Troy Aikman said the other day that Tony Romo is a better quarterback than he was. And he's right.
Technically speaking, anyway.
Aikman was in Brownsville, Texas on Tuesday at a grand opening of a Wingstop restaurant (he's a spokesman for the chicken wing chain) when a reporter from The Brownsville Herald asked him who is the better quarterback, himself or Romo?
"I think Tony already is a better quarterback than I was," Aikman said.
At this point, you might think Aikman might have been signing autographs a little too long in the Rio Grande Valley sun. But he explained his position.
"I know how quarterbacks are judged, but as far as his play-making ability and the things that he is capable of doing, he is a far more athletic quarterback, capable of making more plays than I ever was able to," Aikman said.
Aikman acknowledges that quarterbacks are judged by wins. In that sense Romo, with just one playoff win under his belt, can't even sniff Aikman's three Super Bowl rings.
Aikman also acknowledges that while he was a classic dropback passer, Romo can scramble and make plays with his feet. Romo can keep a play alive while Aikman was a mostly a statue in the pocket.
Then again Aikman didn't need to run much with his cannon arm and pinpoint accuracy. His sense of timing and ability to deliver the ball into specific windows was almost unmatched. It's why he was 22-of-30 with four TDs when he was the MVP of Super Bowl XXVII.
Going strictly by the numbers, however, Romo owns the edge over Aikman.
Romo has a career passer rating of 96.9, which ranks No. 2 all-time behind the Packers' Aaron Rodgers at 104.1.
Aikman's career rating of 81.6 isn't even in the same zip code as Romo's. Aikman passer rating ranks 46th all-time, right behind – gulp! – Danny White.
In six seasons as a starter, Romo has thrown 149 touchdown passes. Aikman threw 165 in 12 seasons.
Romo has already passed for 4,000 yards three times – the three seasons he played every game. The most yards Aikman threw in a season was 3,445 in 1992.
Romo also has a better career completion percentage than Aikman: 64.5 percent to 61.5 percent.
There are many reasons why Aikman's passing numbers don't measure up to Romo's, the biggest being that the NFL has evolved into a much more passing-oriented game since the 1990s.
Aikman also had a better team around him during the prime of his career. Who needs to throw when you have Emmitt Smith in the backfield and a huge offensive line? Not to mention a terrific defense.
Romo has never had that kind of talent surrounding him, although to be fair Romo's teams have never been as awful as the 1-15 Cowboys that Aikman led as a rookie.
But as Aikman said, quarterbacks are judged by wins, even more so in Dallas where the measuring sticks are Aikman and Roger Staubach. Romo is just 1-3 in playoff games and Aikman knows that has to change if perceptions of Romo are to change.
"He has a good team around him and hopefully, and I believe this will happen, I believe that he will win a Super Bowl before he is done playing," Aikman said in the same interview.
One Super Bowl win would do wonders for Romo's image. Of course, it will still leave him two behind Aikman.
Follow Keith Whitmire on Twitter: @Keith_Whitmire
