Troy Aikman

"Yeah. No, I do not remember. I don't really like I didn't have anything like that though. Definitely not. I mean, my age, I was like, hey, mom, get me, you know, a cool Giants folder. Get me a Troy Aikman folder. Get me a John Elway folder. And then I was like, OK, that one's math, that one's English. And I kind of did it that way. I did not ever have or was given those big binders where it was like, hey, this is your subject. And they kind of started the organization for the kid. I feel like we came from an era where they were like, no, yeah, you guys figure it out at home and then bring it and we'll help you out from there."

"Rodgers can pass several Hall of Fame quarterbacks on the NFL's all-time leaderboards during his farewell season in Pittsburgh Aug 24, 2026 at 8:41 am ET • 6 min read As Aaron Rodgers enters the final season of his Hall of Fame career, the question isn't what milestone he can reach in 2026, but rather how many. The 42-year-old enters his 22nd and final season as the NFL's all-time leader in touchdown/interception ratio (1.4%) and tied with Lamar Jackson for the best career passer rating (102.2). He has also been sacked more than any other quarterback (600 times) in league history. Rodgers has a chance to reach several other notable milestones during his final season. Barring an injury, Rodgers is a shoo-in to reach a few of the below milestones, while a few others would require another MVP-caliber season from the four-time league MVP. Member of 70K club RankYardsSeasons1. Tom Brady89,2142000-222. Drew Brees80,3582001-203. Peyton Manning71,9401998-154. Brett Favre71,8381991-105. Aaron Rodgers66,2742005-present6. Matthew Stafford64,5162009-present7. Ben Roethlisberger64,0882004-218. Philip Rivers63,9842004-20; 20059. Matt Ryan 62,7922008-2210. Dan Marino 61,3611983-99Barring an insane season, Rodgers' Achilles injury in 2023 deprived him of the chance to pass his former teammate, Brett Favre, on the all-time career passing list. Rodgers still has a good chance, though, to join Favre in a pretty select fraternity of quarterbacks. Rodgers is 3,726 yards away from joining Favre, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees as the only quarterbacks to throw for at least 70,000 yards. Rodgers is just one of 10 quarterbacks in history to throw for at least 60,000 yards. Dan Marino, the first quarterback to reach 60,000 yards, became the NFL's career passing leader during the 1995 season when he broke the mark that previously had been held by Fran Tarkenton, who led the Vikings to three NFC titles during the 1970s. Favre then broke Marino's record during his final season with the Packers. Favre held the record for eight years before Manning beat him out. Brees eventually passed Manning before Brady then stepped into the top spot.Touchdown passes, all-timeRankTDs1. Tom Brady6492. Drew Brees5713. Peyton Manning5394. Aaron Rodgers5275. Brett Favre5086. Philip Rivers4257. Matthew Stafford 4238. Dan Marino 4209. Ben Roethlisberger41910. Matt Ryan 381Last year, Rodgers passed Favre for fourth all-time in career touchdown passes. With 527 career touchdown passes, Rodgers is 13 away from passing Manning, whose 539 career touchdown passes was the NFL record when he retired at the end of the 2015 season. Ironically, Manning broke the record that was previously held by Favre, who was the all-time leader in both passing yards and touchdown passes when he retired at the end of the 2010 season. Manning has since been passed by Brady and Brees. Most regular-season wins, all-time RankWins1. Tom Brady251T2. Peyton Manning186T2. Brett Favre1864. Drew Brees1725. Ben Roethlisberger1656. Aaron Rodgers1637. John Elway 1488. Dan Marino 1479. Philip Rivers13410. Matt Ryan 124Barring injury, Rodgers will undoubtedly pass former Steelers great Ben Roethlisberger for the fifth-most regular-season wins among starting quarterbacks during the early stages of the season. Rodgers is currently just two wins behind Big Ben. Rodgers is just 10 wins shy of passing Brees, who won the majority of his starts during his prolific run with the New Orleans Saints, which included the franchise's first Super Bowl win at the end of the 2009 season. Total wins by a starting quarterback, all-time RankWins1. Tom Brady2862. Peyton Manning2003. Brett Favre1994. Drew Brees1815. Ben Roethlisberger1786. Aaron Rodgers1747. John Elway 1628. Dan Marino1559. Philip Rivers 13910. Joe Montana 133Rodgers is just five wins away from passing Roethlisberger and eight wins from passing Brees for fourth on the all-time list. He won't be able to catch Favre, whose 199 wins trail only Brady and Manning. Once again, Brady has a sizable cushion over the field in this department. It goes without saying that Rodgers has been a consummate winner throughout his NFL career. In addition to his Super Bowl title, Rodgers led the Packers to the playoffs 11 times, which includes eight consecutive trips from 2009-16. Green Bay reached the NFC title game four times with Rodgers under center. During his first season in Pittsburgh, Rodgers helped the Steelers capture their first division title since 2020. It was Rodgers' ninth division title as a starting quarterback. Most playoff wins by a starting quarterback RankWins1. Tom Brady352. Patrick Mahomes173. Joe Montana 16T4. Terry Bradshaw14T4. John Elway 14T4. Peyton Manning14T7. Ben Roethlisberger13T7. Brett Favre13T9. Troy Aikman 11T9. Roger Staubach 11T9. Aaron Rodgers 1112. Joe Flacco 10 Pittsburgh's last playoff win came on January 15, 2017, when the visiting Steelers posted an 18-16 win over the Chiefs on the strength of six Chris Boswell field goals. Along with Boswell, the star for the Steelers that night was Le'Veon Bell, whose 170 yards on the ground broke his one-week-old franchise single-game postseason record. While not as long as Pittsburgh's drought, Rogers also hasn't won a playoff game in some time. His most recent win in the postseason was Green Bay's 32-18 win over the Los Angeles Rams in the 2020 NFC divisional round. The following week, the Packers were upset at home by the eventual Super Bowl champion Buccaneers. Rodgers' teams have been on the short end of the final score in each of his last three playoff games, most recently Pittsburgh's 30-6 wild-card loss to the Houston Texans this past January. Most game-winning drives RankNumber1. Tom Brady582. Peyton Manning54T3. Drew Brees53T3. Ben Roethlisberger535. Matthew Stafford 50 6. Dan Marino 477. Matt Ryan 468. Brett Favre43T9. John Elway 40 T9. Russell Wilson 40 11. Johnny Unitas 38T12. Eli Manning37T12. Aaron Rodegers 37Sans 2023 (when he missed virtually the entire season), Rodgers has engineered at least one game-winning drive each year since he became a starting quarterback back in 2008. He had a career-high four game-winning drives in 2022, his final season with the Packers. Rodgers mounted three game-winning drives each of the past two seasons. Last season, his late-game heroics led the Steelers to early-season wins over the Jets (in Week 1) and the Patriots (in Week 3). His most recent game-winning drive was a memorable one; it culminated in a touchdown pass that ultimately gave the Steelers a division-clinching win over the Ravens in Week 18. Most Pro Bowl appearances by a QB RankPro Bowls1. Tom Brady152. Peyton Manning143. Drew Brees134. Brett Favre 11T5. Aaron Rodgers10T5. Russell Wilson 10T5. Johnny Unitas10T8. Warren Moon 9 T8. John Elway 9 T8. Dan Marino 9 T.8 Fran Tarkenton 9T8. Norm Van Brocklin 9Rodgers can tie Favre for the fourth-most Pro Bowl selections among quarterbacks if he is selected in 2026. He would also join Brady and Favre as the only quarterbacks to earn Pro Bowl nods after turning 40. Favre, who turned 41 during the 2009 season, earned his final Pro Bowl nod that season after putting together one of the finest seasons of his career. Brady also had one of his best seasons late in his career. In 2021, at age 44, Brady earned his final Pro Bowl nod after throwing for a career-high 5,316 yards and 43 touchdowns. He led the NFL in both departments. Most NFL MVP awards PlayerMVPs1. Peyton Manning52. Aaron Rodgers 4T3. Tom Brady 3T3. Brett Favre 3T3. Jim Brown 3T3. Johnny Unitas 3T7. Lamar Jackson 2T7. Patrick Mahomes 2T7. Kurt Warner 2T7. Steve Young 2T8. Joe Montana 2While unlikely, Rodgers still technically has a chance to tie the record for the most league MVP awards in NFL history. In doing so, he would become the oldest league MVP in NFL history. Ironically, the league's oldest MVP is Matthew Stafford, who was 37 when he captured his first league MVP at the end of the 2025 season."

"One last point. And I fit this in because we're talking about the Raiders. There have been developments as it relates to the whole Tom Brady, Troy Aikman restrictions on being at team facilities, being at practices because they have these analyst roles with broadcasters that handle all games of all 32 teams in theory. I wrote something earlier this week about how Brady and Aikman will necessarily help the Raiders and Dolphins compete, respectively by virtue of this access they have. And the catalyst for that was, someone from the Seahawks told me there's no way that Brady and the Raiders hire Clint Kubiak without Brady's extended access to Kubiak last season, capped by division around game, 49ers Seahawks on Fox, Brady working the game, and NFC Championship, Rams Seahawks on Fox, Brady working the game. It's not an interview. It's basically an audition. It's a practical audition. You're seeing how the guy's behaving in the days leading up to a season deciding game, how he's working, how he's communicating, how he's handling it. No one else who was considering Clint Kubiak has access to that. They can't even be talking to him when Brady has access to him in advance of the two playoff games. But, countering that, I basically got a tongue in cheek request from another team. Stop talking about the Brady stuff. Stop talking about it. Why? He's not going to make him any better, as long as he's doing all this other shit. So, let him, let him keep doing what he's doing. Let him think, let him think that he's in a position to turn this thing around, because he's not. I'm more worried about Matt Ryan, I was told, than I am Tom Brady, because Matt Ryan, right, he loaded up the truck and moved to Atlanta. He's there. He didn't try to do both jobs. He's all in, all the time. You got to be all in, all the time to be effective. Now, Aikman's in a different spot, because he's not pretending to be the GM or an owner. He's just kind of an agent out in the field. He's a traveling salesman for the, for the Dolphins. But, yeah, they, is it a conflict? Yes. Should the NFL have never allowed it? Absolutely, they should never have allowed it. Are teams afraid of Tom Brady helping the Raiders turn it around? They are not."

"Aikman questioned the Cowboys' power structure, praised Jimmy Johnson's authority and said the team's loyal fans deserve better Aug 20, 2026 at 12:10 pm ET • 3 min read Like every Cowboys fan, Troy Aikman did not think that his third Super Bowl win with Dallas would be his last. But not only was that the last title for Aikman's Cowboys, but it also remains the last championship for one of the most recognizable brands in professional sports. The upcoming season represents the 31st since the Cowboys won the Super Bowl, let alone played in one. Dallas' 31-year drought without a conference title appearance is the longest in the NFC. For Aikman, a Hall of Fame quarterback and the MVP of Super Bowl XXVII, the fact that the Cowboys haven't had more postseason success over the past 30 years is incomprehensible. "It's hard to fathom," Aikman said on the "Dallas Dialogue with Dale" podcast earlier this month. "I mean, it really is. We talk every year about parity and how we've seen teams that have gone from last to first and teams that have not been historically very good, and yet they still make a run. They'll make it to a championship game, or they'll make it to a Super Bowl. And yet for the Cowboys, that hasn't happened."What makes the Cowboys' drought more perplexing, Aikman said, is that his former team has had considerable success in the regular season over the past 30 years, but that success hasn't translated into a deep playoff run. Aikman isn't exactly sure why the Cowboys haven't had more playoff success. He does know, however, that it's time that the franchise's passionate fanbase is rewarded for its loyalty. "The Cowboys fans, they deserve better," Aikman said. "I do know that. I mean, this is the Cowboys, the flagship franchise, and the fact that the Cowboys in 30 years has not made it to a championship game, let alone a Super Bowl. I mean, it's hard to fathom." Every Cowboys fan knows when the franchise took a turn for the worst. It was shortly after Dallas won its second of back-to-back championships when Jimmy Johnson and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones mutually agreed to part ways. Johnson's departure was fueled at least in part by Jones telling several reporters that "500 coaches could win Super Bowls with this team." The Cowboys won a record third Super Bowl in four years, a year after Johnson's departure, but it was clear that there were cracks in Dallas' championship armor. Although they won it all in 1995, the Cowboys weren't as good that year as they were in 1994, and they weren't as good in '94 as they were in 1993, Johnson's last season in Dallas. In addition to Johnson's departure, many have pointed to Dallas' drought being a byproduct of Jones' continued insistence on serving as the team's president and general manager in addition to being the owner. While Jones deserves credit for the success the Cowboys have had under his watch, it goes without saying that he has also played a considerable role in the team's ongoing championship drought. "I think that teams and organizations, whether it's sports, business, I think it all does start at the top, good or bad," Aikman said. "I think it starts at the top. I don't think Jerry would shy away from that. I think Jerry would certainly take responsibility. He'll take accountability if and when they win, and I think then you have to take responsibility when it hasn't worked out. And it hasn't worked out." In defending his decision to serve as president and general manager, Jones has said that there are no guarantees that a new general manager would lead to more success. And while Jones is technically right, Aikman doesn't feel that that is a legitimate reason to stand pat. "If that's your philosophy, then you would never fire the head coach either," Aikman said. "You would never make any changes because there are no guarantees whatsoever. But you know, they've been going down this road for so long, and yet it hasn't translated into success in January, and there has to be a reason for that. "You know, I'm not in the building. Everyone then has their opinion as to what it might be, but it just doesn't add up. I mean, to me, you have to make changes in how you're doing it. If for three decades, you've been unable to win back-to-back playoff games to get into a championship game, and then when they've had the number one seed and a first-round bye, they haven't gotten out of the divisional round. ... There's been four playoff wins in 30 years, so that's it's just unacceptable.""

"Published August 19, 2026 10:57 AM The Raiders haven’t won a playoff game since 2002. The Dolphins haven’t won a playoff game since 2000. The effort to change things up has included, for the Raiders, adding Tom Brady as an owner and, for the Dolphins, hiring Troy Aikman.The fact that both are employed as the top game analysts at Fox and ESPN, respectively, creates obvious conflict-of-interest issues. Although the NFL would say, as to each of them, “Where’s the conflict?,” the application of restrictions to their ability to enter team facilities and attend practice shows that the two roles don’t mesh.The league dropped the ball by not telling Brady to pick a lane, when he was trying to get his bargain-basement slice of the Raiders approved. And with Brady blazing the trail, Aikman (who had long aspired to be a G.M.) decided to walk the same path.It’s a massive benefit for the Raiders and Dolphins to have a not-secret agent roaming the NFL countryside, attending games and talking to people around the league as part of their broadcasting jobs. No other team enjoys that kind of insight.Aikman acknowledged the basic fact earlier this year, when it became clear that his short-term consulting gig would become a longer-term arrangement. “I think the Dolphins were wise in understanding my relationships around the league,” Aikman said. “And knowing that I have information that they don’t have or can’t get. And I think they were smart in taking advantage of that — whether it was through me or through somebody else.”As to Brady, one Seahawks source recently suggested that the Raiders wouldn’t have hired Klint Kubiak as the team’s latest head coach but for Brady’s access to Kubiak as part of Brady’s Fox gig. No other team that was considering Kubiak had an opportunity to essentially interview him within the confines of meetings and communications unrelated to a formal interview. Brady worked both of the Seattle playoff games, in both the divisional round and conference-championship round, at a time when teams were figuring out which coaches to hire. Given his separate role as a Raiders owner, Brady had an opportunity to actively evaluate Kubiak that none of the other teams looking for coaches could even begin to duplicate.None of this will be an issue until the Raiders and/or Dolphins become consistent contenders again. If/when that happens, people with other teams will finally realize that they never should have let this situation exist, and they’ll begin clamoring for a way to undo it.At that point, the challenge for the NFL will be clear. They created this problem. If they ever try to clean up the mess, they’ll first have to admit that they made it."