Troy Aikman: Year-by Year

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(From Dallas Cowboys Press Guide)

1993

In leading Dallas to its second consecutive Super Bowl title in 1993, Aikman posted one of the finest seasons every by an NFL quarterback.

His 99.0 quarterback rating was the second highest in team history and placed him second in the NFL, the highest finish by a Dallas quarterback since Roger Staubach led the league in 1979 with a club-record 104.8 rating.

The top vote getter among all players for the Pro Bowl, Aikman earned a spot on his third consecutive Pro Bowl team following the season, his first as the starting quarterback.

Other 1993 awards included All-Pro honors from Sports Illustrated and The Sporting News, Football News All-NFC and NFL Alumni Quarterback of the Year. The NFL's most accurate passer, Aikman led the league with a 69.1% completion rate. Aikman also avoided mistakes when throwing the football, leading the NFC and finishing second in the NFL in interception ratio at 1.53%, a club record.

After missing most of the preseason following June 19 back surgery on a herniated disk, Aikman opened the regular season at Washington (9/6) by completing an 80-yard touchdown toss to Alvin Harper. The following week, Aikman attempted a regular-season, career-high 45 pass attempts against Buffalo (9/12).

At Phoenix (9/19), he completed 21 of 27 passes (77.8%) for 281 yards, beginning a club-record streak of three straight weeks when his completion percentage topped the 70 percent mark. The following week in his 58th career game, he earned NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors and became the fourth Dallas quarterback to reach the 1,000 career completion mark - the fastest a Dallas quarterback has ever reached that point - when he completed 18 of 23 passes (78.3%) for 317 yards against Green Bay (10/3). He also posted a career-high 13.8 yards per attempt

At Indianapolis (10/10), he completed the three-game streak with a 21 of 28 day passing (75%). In the rain and wind at Philadelphia (10/31), Aikman had a string of 35 straight games with a completion percentage above 50% snapped when he was nine of 19. For his play in guiding Dallas to four consecutive wins in October, Aikman was named NFC Offensive Player of the Month.

Aikman completed his first 10 passes vs. the N.Y. Giants (11/7) and 11 of 13 for 162 yards and two touchdowns before suffering a strained left hamstring in the third quarter, forcing him to miss the remainder of that game and the games that followed against Phoenix (11/14) and Atlanta (11/21). Despite missing two and a half games due to injuries, he strill threw for 3,100 yards to finish fourth in the NFC and posted his second consecutive 3,000-yard passing season, the first back-to-back 3,000-yard seasons by a Dallas quarterback since Danny White accomplished the feat in 1980-81.

He returned to action on Thanksgiving Day against the Dolphins (11/25) and threw his first interception since the Buffalo game (9/12), ending a career-long string of attempts without an interception at 151 - the second longest streak in club history behind Don Meredith's team record of 156 attempts.

Aikman was 21 of 27 (77.8%) for 252 yards and two touchdowns against the New York Jets (12/18) before closing out the year with back-to-back season-high 80% completion days vs. Washington (12/26) (16 of 20) and the New York Giants (1/2/94) (24 of 30) - where he led Dallas to a 16-13 overtime win and the NFC East title.

Over the final three games of the season, Aikman tied the team record he set earlier in the season by posting three straight games with a completion percentage over 70%, and including the playoffs, he extended the second streak to six games. In completing 28 of 37 passes (75.7%) for 302 yards and three touchdowns vs. Green Bay (1/16/94) in a Divisional Playoff game, Aikman had a club record streak of 111 postseason pass attempts without an interception snapped.

In the NFC Championship game vs. San Francisco (1/23/94), Aikman led Dallas to a 28-7 lead before suffering a concussion early in the third quarter that ended his day. He returned to action against Buffalo (1/30/94) and helped lead Dallas to the Super Bowl XXVIII title by completing 19 of 27 passes for 207 yards.