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 Vintage
Troy:
The $11 million (Ache)man: Troy earned his big salary in rough
rookie season
By GENE WOJCIECHOWSKI
Los Angeles Times
(June 23, 1990)
IRVING - The world as Troy Aikman knew it on April 20, 1989:
Arrive at GTE facility in Thousand Oaks at 5 a.m. ... Negotiate
final points of Dallas Cowboy contract via satellite uplink system.
... Agree to six-year, $11.2-million deal. ... Drive to airport
and board Cowboy owner Jerry Jones' private jet bound for Dallas.
... Meet Metroplex reporters - all 50 or so of them. ... Join
Jones and party for an evening out on the town. ... Sign autographs.
... Call it a night, look for cab. No cab. ... Approach limousine
driver for ride. Discover that limousine is occupied by 10 giggling
young women from SMU celebrating a 21st birthday. ... Accept their
invitation of ride back to hotel. ... Pop champagne in back seat.
... Arrive at hotel and thank the young women for hospitality
(rated G, of course). ... Saw logs.
They don't make 24-hour spans like that too often. For one glorious
day, Aikman was treated to pomp and circumstance, Dallas style,
which is to say, in the grand tradition of Texas overkill. The
city showered him with praise, Jones showered him with money.
And the Cowboys, those poor, hapless Cowboys, showered him with
expectations.
More than a year later, a wiser and battered Aikman is here to
tell you that being an NFL rookie quarterback is everything it's
cracked up to be. And worse.
Limos? Aikman felt as if he had been crushed by one the day the
Phoenix Cardinals sent him staggering groggily toward the sideline
with a concussion.
Giggling? How about groans? Aikman missed five games, among them
the Cowboys only victory of the year, with a broken finger on
his left hand.
The popping of champagne? Only if Aikman wanted to celebrate the
end of a season that he now says aged him "a good five years."
Loss after mind-numbing loss. Broken plays galore. A roster so
thin that Coach Jimmy Johnson was forced to start four rookies
on offense. No wonder Aikman sought out his agent, Leigh Steinberg,
at season's end.
"I don't know how those (quarterbacks) make it 10 years,"
Aikman said.
"Troy, quarterbacks don't get hit the way you did for 10
years," Steinberg said.
Aikman had been told to expect hard times. Several UCLA teammates,
who had gone on to play in the league, warned him that the experience
would be like no other. The Pac-10, it wasn't. Steinberg, who
negotiated the contracts of quarterbacks Steve Bartkowski and
Warren Moon, among others, detailed the pressures put on rookie
starters. Johnson did what he could, but what did he know? He
was in the same creaky boat as Aikman.
"No one can really tell you exactly how it's going to be,"
Aikman said. "It's just something you have to learn by yourself."
Create the worst situation for a No. 1 draft choice and you have
the marriage between the 1989 Cowboys and Aikman. New owner. New
coach. New staff. New offense. New halfback, what with Herschel
Walker traded away shortly after the start of the season.
Same sorry results.
"I'd never been around a team that was as far down as we
were," Johnson said. "But Troy really played better
than anybody ever imagined, as far as a rookie quarterback (goes).
He can show things even without a supporting cast."
And don't think he didn't get his chance. Aikman was the team's
second-leading rusher, which should tell you a little something
about life in the post-Herschel era.
As for learning at the knee of an established starting quarterback,
forget it. Johnson jettisoned the incumbent, Steve Pelluer, and
then, after a brief - and some say perfunctory - battle with fellow
rookie Steve Walsh, Aikman was given the job.
Like it or not, Aikman became the sole hope of a franchise. And
although it wasn't exactly a blueprint for success - see Elway,
John, circa 1983 - the Cowboys were left with few options. They
could start Aikman. They could start Walsh, another rookie. Or
they could try Babe Laufenberg, who had six NFL starts to his
credit.
They chose Aikman.
"A guy going in the first round, especially the first player
chosen, well, a team doesn't pick him not to play," Aikman
said. "He's got to realize that his time is going to come."
But so soon? Aikman didn't even know all the names of his teammates
when Johnson handed him, in essence, the Cowboys' destiny.
That was some organization, those 1989 Cowboys. Jones was despised
by Tom Landry loyalists, of which there were many. Johnson wasn't
trusted: guilt by association. And two of the three Cowboy quarterback
candidates were rookies. It was the year of living dangerously,
and by (and on) the seat of your pants.
"We were here during that first minicamp, and I remember
just trying to break the huddle the right way," Laufenberg
said.
Meanwhile, Aikman was trying to pretend he was just one of the
guys, who happened to have $11.2 million stashed away. He happily
accepted the nickname "Eight-ball" - as in, behind it
- bestowed on him by Laufenberg, who was called "Oddball."
Then-quarterback coach Jerry Rhome, who was bald, was called "Cueball."
Aikman ran errands for the veterans, which included picking up
their sandwich requests during lunch breaks. He stood up and sang
when so ordered. Rather than render UCLA tunes, Aikman belted
out some gawd-awful renditions of Hank Williams ballads.
He was treading delicate territory here. Aikman had to tiptoe
the fine line that separates humility from leadership. He was
a rookie, sure, but he also was the starting quarterback-to-be.
In the end, Aikman never entirely resolved the contradiction.
"My problem always has been that I have no patience in anything
I do," he said. "I have no patience for screw-ups. When
I screw up, I have no patience with myself. And I have no patience
with other guys when they're fouling up."
So, Aikman bit his tongue for the most part. Silence wasn't golden,
it was exasperating. There were times he wanted to assert himself,
but couldn't. Or wouldn't.
Instead, Aikman put even more pressure on himself. He searched
for perfection on a grossly imperfect team. He failed to accept
one of Laufenberg's football theories: Every level you progress
- from high school to college, from college to pros, - the tougher
it is to strap a team to one player's back. And here was Aikman
trying to carry the whole load up a very steep flight of stairs.
"Any time you play a guy as a rookie, you have to be careful
you don't crush him," Laufenberg said.
But even with knees buckling on occasion, Aikman never complained.
He didn't dare.
As if that weren't enough, Aikman found it hard to say no to appearance
requests. Always the good soldier, Aikman thought it his duty
to make the banquet rounds, or play in a charity golf tournament,
or talk to the Kiwanis Club.
"If someone wanted him to cut the ribbon at a gas station
50 miles away, Troy would say, 'Great, I'll be there,' "
Laufenberg said.
In the lobby of the team's training facility are three television
monitors. In other years tape after tired tape of Cowboy highlights
was shown. Now, two of the television sets are blank. The other
one features an afternoon soap opera.
Had you witnessed the Cowboys' 1989 season, you'd know why.
Aikman's regular-season career began against the New Orleans Saints
at the Superdome. The Saints won, 28-0, taking full advantage
of Aikman's inexperience.
"I don't know if they ran the same defense twice," Laufenberg
said.
Which brings us to another of Laufenberg's theories: The younger
the quarterback, the more pass coverages he will see.
"They figure, 'Let's throw the kitchen sink at him,' "
Laufenberg said. "By the end of the year, Troy had seen every
defense known to man."
Dallas lost to Atlanta next, then to Washington, then to the New
York Giants, but not before Aikman was sent to the locker room
with a broken finger. At first, he thought he had simply jammed
the digit. So he rushed up to offensive lineman Kevin Gogan and
had him yank the finger - twice. If it wasn't broken before Gogan
tugged, it was afterward.
Aikman missed the next five games. He had one touchdown and six
interceptions to show for his troubles. Nor were things expected
to improve much upon his return, especially after the Cowboys
had traded Walker to the Minnesota Vikings after the fifth week
of the season. Without Walker, the Cowboys would have to depend
on their passing game and Aikman that much more.
But something happened during Aikman's stay on the injured-reserve
list. He began to relax. He began to be himself.
"The time I had off was really a blessing for me," he
said.
On Nov. 12 against the Phoenix Cardinals, Aikman was back in the
starting lineup and promptly broke an NFL rookie record by passing
for 379 yards. The clincher was a 75-yard touchdown play to wide
receiver James Dixon, who undoubtedly never saw linebaker Anthony
Bell crunch Aikman as the ball was delivered.
Aikman, blood oozing from his right ear, wobbled off the field
with a game-ending concussion. And a record to cherish in a 24-20
defeat.
Despite Aikman's best efforts, the Cowboys did not win a game
with him as their starter. They had a quarterback, but no defense.
Aikman threw four touchdown passes against the Los Angeles Rams
... and lost. He lowered his interception rate, increased his
touchdown percentage. His completion mark was an impressive 56
percent in those final seven games. Yet, there was not a single
victory to show for it.
Cowboy fans were surprisingly calm.
"Realistically, people didn't expect us to do a lot better
than last year's record (3-13)," Aikman said. "Actually,
I thought they were really pretty easy on us."
Said Laufenberg: "They booed him, but it wasn't as bad as
it could have been. With Troy, at least he got to the fourth quarter
before they started booing him. They gave him the benefit of the
doubt through three quarters."
He deserved it. Aikman's offense was working without the benefit
of Walker. His replacement, Paul Palmer, sizzled and then fizzled.
Fullbacks Daryl Johnston and Broderick Sargent were inconsistent
or hurt. Deduct the two rushing touchdowns Walker scored before
his departure and the Cowboys finished with only two scores on
runs.
It got worse. The Cowboys also lost starting wide receivers Michael
Irvin and Kelvin Martin to injuries. Thornton Chandler was supposed
to be the Cowboys' answer at tight end. He wasn't.
"James Dixon and Derrick Shepard ... they ended up being
the starters (at wide receiver)," Johnson said. "That
tells you how desperate we were."
Even though you need only a single hand to count the team's highlights,
there were some moments to remember. The Walsh-led victory over
the Redskins is a start. Aikman's performances against the Cardinals
and, later, the Rams are also worth mention.
But especially telling was an on-field incident involving Aikman
and a Cowboy wide receiver - Aikman won't say which one - late
in the season. It seems that the wide receiver broke a pattern
at the exact moment Aikman was throwing the ball. The pass was
intercepted. Aikman raged.
Reports vary, but this much is true: Aikman, all 220 pounds of
him, threatened to introduce his fists to the receiver's jaw if
another pass pattern was disregarded. It was one of the few times
all year that Aikman had truly taken charge.
This season will be different. Aikman guarantees it. So does Johnson.
For instance, first-round draft choice Emmitt Smith, a slower
version of Barry Sanders, is expected to help rescue the Dallas
running game, as is Terrence Flagler, whom the Cowboys got from
the San Francisco 49ers in a trade.
Wide receivers Michael Irvin and Kelvin Martin will be back, and
veteran receiver Dennis McKinnon, a Plan B acquisition from the
Chicago Bears, is sure to get lots of playing time. So is second-round
pick Alexander Wright, one of the fastest players available in
the draft.
Sure-handed Jay Novacek will probably start at tight end. Tony
Slaton, made available by the Rams, will help the Cowboys' offensive
line.
At last, there will be some depth on offense.
"Somebody said the other day, 'Am I happy now that I'm able
to give Troy a better supporting cast?' " Johnson said. "I
said, 'The heck with Troy. I'm happy for Jimmy Johnson that we've
been able to upgrade the talent on this team.' "
Already, Aikman has predicted vast improvement in his own play.
He knows the roster. He knows the offense. He knows the starting
job is his.
"All I have to do is relearn the playbook," he said.
And forget, if he can, the comedy that became the 1989 Cowboy
season.
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