Every time Patrick Mahomes gets a step closer to the Super Bowl, fans troll NFL Hall of Famer Troy Aikman for his infamous tweet from 2019. This season, too, it’s been the same story. Here’s the context: The Athletic once published a piece noting how “Patrick Mahomes has thrown 36% of Troy Aikman’s career touchdowns, in about 8% of the games”.
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Surprisingly, Aikman hit back at the statistic by asking the writer to talk to him when Mahomes has “33% of his Super Bowl Titles,” which equates to just one — one that Mahomes didn’t have at that time. However, since Aikman’s viral response, the Chiefs quarterback has matched the Hall of Famer’s Super Bowl tally and is now aiming for a three-peat this year [3].
While many saw Troy’s post as a shot at Mahomes back then, Aikman has since revealed that his words were never meant to disrespect Mahomes.
In an appearance on Pardon My Take back in October last year, the former Cowboys QB finally clarified what irked him about the post by Athletic. Troy confessed that, for someone who has never been in the top percentile in QB stats, it felt quite strange to see his name dragged into a statistical comparison.
Aikman argued that the comparison would have made much more sense if it were all-time greats like Dan Marino or Joe Montana in the conversation instead of him. So, in a bid to defend himself, the legendary QB asked the writer to compare him with Mahomes on the metric that matters most — Super Bowl wins.
So technically, Aikman took shots at the writer, not Patrick Mahomes.
“For a quarterback, the only thing that matters is winning championships. I mean, that’s all that we’re ultimately judged on. So at the end of the day, the championships, in my opinion, and I know that sounds self-serving because I was able to win three, but that’s what matters. So I just thought, what do numbers mean? It’s irrelevant. So my reply was a shot back at the writer to say, ‘Hey, this is what matters.’ It was never a shot at Patrick Mahomes.”
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That said, Troy hasn’t shied away from speaking out against Mahomes when he deems it necessary. Most recently, he was seen criticizing the controversial refereeing decision in the Chiefs-Texans Divisional Round game, where the officials gave the advantage to Mahomes despite Texans defenders Henry To’oTo’o and Foley Fatukasi colliding with each other without even touching the QB.
Troy, who was live on broadcast during that play, bluntly called out the officials for awarding Mahomes with soft calls. “Oh come on. I mean, he’s a runner and I could not disagree with that one more. He barely gets hit,” said Aikman.
While Aikman’s statements once again made netizens wonder if there’s any animosity between him and Mahomes, the reality seems far from it. Based on his public appearances and behavior, Troy comes across as an honest guy who never shies away from calling a spade a spade. And as we all know, the realest are often the most hated.
