Cowboys fans can witness the greatest QB of all time and the best OT of his generation be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio today at 1:00 pm EST. I had the privledge of watching both of these players in their prime and I have to tell you I simply never saw anybody play either position any better than Troy Aikman and Rayfield Wright.
To me, Aikman displayed every single trait that you want in a QB. He was big, strong with a powerful arm that was more accurate than any QB I ever saw play. He was intelligent, could read defenses and was as physically and mentally tough as any player who ever stepped on a football field. In his rookie year, I remember seeing him take shot after shot, but he just stood in the pocket tough and never flinched, his passes were always on the money. Most of all, however, Troy was a great leader and a winner. Sure he had great talent around him, but so did every other great qb who has ever won multiple Super Bowls. If free agency didn't come into play during Troy's playing days, there is no question in my mind he would have at least 5 or 6 Super Bowl titles to his name.
He didn't have great career stats like Marino, Elway or Farve because he usually had his team so far ahead by halftime, all he did was hand off to Emmitt in the 3rd and 4th quarters. Don't kid yourselves, Troy could have easily have thrown for 400 yards and 4 TD's every game like those guys if need be, but he played on such a great team, he didn't have to. However, when the man had to put up numbers, he did, just look at the 1994 NFC championship game when the Cowboys got behind early to the 49er's, he threw for almost 400 yards and almost came back from being down by 3 TD's. So don't judge Aikman by numbers, that certainly wouldn't be fair. Judge him by the success of the team and then you can understand why I feel he's the best to ever play the QB position.
Now Rayfield, I actually watched him as a kid, but I remember that DE's on Roger's blindside never touched him when Ray was playing and that Dorsett had many of his career yards behind old number 70. In those days OT were lean and at 250 pounds, Rayfield was as athletic as they come. To show you how great of a player he was, Mean Joe Greene once called him the best linemen he's ever faced, that should tell you how great he was.
My hat is off to both of these great Cowboys and I'll probably shed a tear or two watching them be inducted this Saturday afternoon. To both of these guys, nobody has ever done it any better. CONGRATULATIONS!