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Schneed10 · 06-02-2005, 12:02 PM

Aikman was a really accurate passer in his day. Matty's right, during his prime and when he was on, Aikman was hard to beat. But Montana was better.

I think you have to measure a couple things when you compare QB accuracy. First, completion percentage is important obviously. Dropped passes are equal when you're talking about two QBs like Troy Aikman and Joe Montana. They both played for so long that there isn't going to be a material difference in dropped passes.
The second component that is important is yards per completion. For example, if you're in an offense that throws underneath passes all day, your completion percentage may be high, but that's not so impressive in and of itself. If you're throwing deeper passes and still have a high completion percentage, now I'm really impressed.

Over their careers, Montana's career completion percentage was better, 63.2% compared to Aikman's 61.5%. Montana's career yards per completion was also better, at 11.9 compared with Aikman's 11.4.

Montana's best year for accuracy seemed to be in 1989 when he put up a 70.2% completion percentage with 13.0 yards per completion. Aikman's best came in 1993 when he put up a comparable 69.1% completion percentage, but his yards per completion that year wasn't as impressive at 11.4.

Montana definitely has him beat.

06-02-2005, 12:02 PM	#9
Schneed10 A Dude Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Newtown Square, PA Age: 46 Posts: 12,458	Re: A question about Troy Aikman.... Aikman was a really accurate passer in his day. Matty's right, during his prime and when he was on, Aikman was hard to beat. But Montana was better. I think you have to measure a couple things when you compare QB accuracy. First, completion percentage is important obviously. Dropped passes are equal when you're talking about two QBs like Troy Aikman and Joe Montana. They both played for so long that there isn't going to be a material difference in dropped passes. The second component that is important is yards per completion. For example, if you're in an offense that throws underneath passes all day, your completion percentage may be high, but that's not so impressive in and of itself. If you're throwing deeper passes and still have a high completion percentage, now I'm really impressed. Over their careers, Montana's career completion percentage was better, 63.2% compared to Aikman's 61.5%. Montana's career yards per completion was also better, at 11.9 compared with Aikman's 11.4. Montana's best year for accuracy seemed to be in 1989 when he put up a 70.2% completion percentage with 13.0 yards per completion. Aikman's best came in 1993 when he put up a comparable 69.1% completion percentage, but his yards per completion that year wasn't as impressive at 11.4. Montana definitely has him beat.