Here’s hoping that Troy Aikman will go out like Dan Marino, not Joe Namath.
That Aikman’s departure will remind us of Joe Montana’s, not Johnny Unitas’.
For if retirement of the great NFL quarterbacks has demonstrated anything it is that guys who make great heat-of-the-game decisions don’t always translate that brilliance into their own exits.
That players who display uncanny timing on the field don’t always have it when it comes to walking off of it.
Now it is Aikman’s audible to call after being waived by the Dallas Cowboys yesterday, ending his 12-year stay with the team that he led back to respectability and on to three Super Bowl titles.
The Cowboys’ hand was forced by a $7 million roster bonus the quarterback would have been due today if he had remained with the club.
But as much as the money, it was also the realization that a proud franchise knows that if it is going to rebuild and be a contender anytime soon, it won’t be with a 34-year-old quarterback.
Or, at least not this one. Not somebody who has suffered 10 concussions and required epidural injections to alleviate back pain. Or somebody who missed five games and was knocked out of three others.
It remains to be seen, however, if this closes the book on a Hall of Fame career or if Aikman will choose to go on in something other than blue and silver.
For the moment, Aikman and his agent, Leigh Steinberg, are non-committal on possible future plans, waiting to see if he clears waivers.
Waiting, you would also hope, to see if whatever offer presents itself will be weighed against a dignified departure due one of his standing in the NFL.
For there is nothing Aikman should have left to prove to anybody, not after nearly 33,000 passing yards and 165 touchdowns. Or three Super Bowl rings that put him in the company of Montana and Terry Bradshaw as the only quarterbacks with at least that many.
Beyond the rings and the Hall of Fame accolades they were also two quarterbacks who knew when to say when.
Bradshaw spent his entire career with Pittsburgh. Montana, while he finished up with Kansas City, did it in such a way that didn’t tarnish his remarkable 13-year body of work with San Francisco.
Unfortunately, the final glimpses of Namath and Unitas on the field, when they got there in the twilight of their careers, weren’t as forgiving. Namath hobbled into retirement after a misspent season with the Los Angeles Rams at age 34. Unitas sadly tried to hang on with the San Diego Chargers into his 40s.
Knowing when to scramble doesn’t always portend the ability to say "when" to a great career. Here’s hoping Aikman will make that distinction.
