The Week 1 matchup on Monday Night Football saw two AFC West powerhouses clash in Kansas City, as the Chiefs began to re-establish their dominance over the division. It was a great opportunity for ESPN’s Joe Buck and Troy Aikman to get back into a groove as they prepare to call the network’s first Super Bowl.
While the game ultimately ended in a blowout, plenty of stories came out of it. Did the swift return of Patrick Mahomes and the offseason addition of Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker just upend Denver’s supremacy over the division?
It turns out that those narratives and the star power on the field Monday night loomed large in Aikman’s mind. On Tuesday, sports host Dan Le Batard hammered the well-respected ESPN NFL game analyst for leaning on the same sensationalized broadcasting crutch more than a dozen times in the first half alone.
“This is what Troy Aikman — and ESPN has the Super Bowl this year — this is what Troy Aikman said,” Le Batard revealed on The Dan Le Batard Show:
“‘The Denver roster is as deep as any in football’
‘(Andy) Reid understands as much as anyone in football that they’ve gotta run the football’
‘Pat Bryant had as good a camp as anyone in football’
‘Denver has as deep a wide receiver room as anyone in football’
‘Denver has as good a secondary as there is in all of football’
‘Trent McDuffie is as good as anyone in all of football.’
“That was the first quarter.”
Aikman didn’t slow down as the game progressed.
“Second quarter: ‘Denver is as good as any defense in football’ … ‘Denver plays as much man as anyone in football,’
‘Kenneth Walker is as patient as anyone in football’
‘Riley Moss gets targeted as much as anyone in football’
‘Denver is as good an offensive line as there is in football’
‘Vance Joseph is as good a defensive coordinator as there is in all of football’
‘Sean Payton is as good a play-caller as there is in all of football’
‘Courtland Sutton is as good as anyone in football winning one-on-one.’
“I went back and wrote it, I didn’t believe it,” Le Batard added. “I’m like, that can’t be how I’m hearing this. I’m listening passively … like, am I hearing this right? Is this what’s happening here, where it’s just, everyone in this game and the next game and every one Aikman does is as good as anyone in football?”
Hearing Le Batard relay Aikman’s outlandish praise, you might mistake the comments as coming from NBC’s Cris Collinsworth. Collinsworth has a more well-established penchant for heaping love on every aspect of each team in the game he calls.
Aikman, on the other hand, has become known more for his harshness since a move to ESPN. Last season, the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback often lamented poor matchups on MNF and criticized referee calls.
In a game between two top AFC teams, analysts will always have plenty to praise. And if other viewers did not notice Aikman’s tic, perhaps it is not worth changing. However, an analyst’s job is to explain and tell a game’s story. That is hard to do if someone like Aikman is constantly describing each trend as the most or the best in the NFL.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is an Editorial Lead at Awful Announcing overseeing digital content and special projects. He lives in Phoenix and has covered sports media for Awful Announcing since 2023.