-Mahomes’ Tweet Which, Following The Chiefs' Super Bowl Win, Is Going Viral - for All The Wrong Reasons

The Kansas City Chiefs have won the Super Bowl in part due to the gifts of quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who was the MVP of the NFL last season and the MVP of the title game this season. The Hall-of-Fame quarterback Troy Aikman - who was the FOX TV analyst for Sunday's game - obviously recognizes those gifts.

So why is an old Aikman tweet being wrongly painted as "anti-Mahomes''? And why is it going viral?

iCYMI: Talk to me when when he has 33% of my Super Bowl Titles https://t.co/Ba8kjPRnDs

— Troy Aikman (@TroyAikman) September 24, 2019

There's the tweet. From late September. Which now has about 200,000 reactions. It's about The Athletic in KC noting that at that time, Mahomes had thrown 36 percent of Troy Aikman's career touchdowns, in about 8 percent of the games.'

 And then Aikman's pithy response: "Talk to me when when he has 33 percent of my Super Bowl Titles.''

I've known Aikman for 30 years and can tell you for a fact he loves and admires Mahomes and his abilities. But I also feel very confident in saying he's very proud of the sacrifices made by members of the 1990s Dallas Cowboys who won three Super Bowls - and that it's that "legacy of sacrifice'' he wants to protect.

Those stats on Mahomes are accurate. But Aikman's reply is also accurate, and fully understandable, in context. 

Aikman's greatest legacy with the Dallas Cowboys, to those of us who covered those teams and knew those teams, is sacrifice. Aikman's talents could've made him whatever sort of NFL quarterback he wanted to be. In particular, he could've been the engineer of a pass-first offense, and put up Dan Marino-like individual numbers. Maybe he would've won titles doing in that way. Instead, the organization and the coaching staff tasked him with a different job, a job that also featured running back Emmitt Smith and that was driven by an outstanding offensive line.

Aikman's passing numbers - and to some degree his individual accomplishments - don't match what some others have achieved. Much of that, any smart football watcher knows, is in part due to rules changes meant to increase passing numbers and scoring totals.

Mahomes, to his credit, is taking full advantage of today's NFL rules. And this Super Bowl is a great start to the Texas kid mounting a record-book assault on all the legends who came before him.

Aikman's point isn't to throw shade at the Chiefs QB. His tweet was never meant to be "anti-Mahomes.'' It was designed to support the Cowboys legacy by throwing shade at anybody who prioritizes individual accomplishments over team accomplishments. ... and to make sure observers know the difference.