2011 Alex Smith vs. 1995 Troy Aikman

Originally posted by sacniner:

Originally posted by skeetskeet:

Originally posted by BrianGO:
Irvin was overrated, Aikman was not though.

Ill argue that. Best O-Line possibly of all time. One of the Best rushing attacks of all time. Never had to carry his team. He was the original game manager. Only had one season over 20 touchdowns.

Teams stacked the box and left him with favorable match ups one on one.

Steve Young on those early 90s cowboys teams, wins 10 superbowls.

This is more like it. I don't think either was really overrated, but if one of them was it is probably Aikman. He had an overall ridiculous amount of talent around him.

When Smith first came into the league, the one Hall-of-Fame player he reminded me of most was Aikman. Everybody laughed when I said that.

Aikman had talent around him, and he was a statue in the pocket. Zero mobility. However, I think Aikman made Irvin's career. Aikman had phenomenal accuracy. One of the most accurate quarterbacks of all time, I hate to say. Irvin was a big, physical receiver who was able to dominate because Aikman would drop pass after pass on a dime to him. Even if Irvin was well covered, the catch would be completed anyway because it was thrown perfectly, and Irvin would out muscle the DB for position.
Irvin was a like a lesser Andre Johnson, with a quarterback who threw picture perfect, breathtakingly accurate footballs, year after year. There are plenty of WR's not in the Hall-of-Fame who are better than Michael Irvin.

Meh , I don't see it.

smith looks like a west coast QB.

At his best he looks montanish.

At his worst he looks Alex smith ish.(confused hold the ball....and...sacked)

He looks nothing like aikman. Nothing of his game reminds me of aikman.

Troy had 3rd and short to novakeck. Had the rope to Irving on a comeback and the post to a 20 yard per catch Harper .... Almost at will.

Very different offense , very different comfort level.


I am over joyed to eat crow on this but Smith at his best ( and he brings his A game OFTEN lately) looks surgical.

At his best he has cleaner timing then Garcia , he looks Joe or Steve like.

He is a product of the offense , but his production is not gimmicky or cheap like aikmans could be off of play action ect.

Originally posted by Dshearn:
Meh , I don't see it.

smith looks like a west coast QB.

At his best he looks montanish.

At his worst he looks Alex smith ish.(confused hold the ball....and...sacked)

He looks nothing like aikman. Nothing of his game reminds me of aikman.

Troy had 3rd and short to novakeck. Had the rope to Irving on a comeback and the post to a 20 yard per catch Harper .... Almost at will.

Very different offense , very different comfort level.


I am over joyed to eat crow on this but Smith at his best ( and he brings his A game OFTEN lately) looks surgical.

At his best he has cleaner timing then Garcia , he looks Joe or Steve like.

He is a product of the offense , but his production is not gimmicky or cheap like aikmans could be off of play action ect.

I think of a "west coast" quarterback as a player who is quick with the feet, and quick with the release (Montana, Young, Garcia). Aikman read the field and made good throws, but needed a pocket and a running game to be a great player. That's how I see Smith.

I think alex smith is an future hall of famer.He will get better as time goes by.he had great numbers in utah.he was a former 1st pick.I dont know why everyone is surprised by his success

Originally posted by reno911:
I think alex smith is an future hall of famer.He will get better as time goes by.he had great numbers in utah.he was a former 1st pick.I dont know why everyone is surprised by his success

thats a bold statement! I want what you're drinking buddy

Originally posted by reno911:
I think alex smith is an future hall of famer.He will get better as time goes by.he had great numbers in utah.he was a former 1st pick.I dont know why everyone is surprised by his success

Have a seat, here's your viewing for the evening, it's a stack of films called 2005-2010

Originally posted by BrianGO:

I think of a "west coast" quarterback as a player who is quick with the feet, and quick with the release (Montana, Young, Garcia). Aikman read the field and made good throws, but needed a pocket and a running game to be a great player. That's how I see Smith.

I see where your going with that. Your looking at his whole game. I am cherry picking his best and hoping he continues to grow in to that.

I think Smith is turning or has in some sense the corner.

Looking at successful drives in the last 2 years he can go 4 of 4 or 5 of 6 on 3 step drops.

I have called the guy garbage for 7 years.

But , I feel it's plausabe his a+ game could carry this team to the Super Bowl.

I kinda would like to see smith in PATS offense to see how well he faired with out the running game , just to see if he really turned the corner.

Originally posted by Dshearn:
Meh , I don't see it.

smith looks like a west coast QB.

At his best he looks montanish.

At his worst he looks Alex smith ish.(confused hold the ball....and...sacked)

He looks nothing like aikman. Nothing of his game reminds me of aikman.

Troy had 3rd and short to novakeck. Had the rope to Irving on a comeback and the post to a 20 yard per catch Harper .... Almost at will.

Very different offense , very different comfort level.


I am over joyed to eat crow on this but Smith at his best ( and he brings his A game OFTEN lately) looks surgical.

At his best he has cleaner timing then Garcia , he looks Joe or Steve like.

He is a product of the offense , but his production is not gimmicky or cheap like aikmans could be off of play action ect.

I agree with this for the most part.

I think Aikman is overrated. You put Marino or P. Manning into the Cowboys offfense of the 90s and the guys destroy records. That offense was made for strong armed QBs that aren't very mobile. The oline was awesome, great RB, great blocking FB, TE as the safety net, and two WRs who could push the field.

Originally posted by Marvin49:
I posted something similar over a month ago and was told by many that "the game has changed...you need big offense to win". How'd that work out for the Pack and the Saints?

Originally posted by BobS:

Aikman had way more weapons than Alex Smith, as far as receivers we only have them beat at tight end.

Aikman only had Irvin. We have a better TE, comparable RB and FB and an equivalent 2nd WR.

We are so built like those Cowboys teams. Take a look at the NFCC back then and those Cowboys spread the ball around more than we did.

Originally posted by Marvin49:
I posted something similar over a month ago and was told by many that "the game has changed...you need big offense to win". How'd that work out for the Pack and the Saints?

Both teams won a superbowl. Just sayin.

Originally posted by Joecool:

Originally posted by BobS:
Aikman had way more weapons than Alex Smith, as far as receivers we only have them beat at tight end.

Aikman only had Irvin. We have a better TE, comparable RB and FB and an equivalent 2nd WR.

We are so built like those Cowboys teams. Take a look at the NFCC back then and those Cowboys spread the ball around more than we did.

Don't really agree with this. To add to a point first.... Aikman started out his first years with strength for his receiving corps , RBs, and OL.

Daryl Johnston was a beast... Herschel Walker.. then Emmitt Smith... Kelvin Martin was a productive veteran opposite of Irvin.. the OL had four Pro Bowl studs on it at key positions.. Jay Novacek.

As for Novacek.. VD may be better now that he has developed his game.. but he was not better than Jay through his first few years. He couldn't run routes well, dropped lots of passes, and and couldn't find soft spots in zone. VD had the speed, but Novacek was far more QB-friendly until VD's recent years and even that is debatable.

Originally posted by skeetskeet:
Ive said from the get go that Alex is Aikman. And we are built like early 90s cowboys

The 90s Cowboys had the most boring offense. We are 1000x more creative than they were.

I disagree. The '95 Cowboys were 95% Emmitt Smith, and 5% everyone else. Aikman had no role other than to keep the TO ratio low.

Gore is a great RB, but he's no Emmitt Smith. Nor does our "rushing by commitee" scheme compare anywhere near Emmitt's accomplishment that year. If we want to win the SB, Alex will have to be the leader of this team.

Originally posted by DonnieDarko:

Originally posted by skeetskeet:
Ive said from the get go that Alex is Aikman. And we are built like early 90s cowboys

The 90s Cowboys had the most boring offense. We are 1000x more creative than they were.

90s cowboys offense = 80's Rams offense + a defense